It’s always frustrating to watch a movie without knowing about the characters and the world they inhabit, but some franchise movies are welcoming to newcomers. Even sprawling multimedia franchises likePokémonandDungeons and Dragonscan create good entry points for the uninitiated while simultaneously appeasing the hardcore fans.
Some movies are much more enjoyable when audiences have already seen everything else in the franchise, even if this includes TV shows and other forms of media too. While these movies can be extremely rewarding to a certain group of people, they can fall flat for viewers who haven’t done their homework. It’s harder to make a movie which appeals to everyone, no matter how much information they have about a certain franchise.
From the outside looking in, thePokémongames can seem pretty complicated.Detective Pikachusimplifies things by ignoring some concepts like evolution, gym badges, the Elite Four and more. The story is loosely based on a spinoff game, but it’s mostly an original narrative that conforms to the shape of a detective story. This makes it much more accessible to newcomers.
Detective Pikachudoes a good job of boiling things down until it reaches the basic appeal of the franchise.
There’s a glut ofPokémonlore from games, TV shows and movies that could be distracting to the uninitiated.Detective Pikachudoes a good job of boiling things down until it reaches the basic appeal of the franchise. The movie is filled with creative monsters living alongside humans, which gives it a child-friendly fantasy vibe. There are Easter eggs for the true fans, but nothing which is necessary to the plot. Unfortunately,Detective Pikachu 2seems to be trapped in development hell.
Dungeons and Dragonscan be a very intimidating game to try and get into, because there are so many different starting points, and the best way to learn is by finding a group of people who are already well versed in the mechanics of the game.D&Dhas a rich mythology surrounding it, but it can essentially be whatever the players and the dungeon master want it to be. Fortunately, none of this information is necessary for newcomers to enjoyHonor Among Thieves.
Part of what makesD&Dseem so complex is that the game’s evolution has been driven by the community.Honor Among Thieveshas a lot of source material to sift through, therefore, but it extracts the essence of the game without getting bogged down in the specifics.Honor Among Thieveshas the same sense of unpredictability, adventure and humorthat can come from any game ofD&Dwith friends.
It’s hard to know where to start withBatman. The character has been in comics since the 1930s, and movies since not long after that. He has subtly changed in different versions of the story, butThe Dark Knightis usually considered a greatBatmanmovie among hardcore fans and first-timers. Audiences don’t even need to watchBatman Begins,which shows his origin story.
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The Dark Knightis one ofChristopher Nolan’s best movies, showing off his flair for cinematic spectacle driven by practical effects. However, Nolan understands that he has to tell a good story first and foremost.The Dark Knighthas an intriguing moral center, focused on the philosophical struggle between Batman and the Joker.There can’t be many better places to get intoBatmanthan one of the franchise’s best movies with its most iconic villain.
Wallace and Gromit had already appeared in several award-winning short films by the time they debuted in their first feature-length outing, butThe Curse of the Were-Rabbitis accessible to anyone. This is mostly because the story is so tightly written that it’s easy to get a perfect sense of who the two characters are within the first few minutes. Audiences quickly understand their dynamic just as well as if they had watched everyWallace and Gromitmovie.
The charming claymation style ofWallace and Gromitchanged a lot between the time of their debut inA Grand Day OutandThe Curse of the Were-Rabbit, becoming a little more refined. It’s arguably better for new fans to start withThe Curse of the Were-Rabbitand then go back.Their latest movie,Vengeance Most Fowl,is definitely more enjoyable if the audience already has some backstory.
As well as the four main seriesUnchartedgames and the closely-relatedThe Lost Legacy,there are a few lesser-known spinoffs made for web browsers, mobile phones and the PlayStation Vita. When factoring in the comics and other media, there’s a lot of source material to get through. The 2022Unchartedmovie cherry-picks a few iconic scenes from Nathan Drake’s adventures in the games, but it’s also original enough to stand on its own two feet.
Tom Holland’s casting as Nathan Drake was rather divisive among the game’s fan base, since he’s a lot younger than Nathan is in any of the games. This was the first indication thatUnchartedwasn’t going to be too fixated on accurately recreating the stories from the games.It maintains the same swashbuckling sense of adventure, with a healthy dose of wry humor too. AprospectiveUnchartedsequelseems to have stalled, but the movie certainly seems like it could set up a whole franchise.
TheScott Pilgrimfranchise now includes a video game and an animated series on top of the graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley which started it all. Fortunately, fans don’t need to know about any of this in order to enjoy Edgar Wright’s 2010 movie adaptation. EachScott Pilgrimstory slightly alters the same overarching narrative, soScott Pilgrim vs. the Worldcan actually be used as a gateway into understanding everything else.
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Scott Pilgrim vs. the Worldwas a notorious box office bomb, but this doesn’t reflect the quality of Edgar Wright’s movie. It might have more to do with its idiosyncratic style, which has garnered a passionate cult following even if it excludes the movie from finding broad appeal. Wright adds some comic book flourishes to the visuals, but there are also plenty of references to arcade games and manga.
Most people will be aware of Agatha Christie’s work in some sense, since she has impacted the mystery genre more than any other writer. There have been countlessmovies adapted from Christie’s books, and even more which attempt to mimic her style. Kenneth Branagh is the latest director to take on Christie’s work, and any of his three movies so far are a warm welcome to the author’s style.A Haunting in Veniceis particularly well-suited to this.
Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
60%
54%
Death on the Nile (2022)
62%
82%
75%
76%
Although it’s the third movie in Branagh’s series,A Haunting in Venicedoesn’t require its audience to know anything about Hercule Poirot. It’s clear from the outset that he’s a brilliant, famous detective who has shut himself away to avoid the outside world.A Haunting in Veniceis also a good entry-point for newcomers because it isn’t as well known as some of Christie’s other works, which have already been spoiled many times over.
The first threeMad Maxmovies introduce the character of Max Rockatansky, showing his evolution into a battle-hardened nomad as the world crumbles all around him. However, 30 years passed between the last of these movies andFury Road,which kicked off a new era for the franchise with Tom Hardy taking over from Mel Gibson in the title role. George Miller ensured thatFury Roadwould be just as enticing to people who had never seen anyMad Maxmovies.
There isn’t much aboutFury Roadthat carries over from the original movies.
There isn’t much aboutFury Roadthat carries over from the original movies, since Max’s lifestyle often sees him drifting across the wasteland without staying anywhere for too long. The intelligent worldbuilding ofFury Roadoften takes place in the background, painting a picture of a complex world without going into too many tedious details. In this way,it feels like a brand new experience even for fans of the original trilogy.
