# Movie Franchises that came to dominate a field or genre **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies, star-trek-paramount\ **Created:** [March 6, 2024, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-franchises-that-came-to-dominate-a-field-or-genre/998537 "2024-03-06T13:30:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2024, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-franchises-that-came-to-dominate-a-field-or-genre/998537/21 "2024-03-06T17:47:37Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Fun fact: I recently did a rewatch of ‘The Night of the Living Dead’ and I noticed that the word ‘zombie’ is never actually used in the movie-- they’re most often called ‘ghouls’ in-movie. Apparently the ‘zombie’ designation, if not the modern version of the trope itself, came a bit later. And that movie came _before_ [Marvel trademarked the word](https://screenrant.com/marvel-zombies-trademark-lost-secret-explained-revealed-history/). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2024, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-franchises-that-came-to-dominate-a-field-or-genre/998537/22 "2024-03-06T18:01:26Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I don’t know why apes are popular. DC comics exec Julie Schwartz claimed that putting an ape on the cover increased sales, which is apparently why they had so many ape-themed stories back in the 1950s and 1960s, and characters like Detective Chimp and Congorilla. And why Marvel much later had a series with apes as Marvel superheroes. Don’t forget the effect of an early book and movie series franchise that continues to this day - Tarzan of the Apes. Tarzan was King of the Jungle, but his battles with _Great Apes_ and gorillas were highlighted. Also, his allegiance of the apes was used frequently in the movies to provide Tarzan with an escape from dire straits. Just as ape like animals are fearsome they can be accepted as heroes by an audience. It’s no surprise to me that an ape like animal was chosen as the companion to space ship captain in some old science fiction movie. Of course the use of apes as characters in any kind of movies provides the benefit of using humans in hairy costumes in those roles, although the chimps collectively known as Cheetah were put to use in Tarzan films. I suppose they were paid less than human actors, and took direction about as well. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2024, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-franchises-that-came-to-dominate-a-field-or-genre/998537/23 "2024-03-06T18:24:02Z")
Aside from _Aladdin_ and its sequels/remake/etc., there haven’t been many recent films of the “Arabian Nights” variety. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2024, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-franchises-that-came-to-dominate-a-field-or-genre/998537/24 "2024-03-06T18:59:31Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > _The Spy Who Came In From the Cold_ is a dark, depressing film. Mind you, I like it a lot, but it isn’t going to open the summer blockbuster season. _Tinker Tailor_… came closest to being a bigger hit. A well made movie with a great cast. But it is so…British. 🙂 Mole hunts are probably the second most common spy plots, and they do it well. Yes, I caught _A Dandy in Aspic_ last year on TMC, and it was a mole hunt, in a sense. It was very much of its time (late 60s), but I really liked it. Great performance by Laurence Harvey. I don’t know why it’s not better known/appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2024, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-franchises-that-came-to-dominate-a-field-or-genre/998537/25 "2024-03-06T19:33:57Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Aside from _Aladdin_ and its sequels/remake/etc., there haven’t been many recent films of the “Arabian Nights” variety. Kind of surprising. There were lots of them in the 1930s and 1940s, and about half a dozen came out in the early 1960s-1970s. RElatively recently there was **Prince of Persia** and the animated **Sinbad of the Seven Seas** , but those were a long time ago, now. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2024, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-franchises-that-came-to-dominate-a-field-or-genre/998537/26 "2024-03-06T20:43:56Z")
I feel like Chuck Norris’ _Missing in Action_ (1984) sort of set the tone for the lone action hero movies, specifically the gun-toting kind. Nearly all the following ones of the 80s and after follow _MIA_’s basic template in that sense; _Commando_, the _Rambo_ franchise, Stallone’s _Cobra_, the _Transporter_ movies, and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2024, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-franchises-that-came-to-dominate-a-field-or-genre/998537/27 "2024-03-06T21:14:58Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Happy Potter Is that a cross between Harry Potter and Happy Gilmore? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2024, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-franchises-that-came-to-dominate-a-field-or-genre/998537/28 "2024-03-06T21:31:52Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Aside from _Aladdin_ and its sequels/remake/etc., there haven’t been many recent films of the “Arabian Nights” variety. I blame the Iranian revolution from 1979 on and especially 9/11 for souring the American public on all things Islamic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-franchises-that-came-to-dominate-a-field-or-genre/998537.md?page=1)