Film franchise spinoffs that became hits on their own

Also known as Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, this spinoff movie was born, in part, out of Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel not wanting to work together every again. The series did not want to lose Johnson's character, though, so paired Hobbs off with Shaw, who had been an archvillain earlier in the series. The movie was such a huge hit that a sequel to this spinoff is inevitable, especially now that Johnson popped up at the end of "Fast X."

There have been a few Wolverine-related spinoffs from the X-Men movies, some of which make this list. However, the best of the bunch is Logan for two reasons: it did not skimp on the violence and language to make an R-rated comic book movie, and it's more of a serious drama than an action film. It even earned an Oscar nomination for its screenplay.

How could they resist making a spinoff of the Harry Potter films? There's so much money in it. Thus, the Fantastic Beasts franchise began with this 2016 film featuring wizard Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) in New York in the years before the action of Harry Potter takes place. It's something of a sequel but also definitely a spinoff, given its zoological bent and focus on Newt. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore followed in 2018 and 2022, respectively. 

Have you heard that they are making Star Wars spinoffs now? The first of the bunch was Rogue One, which fills in some gaps in the story from the first Star Wars movie way back in 1977. Finally, we get to see how the plans for the Death Star and its weakness got into the hands of Princess Leia. It's a real bummer but also a really good addition to the Star Wars canon. The show has now gotten itself a prequel on Disney+ in Andor.

Batman is just so serious these days. Do you long for a time when the Caped Crusader could be funny, like the Adam West version in the '60s? Check out The Lego Batman Movie. It's a visual delight and genuinely funny. Frankly, it's better than The Lego Movie.

Even if you've never seen a Despicable Me movie, you are aware of the Minions. They are way more popular than anything else to come from that series of films, which is why it was inevitable the Minions would get their own film. Those little yellow guys have left their boss, Gru, in the dust. They reunited (sort of) for Minions: The Rise of Gru in 2022.

"Bumblebee" did something impressive: Made people who loathe the "Transformers" movies say, "You know, this one is actually pretty good!" The film is both a spinoff and a prequel to the original. Michael Bay's franchise is lacking, and the films that have followed "Bumblebee" have not been up to the same level of quality, but this one still stands out among the rest.

Can you believe there was a time when Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson wasn't a huge movie star? It's true, and 2002's The Scorpion King was one of his first opportunities to carry a film. When we saw the titular Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns, the CGI was truly terrible. Fortunately, technology got a bit better for this one, and the movie was a hit, making over $100 million more than its budget at the box office.

The introduction of Antonio Banderas' Puss in Boots into the Shrek universe was such a boon for the franchise that they gave him a movie. Additionally, The Adventures of Puss in Boots streamed for six seasons on Netflix, and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish arrived in December 2022 to acclaim. Puss in Boots remains probably the third-most-popular character from Shrek (behind the titular ogre and Donkey, of course).

Bruce Almighty didn't seem primed for a spinoff, but Steve Carell became a major movie star. He had a role in the original, so they decided to give him his own movie. Instead of becoming God, Evan becomes Noah. 

In hindsight, the weird thing about The Pink Panther is that Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau is not the main character. That film is about David Niven as a jewelry thief trying to steal the titular diamond. However, Sellers was so successful that he got his own series of films, starting with A Shot in the Dark, a murder mystery that features a stop in a nudist resort.

If you don’t think of U.S. Marshals as a spinoff of The Fugitive, you disagree with the film's producers. Tommy Lee Jones' Sam Gerard, a role that won him an Oscar, was back, but this time, he was after Wesley Snipes' fugitive — not Harrison Ford's. It couldn't quite live up to The Fugitive, but it has its charms.

This one is weird. Russell Brand reprised his role as a hedonistic rock star from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but he's the main character this time. Jonah Hill was also in Sarah Marshall and returned as an entirely different person. Nobody was likely asking to see Brand's Aldous Snow again, but they managed to put together a decent enough movie on the cheap. Roger Ebert gave it three stars, so it has that going for it.

If you love Judd Apatow, you probably loved seeing Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann's characters from Knocked Up again in this study of entering middle age. If you aren't an Apatow acolyte, you may see it as an incredibly long movie for a comedy that features the director's wife, kids, and even his dog, getting big roles. It's self-indulgent, but if that doesn't bother you, then dig in and enjoy!

Machete is kind of a double spinoff. The character started in the Spy Kids franchise, a weird beginning for a hard R exploitation film starring Danny Trejo. Then, he made an appearance in a fake trailer during Grindhouse, which made more sense. That fake trailer became a real film, and Machete even got a sequel, Machete Kills.

Eventually, Sylvester Stallone wasn't going to be able to play Rocky Balboa as a boxer any longer. Thus, they decided to switch the story from being about Rocky's journey to that of Adonis Creed, son of Apollo Creed. Creed helped solidify Michael B. Jordan, who played Adonis, an even bigger star, and also got Stallone another Oscar nomination. Creed II followed in 2018, and Jordan made his directorial debut with Creed III in 2023.

First came "The Conjuring," a supernatural horror film that was a huge financial success, making $319.5 million against a $20 million budget. This success led to a prequel spinoff about a spooky doll. You can probably guess her name. "Annabelle" was an even bigger success, as it raked in $257 million worldwide despite only costing $6.5 million to make (h/t Box Office Mojo). Both The Conjuring and Annabelle have gotten sequels, as the two series have gone off in separate directions. 

Following the success of Rogue One, we knew there would be another spinoff set in the Star Wars universe. Rogue One told us about the brave souls who got the information that led to the destruction of the Death Star. Solo gave us backstory about everybody's favorite scruffy-looking nerf herder, Han Solo. 

The Madagascar films aren't the most beloved movie franchise, but they made three of them, and they don't tend to do that with movies that aren’t successful. Everybody loves penguins, including those from Madagascar, which is why they got their own movie. They are sort of the Minions of this universe and also got a TV show of their own.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a spinoff in its own right, was kind of a disaster. That includes its treatment of a mercenary played by Ryan Reynolds known as Deadpool. However, thanks to a lot of campaigning from Reynolds himself, Deadpool got his own film, and a new successful franchise was born. A vulgar, gross, and incredibly successful superhero film rose out of the ashes of a failure. Deadpool 2 arrived in 2018, and Deadpool & Wolverine was released in 2024 as the franchise's third installment.

After X-Men Origins: Wolverine failed, they tried again to make a successful Wolverine film to capitalize on the most popular member of the X-Men. The Wolverine is something of a dry run for Logan, though it isn't quite on that level. That being said, it did show that a solo feature starring Wolverine could work, which meant we got Logan. We should all be happy about that.

The Cars franchise earned a spinoff. Instead of talking anthropomorphic cars, they were planes. That's fun because they can fly. Originally, it was going to be direct-to-DVD, but they released it in the theaters, and Planes made $239.3 million (h/t Box Office Mojo). That was enough to get it a sequel of its own.