30 Trendsetting Movies That Completely Changed the Game

Some of the biggest seismic shifts in Hollywood history
30 Trendsetting Movies That Completely Changed the Game

Every so often, a movie comes along that gets everyone else in Hollywood scrambling — either to piggyback on their success or to stop and think, “Wow, you can do that now? Good thing these risk-taking pioneers were around to show us the way!” Highly creative people can’t help it. They get bored easily and need to constantly switch things up. 

Here are some very successful instances of creative game-changery. That’s clearly not a word, but hey, maybe it’ll become so popular that you’ll start hearing it in movies!

Twister

TWISTER CRACKED.COM In the '90s, countless volcanoes, meteors, and twisters threatened protagonists everywhere. By the early 2000s, Hollywood's priorities shifted to fantasies like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, so disaster movies like The Core did nowhere near as well.

Twilight

TWILIGHT CRACKED.COM After Twilight had hit after hit from 2008 to 2012, basically every teen movie scrambled to throw in a vampire, werewolf, demon, or zombie. Warm Bodies had some success, but movies like I Am Number Four, Beastly, Red Riding Hood, and Mortal Instruments, came nowhere close.

The Exorcist

THE EXORCIST CRACKED.COM Raking in 441 million, 1973's The Exorcist is one of the most influential and successful horror films ever made. From 1974 to 1979, imitations like Abby, Beyond the Door, The Devil's Rain, Race with the Devil, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, The Haunting of Julia, Ruby, and The Legacy all paled in comparison.

Star Wars

The first to credit the full crew. 1977 CRACKED.COM George Lucas decided to list every last crew member in the Star Wars final credit crawl. Before that, only department heads would get their moment in the limelight.

Red Dawn

The first PG-13 rating. 1984 CRACKED.COM Even though it clocked in at 134 acts of violence per hour (Guinness counted), Red Dawn was the first film to officially find itself between PG and R.

The Searchers

THE SEARCHERS CRACKED.COM There had been many westerns before 1956's The Searchers, but it is regarded as the best western (and best movie) of all time. This new outlaw western gave rise to The Wild Bunch, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and some good, but countless godawful Spaghetti Westerns.

Casper

Casper was the first ever CGI lead character in a feature film. It beat Toy Story by six months. CRACKED.COM

The Manchurian Candidate

The first karate fight. 1962 CRACKED.COM Frank Sinatra has the honor of inciting the first-ever karate fight in American cinema in The Manchurian Candidate. It looks exactly like a man who is horny for a living pretending to get beat up.

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Fatal Attraction

FATAL ATTRACTION CRACKED.COM In the late '80s and early '90s, erotic thrillers like Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct turned the genre into a money-making machine. The rise of the internet and HBO really hurt the genre, and box office bombs like Showgirls and Striptease were the nails in the coffin.

Harry Potter

HARRY POTTER CRACKED.COM The Harry Potter franchise was so successful that anyone who scrambled to capitalize on the trend also found success. Children in a magical world, like The Narnia Trilogy, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Percy Jackson found success (nowhere near Harry Potter), but films like Seeker, Stormbreaker, and Seventh Son fell way below the mark.

The Fast and the Furious

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS CRACKED.COM In the early 2000s, after hits like The Fast and the Furious and хХх, brutal knock offs like Biker Boyz, Grind, Torque, and Extreme Ops tried to capitalize on this Xtreme or underground sports movement, but none came close.

Shrek

SHREK CRACKED.COM Shrek made $487 million and led to a slew of adult-friendly CGI movies that poked fun at fairytale tropes. Movies like Hoodwinked and Happily Never After were nowhere near as successful, and failed to recapture Shrek's magic.

Halloween

HALLOWEEN CRACKED.COM In 1978, the 1st of the now 12-film franchise was made for $325k and made $47 million in the U.S. alone. In the early 1980s, studios cranked out similar holiday slasher films like New Years Evil, Mother's Day, and To All A Good Night, but none of them were remotely close to the success of Halloween.

Die Hard

DIE HARD CRACKED.COM In 1988, Die Hard earned more than $140 million worldwide. This success led to a many 90s clones where an outnumbered hero is trapped in a single setting. Many (like Air Force One and Under Seige) were highly successful, but 1991's Toy Soldiers and 1992's enger 57 were critical and financial flops.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE CRACKED.COM 2005's Emily Rose was a highly successful ode to The Exorcist. Its success sparked a new era of followers who changed the name, like The Exorcism of Molly Hartley, Anna Ecklund, or Karen Walker. Or the synonym and the name, like The Taking of Deborah Logan, The Possession of Hannah Grace, or The Possession of Gail Bowers.

Batman

BATMAN CRACKED.COM Tim Burton's Batman raked in $411 million and did wonders for the comic book genre. Movies like The Rocketeer, The Shadow, and The Phantom presumed consumer interest, but critically and financially failed to recapture that lightning in a bottle.

The Toll of the Sea

The first movie filmed in color. 1922 CRACKED.COM There are color films that predate this one, but they all required post-production coloring processes. The Toll of the Sea was the first movie actually filmed in color.

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Color Film Techniques

A theater actor most known for her portrayal of Peter Pan changed movie making forever. Maude Adams designed a dynamic lighting system to enhance a stage play that was performed at night. She also spent part of the 1920s testing various color film techniques which became the standard in Hollywood. CRACKED.COM

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Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots

Historical Firsts in Practical Effects The first-ever special effect 1895 Shot at Edison Labs in New Jersey, 1895's Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots was the first film to use a visual effect. They used stop- action for her beheading, and since no one had ever seen special effects, viewers thought they actually killed the actress. CRACKED

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The First Ever Stunt Team

Historical Firsts in The World of Stunts The first ever stunt team 1912 $ From 1912 to 1917, a group of prize-fighters, acrobats, clowns, race car drivers, and vaudevillians performed a range of stunts and pratfalls in The Keystone Kops film series. They're widely regarded as the first stunt team. CRACKED

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Mid-Budget Movies

We might be seeing the comeback of MID-BUDGET MOVIES. Mid-budget films cost somewhere between $25 and $70 million and are mostly original content for

Lillian Gish

The first film actress: CRACKED CON Known to act sO hard she'd collapse, Lillian Gish was the first actress hired specifically for film. She method-acted sO hard, she gave herself permanent nerve damage and almost starved to death on film.

Island in the Sun

The first interracial kiss. 1957 CRACKED CON Although it was highly controversial, Island in the Sun, a film about interracial romance, was also a box

Cannibal Holocaust

18 Horror Movies That Did It First - The first ever found footage film is considered to be Cannibal Holocaust, an Italian exploitation film from 1980.
Source: Syfy

Jaws

The first-ever film to hit $100 million at the box office was a little horror movie called Jaws. The famous shark film is widely considered to be the

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