maxleod: Marvel just solved that problem with their "Multiverse" where everything coexists. So everything is "cannon".

Breja: Only if whoever works on the next entry choses to acknowledge it. Colonial Marines was supposedly canon to the movies, but I'll be damned surprised if that's ever recognised in any future instalments of Aliens. That's the problem with these franchises that go on forever, across multiple media, with dozens of people making decisions and IP's getting bought and sold... canon becomes an impossibly fleeting thing. I used to scoff at the idea of "head canon" and people picking and choosing, but that that was years ago, before almost every franchise out there got so many sequels, prequels and spin-off comics and video games, that pretending there's some one "canon" became a fool's errand, regardless of who made what "official" at any given point.

Hell, even the aforementioned Highlander series got itself into a mess like that ahead of most franchises. Pretty much every entry in that series, movie or tv show, exists in it's own separate universe, in which different things are and aren't canon.

That's not to say I think canon should not matter at all. When it is preserved and respected it help with fantastic storytelling. Rather I'm saying is that so many writers write like it doesn't matter, the only way to preserve any kind of coherence in a franchise is to do it yourself. I wish that were not the case, that more franchises were like Babylon 5 where one guy held the reins and kept things (mostly) in line, but unfortunately the only way for that to be the case is for a franchise to become totally obscure.

idbeholdME: They absolutely nailed one thing though - the casting. Angelina Jolie in the Tomb Raider outfit was enough to make the movies budgetary successes.

BanditKeith2: Because while one can ignore such things.. the fact remains something is canon to the older works of something thus it informs what comes next and cause division/divide in the fans ..

BanditKeith2: among other things granted I may be abit biased here given I am a comic book reader(more so a Marvel guy ) but I have seen the same troubles the comic communities have in these ''confirmed canon to other media installment'' things

Breja: Depends which one :D But the latest one, with Henry Cavill is, I think, still on. The last I heard they're supposed to start shooting it in January. I doubt it will live up to the original, it's such a unique and very 80s thing, but I really I just hope that whatever it ends up being it won't be boring. The Highlander franchise is such a glorious mess of bizarre, completely incompatible entries I can pretty much forgive the new movie everything except for ending up a bland Marvel wannabe, like that Tom Cruise The Mummy a few years back.

idbeholdME: It undoubtedly will, yes. Which is why I usually make hard cutoff points. The moment something moves too far from what I am after/enjoy, I just drop it. If somebody is intent on ruining something for any of the manifold potential reasons, they are welcome to do so. Just don't expect my patronage from that moment on. I will still continue to enjoy the things I liked up until that point, but won't give a speck of support to something I ultimately dislike. And I put extra emphasis on upholding this stance.

idbeholdME: It's up to each person really. The truth of the matter is, that the owner/rights holder can take a thing in whatever direction they desire and decide what can be done to an IP/franchise. But it is not the duty of all fans to blindly follow them in that direction. Concerns and criticism may be raised, and how it is received/handled can be another factor in deciding whether something is worthy of your support. If something seems beyond salvageable, jumping ship is often the healthiest option.

This is all subjective of course. Everybody's "cutoff point" is going to be somewhere else (if it even exists).

idbeholdME: It undoubtedly will, yes. Which is why I usually make hard cutoff points.

Breja: To each their own I guess. I usually don't do "hard cutoff" because I mostly find it easy to compartmentalise these things, and I don't see the need to miss out on something good just because it may be sorrounded by a lot of crap. Like no matter how bad the Star Wars prequel trilogy was, the Genndy Tartakovsky Clone Wars cartoon was awesome and it would be a shame to miss out on it. Even the Disney era of SW had genuinely good stuff. I just approach it as "the Original Trilogy is canon to everything, but nothing else is canon to the Original Trilogy", and that works fine for me.

BreOl72: Why?
I mean - why do you let yourself be influenced by something, which you can simply ignore in its entirety, if you choose so?

You know "Star Wars", right?

What if I tell you, that all I ever watched from that franchise, were the first three films (what's called "the original trilogy" or "episodes IV, V and VI", nowadays)?

I don't remember any "episodes" mentioned on any of the original movies' posters. Do you?

When I heard, that they would bring "a new trilogy", set BEFORE the original, into the cinemas (a whopping 22 years after the first original movie), I asked: "Why? Nobody gives a shit, what happened BEFORE. If you want to make a (or three or more) sequel(s) to milk the franchise, then go ahead! But a trilogy of prequels? 16 to 22 AFTER the originals? - No thanks."

Well, I guess, we can say, I was an outlier in that regard - but my point is: I didn't let these new movies "ruin" the positive memories, I have about the "original trilogy".
Not, that they could've ruined my memories.

By now, all the new movies have run in German free-TV, so I could have easily watched them all, without even spending money on them...but I didn't. Because I'm not interested in them.
End of story.

I will also never understand people who say: "oh no - they made a remake of my beloved "X" or "Y". Woe is me! Now my childhood is ruined!"

Dudes: your childhood is a thing of the past, and nothing new can retroactively ruin it.
Simply ignore the new iteration completely (or - if you watched it already - forget, it exists).