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** However, a sliding scale of canonness has returned, at least to some degree. ''Anime/StarWarsVisions'' is fully non-canon, while the Lego Star Wars projects like ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOStarWarsHolidaySpecial'' and ''Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures'' are stated to being "canon adjacent" rather than accurate depictions of what "really" happens. Then there are the continuity differences, such as Cobb Vanth's origins varying a bit between his appearances in ''Literature/StarWarsAftermath'' and ''Series/TheMandalorian'', and the ''Film/StarWarsTheLastJedi'' contradicting aspects of the novelization of ''Film/StarWarsTheForceAwakens''. Basically, the anime stuff is non-canon unless stated otherwise, the Lego-stuff is semi-canon, and comics/books are fully canon unless contradicted by a film or TV series.
** ''Film/StarWarsTheRiseOfSkywalker'' begins by mentioning in its OpeningCrawl a message [[spoiler:Palpatine sent throughout the galaxy announcing [[BackFromTheDead his return]]]]. This was a reference to an event that happened in ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' used to promote the film.
* The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse has done this with its various incarnations of the Hulk. ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'' is mostly a ContinuityReboot of ''Film/{{Hulk}}'', Creator/EdwardNorton taking over the title role for Creator/EricBana, but it keeps details of the first film in broad strokes, such as starting out in South America, where TheTag of the first film left off. ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' does the same thing to ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'', replacing Norton with Creator/MarkRuffalo but making references to some of the plot points of that film, such as "breaking Harlem." Further installments of the MCU films make more references to ''The Incredible Hulk'', such as bringing back Creator/WilliamHurt as General Ross and showing a picture of Creator/LivTyler as Betty Ross. ''[[Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings Shang-Chi]]'' and the ''[[Series/SheHulkAttorneyAtLaw She-Hulk]]'' series also bring Creator/TimRoth back as Abomination.
* Film/JamesBond:
** ''Film/StarWarsTheRiseOfSkywalker'' begins by mentioning in its OpeningCrawl a message [[spoiler:Palpatine sent throughout the galaxy announcing [[BackFromTheDead his return]]]]. This was a reference to an event that happened in ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' used to promote the film.
* The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse has done this with its various incarnations of the Hulk. ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'' is mostly a ContinuityReboot of ''Film/{{Hulk}}'', Creator/EdwardNorton taking over the title role for Creator/EricBana, but it keeps details of the first film in broad strokes, such as starting out in South America, where TheTag of the first film left off. ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' does the same thing to ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'', replacing Norton with Creator/MarkRuffalo but making references to some of the plot points of that film, such as "breaking Harlem." Further installments of the MCU films make more references to ''The Incredible Hulk'', such as bringing back Creator/WilliamHurt as General Ross and showing a picture of Creator/LivTyler as Betty Ross. ''[[Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings Shang-Chi]]'' and the ''[[Series/SheHulkAttorneyAtLaw She-Hulk]]'' series also bring Creator/TimRoth back as Abomination.
* Film/JamesBond:
to:
** However, a sliding scale of canonness canonity has returned, at least to some degree. ''Anime/StarWarsVisions'' is fully non-canon, while the Lego Star Wars projects like ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOStarWarsHolidaySpecial'' and ''Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures'' are stated to being "canon adjacent" rather than accurate depictions of what "really" happens. Then there are the continuity differences, such as Cobb Vanth's origins varying a bit between his appearances in ''Literature/StarWarsAftermath'' and ''Series/TheMandalorian'', and the ''Film/StarWarsTheLastJedi'' ''Film/TheLastJedi'' contradicting aspects of the novelization {{novelization}} of ''Film/StarWarsTheForceAwakens''.''Film/TheForceAwakens''. Basically, the anime stuff is non-canon unless stated otherwise, the Lego-stuff is semi-canon, and comics/books are fully canon unless contradicted by a film or TV series.
**''Film/StarWarsTheRiseOfSkywalker'' ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' begins by mentioning in its OpeningCrawl a message [[spoiler:Palpatine sent throughout the galaxy announcing [[BackFromTheDead his return]]]]. This was a reference to an event that happened in ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' used to promote the film.
* The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse has done this with its various incarnations of the Hulk.''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'' ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk2008'' is mostly a ContinuityReboot of ''Film/{{Hulk}}'', Creator/EdwardNorton taking over the title role for Creator/EricBana, but it keeps details of the first film in broad strokes, such as starting out in South America, where TheTag of the first film left off. ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' does the same thing to ''Film/{{The ''The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'', Hulk'', replacing Norton with Creator/MarkRuffalo but making references to some of the plot points of that film, such as "breaking Harlem." Further installments of the MCU films make more references to ''The Incredible Hulk'', such as bringing back Creator/WilliamHurt as General Ross and showing a picture of Creator/LivTyler as Betty Ross. ''[[Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings Shang-Chi]]'' ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'' and the ''[[Series/SheHulkAttorneyAtLaw She-Hulk]]'' ''Series/SheHulkAttorneyAtLaw'' series also bring Creator/TimRoth back as Abomination.
*Film/JamesBond:''Film/JamesBond'':
**
* The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse has done this with its various incarnations of the Hulk.
*
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* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'' is a SoftReboot that replaces most of the cast of ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'', but it does make a handful of references to it: Creator/ViolaDavis, Creator/JoelKinnaman, Creator/MargotRobbie, and Creator/JaiCourtney return as Amanda Waller, Rick Flag, ComicBook/HarleyQuinn, and Captain Boomerang, and the film acknowledges that Harley and Boomerang previously served in a different supervillain black ops team run by Waller and supervised by Flag. Harley's own movie ''Film/BirdsOfPrey2020'' likewise only had a few {{Continuity Nod}}s to ''Suicide Squad''. Creator/JamesGunn has since said that the film isn't part of the new DC Universe live action continuity starting in 2024, but that the history of that setting will include a "rough memory" of this, ''Film/BlueBeetle'' and ''Series/{{Peacemaker}}'' season 1.
to:
* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'' is a SoftReboot that replaces most of the cast of ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'', but it does make a handful of references to it: Creator/ViolaDavis, Creator/JoelKinnaman, Creator/MargotRobbie, and Creator/JaiCourtney return as Amanda Waller, Rick Flag, ComicBook/HarleyQuinn, and Captain Boomerang, and the film acknowledges that Harley and Boomerang previously served in a different supervillain black ops team run by Waller and supervised by Flag. Harley's own movie ''Film/BirdsOfPrey2020'' likewise only had a few {{Continuity Nod}}s to ''Suicide Squad''. Creator/JamesGunn has since said that the film isn't part of the new DC Universe live action continuity starting in 2024, but that the history of that setting will include a "rough memory" of this, ''Film/BlueBeetle'' ''Film/BlueBeetle2023'' and ''Series/{{Peacemaker}}'' ''Series/Peacemaker2022'' season 1.
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* The 2004 ''[[Film/Catwoman2004 Catwoman]]'' film with Creator/HalleBerry features a new Catwoman named "Patience Phillips" in the lead role instead of Selina Kyle, it doesn't take place in Gotham City, and it makes no reference to any characters from the ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' comics other than Catwoman herself. But it ''does'' notably establish that the film's version of Catwoman is a LegacyCharacter who gets chosen for the role by a "cat goddess", and that there have been numerous "Catwomen" throughout history. During the exposition scene where all of this is laid out, Patience's mentor shows her pictures of previous Catwomen--and one of the pictures is of Creator/MichellePfeiffer in ''Film/BatmanReturns'', hinting that the film takes place in the same universe as Creator/TimBurton and Creator/JoelSchumacher's Batman films (even if it doesn't reference any of their events).
to:
* The 2004 ''[[Film/Catwoman2004 Catwoman]]'' film ''Film/Catwoman2004'' with Creator/HalleBerry features a new Catwoman named "Patience Phillips" in the lead role instead of Selina Kyle, it doesn't take place in Gotham City, and it makes no reference to any characters from the ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' comics other than Catwoman herself. But it ''does'' notably establish that the film's version of Catwoman is a LegacyCharacter who gets chosen for the role by a "cat goddess", and that there have been numerous "Catwomen" throughout history. During the exposition scene where all of this is laid out, Patience's mentor shows her pictures of previous Catwomen--and one of the pictures is of Creator/MichellePfeiffer in ''Film/BatmanReturns'', hinting that the film takes place in the same universe as Creator/TimBurton and Creator/JoelSchumacher's Batman films (even if it doesn't reference any of their events).
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* ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreetPart2FreddysRevenge'' is considered by some the worst of the series, and its events are seemingly ignored in productions that followed -- but elements introduced in that, such as Freddy retaining possession as a power and the Springwood Slasher nickname, appeared in the rest of the franchise, and ''Dream Warriors'' even follows the timeline set by it (''Freddy's Revenge'' is five years after the original, ''Dream Warriors'' is six). Scenes from it are also used in the montages featured in ''Freddy's Dead'' and ''Film/FreddyVsJason''.
** ''[[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet3DreamWarriors Dream Warriors]]'' and the subsequent sequels were perhaps written with the trope deliberately in mind. They don't really mention anything that happened in ''Freddy's Revenge'' (although the fact of Nancy being committed does figure into the proceedings in ''Dream Warriors'') and yet they don't really contradict any of it either, and when in ''Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare'' Freddy says, "First they tried burning me...then they tried burying me...They even tried holy water!" this exact wording allows for "burning" part to refer either to ''Freddy's Revenge'' or to Nancy trying to [[KillItWithFire burn him]] in the first film, or to his original death by burning when he was still human.
** ''[[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet3DreamWarriors Dream Warriors]]'' and the subsequent sequels were perhaps written with the trope deliberately in mind. They don't really mention anything that happened in ''Freddy's Revenge'' (although the fact of Nancy being committed does figure into the proceedings in ''Dream Warriors'') and yet they don't really contradict any of it either, and when in ''Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare'' Freddy says, "First they tried burning me...then they tried burying me...They even tried holy water!" this exact wording allows for "burning" part to refer either to ''Freddy's Revenge'' or to Nancy trying to [[KillItWithFire burn him]] in the first film, or to his original death by burning when he was still human.
to:
* ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'':
** ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreetPart2FreddysRevenge'' was poorly received upon release, and is still considered bysome many fans to be the worst of film in the series, and series -- leading to future films largely ignoring its events are seemingly ignored in productions that followed -- but events. Despite this, a few elements introduced in that, such as that film (like Freddy retaining possession as a power having the ability to [[GrandTheftMe possess the bodies of his victims]], and the his nickname being "The Springwood Slasher nickname, appeared Slasher") ''do'' appear in later installments, and the rest of the franchise, and ''Dream Warriors'' even follows the third film ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet3DreamWarriors'' tacitly acknowledge its timeline set by it (''Freddy's Revenge'' is set five years after the original, while ''Dream Warriors'' is six).set six years after). Scenes from it are also used in the montages featured in ''Freddy's Dead'' and ''Film/FreddyVsJason''.
**''[[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet3DreamWarriors Dream Warriors]]'' ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet3DreamWarriors'' and the subsequent sequels were perhaps written with the trope deliberately in mind. They don't really mention anything that happened in ''Freddy's Revenge'' (although the fact of Nancy being committed does figure into the proceedings in ''Dream Warriors'') and yet they don't really contradict any of it either, and when in ''Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare'' Freddy says, "First they tried burning me...then they tried burying me...They even tried holy water!" this exact wording allows for "burning" part to refer either to ''Freddy's Revenge'' or to Nancy trying to [[KillItWithFire burn him]] in the first film, or to his original death by burning when he was still human.
** ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreetPart2FreddysRevenge'' was poorly received upon release, and is still considered by
**
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** ''Film/GodzillaVsMegaguirus'' says that the ending of the 1954 film didn't happen; Godzilla just walked off into the ocean on his own after Tokyo was completely razed and continued to menace Japan afterwards.
to:
** ''Film/GodzillaVsMegaguirus'' says that the ending of the 1954 film didn't happen; Godzilla just walked off into the ocean on his own after Tokyo was completely razed (leading the Japanese government to move the country's capital to Osaka), and continued to menace Japan afterwards. for years afterward.
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* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'' is a SoftReboot that replaces most of the cast of ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'', but it does make a handful of references to it: Creator/ViolaDavis, Creator/JoelKinnaman, Creator/MargotRobbie, and Creator/JaiCourtney return as Amanda Waller, Rick Flag, ComicBook/HarleyQuinn, and Captain Boomerang, and the film acknowledges that Harley and Boomerang previously served in a different supervillain black ops team run by Waller and supervised by Flag. Harley's own movie ''Film/BirdsOfPrey2020'' likewise only had a few {{Continuity Nod}}s to ''Suicide Squad''.
to:
* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'' is a SoftReboot that replaces most of the cast of ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'', but it does make a handful of references to it: Creator/ViolaDavis, Creator/JoelKinnaman, Creator/MargotRobbie, and Creator/JaiCourtney return as Amanda Waller, Rick Flag, ComicBook/HarleyQuinn, and Captain Boomerang, and the film acknowledges that Harley and Boomerang previously served in a different supervillain black ops team run by Waller and supervised by Flag. Harley's own movie ''Film/BirdsOfPrey2020'' likewise only had a few {{Continuity Nod}}s to ''Suicide Squad''. Creator/JamesGunn has since said that the film isn't part of the new DC Universe live action continuity starting in 2024, but that the history of that setting will include a "rough memory" of this, ''Film/BlueBeetle'' and ''Series/{{Peacemaker}}'' season 1.
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* The CGI ''WesternAnimation/{{TMNT}}'' was shown as a tentative continuation of [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1990 the]] [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIITheSecretOfTheOoze film]] [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIII series]] by Creator/NewLineCinema, but adapted elements of many other sources into its narrative, such as Karai's existence with the Foot Clan and April not being a news reporter. They even had a few {{continuity nod}}s that only serve to make things stressful for fans. WordOfGod is that it's meant to be a sequel to the first movie only, ignoring the two sequels. This of course conflicts with the {{Mythology Gag}}s seen at the very end of the movie.
to:
* The CGI ''WesternAnimation/{{TMNT}}'' was shown as a tentative continuation of [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1990 the]] [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIITheSecretOfTheOoze film]] [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIII series]] by Creator/NewLineCinema, but adapted elements of many other sources into its narrative, such as Karai's existence with the Foot Clan and April not being a news reporter. They even had a few {{continuity nod}}s that only serve to make things stressful for fans. WordOfGod is that it's indeed meant to be a sequel to the first movie only, ignoring the two sequels. This of course conflicts with the {{Mythology Gag}}s seen at the very end of the movie.live-action film series.
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* Prior to Creator/{{Disney}}'s acquisition of the franchise, the ''Franchise/StarWars'' {{canon}} was built on this, with varying degrees of "Priority". Their canon was split up into segments with the theatrical films at the top level. Those who neither love nor loathe the ''Star Wars'' {{prequel}} trilogy tend to find that this is the best way to regard it. It's been said of the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse that every bit of media -- books, comics, games, the TV shows -- is a window into the 'verse, it's just that some windows are clear, some are blurry, and some are downright abstract. Afterwards, this policy was changed. Everything outside the original six theatrical ''Star Wars'' films and ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' was declared part of a separate "Legends" continuity and not canon for the new material. Everything produced from April 25, 2014 onward in any media is now considered fully canon with no priority levels. Writers are free to re-canonize any "Legends" material they see fit, so long as doing so doesn't contradict any of the installments in the Canon.
** However, a sliding scale of canonness has returned, at least to some degree. ''Anime/StarWarsVisions'' is fully non-canon, while the Lego Star Wars projects like ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOStarWarsHolidaySpecial'' and ''Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures'' are stated to being "canon adjacent" rather than accurate depictions of what "really" happens. Then there are the continuity differences, such as Cobb Vanth's origins varying a bit between his appearances in ''Literature/StarWarsAftermath'' and ''Series/TheMandalorian'', and the ''Film/StarWarsTheLastJedi'' contradicting aspects of the novelization of ''Film/StarWarsTheForceAwakens''. Basically, the anime stuff is non-canon unless stated otherwise, the Lego-stuff is semi-canon, and comics/books are fully canon unless contradicted by a film or TV series.
** ''Film/StarWarsTheRiseOfSkywalker'' begins by mentioning in its OpeningCrawl a message [[spoiler:Palpatine sent throughout the galaxy announcing [[BackFromTheDead his return]]]]. This was a reference to an event that happened in ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' used to promote the film.
* The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse has done this with its various incarnations of the Hulk. ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'' is mostly a ContinuityReboot of ''Film/{{Hulk}}'', Creator/EdwardNorton taking over the title role for Creator/EricBana, but it keeps details of the first film in broad strokes, such as starting out in South America, where TheTag of the first film left off. ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' does the same thing to ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'', replacing Norton with Creator/MarkRuffalo but making references to some of the plot points of that film, such as "breaking Harlem." Further installments of the MCU films make more references to ''The Incredible Hulk'', such as bringing back Creator/WilliamHurt as General Ross and showing a picture of Creator/LivTyler as Betty Ross. ''[[Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings Shang-Chi]]'' and the ''[[Series/SheHulkAttorneyAtLaw She-Hulk]]'' series also bring Creator/TimRoth back as Abomination.
* Film/JamesBond:
** When Timothy Dalton took over the role of Bond: as he was about twenty years younger than Roger Moore, the events of the previous films (which had all been quite consistent up to then) were acknowledged to be canon in Broad Strokes but assumed to have occurred more recently than the 1960s.
** ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'' was a clear [[ContinuityReboot reboot]] of the James Bond film series, even providing an OriginStory. But it accepted Judi Dench's M and her uneasy relationship with [[ChivalrousPervert Bond]], both features of the Creator/PierceBrosnan Bond movies. Broad strokes of the Pierce Brosnan era's political landscape also remained ("oh, the Americans are going to be unhappy that we beat them to this!").
* The ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' franchise have a good number of sequels and spin-offs that don't quite align with each other. But since TimeTravel is a major plot instigator, this is embraced as part of the TimeyWimeyBall and each new story just does its own thing while lightly implying events of previous films. Exact dates for Judgement Day have changed, along with the actors, and other events both happen and not happen. More specifically:
** ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'' takes a broad strokes approach to [[Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines the third movie]], seen as FanonDiscontinuity to many, with the only clear reference to it being that Kate ended up as Connor's wife and the Terminator fuel cells. Even still, there weren't any explicit references to ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' (except the Music/GunsNRoses song). The impression was that it was meant to be that you could watch the original ''Film/TheTerminator'' and then this movie without any gaps.
** You can look at the movies as various timelines surrounding the events of the Skynet takeover and the life of John Connor. The idea is that every time a person or a Terminator is sent back in time, the resulting timeline is slightly different, and each movie could be a glimpse at one of the timelines. ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'' hints at this idea, with characters from the future who knew each other in the future finding that the memories of one character before they traveled to the past are not consistent with the memories of another character.
** ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'' also takes the TV show's approach of differing timelines, starting from the events of the original and taking a wild tangent from there (though elements of the second one, such as the T-1000, still show up, [[spoiler: and "Pops" basically becomes the T-X [[Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines from the third]] after he CameBackStrong from the FinalBattle]]). This is was made clear by the fact that the meeting between John Connor and Kyle Reese was completely different from the one in ''Salvation''.
* The CGI ''WesternAnimation/{{TMNT}}'' was shown as a tentative continuation of [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1990 the]] [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIITheSecretOfTheOoze film]] [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIII series]] by Creator/NewLineCinema, but adapted elements of many other sources into its narrative, such as Karai's existence with the Foot Clan and April not being a news reporter. They even had a few {{continuity nod}}s that only serve to make things stressful for fans. WordOfGod is that it's meant to be a sequel to the first movie only, ignoring the two sequels. This of course conflicts with the {{Mythology Gag}}s seen at the very end of the movie.
* ''Franchise/EvilDead'':
** ''Film/EvilDead2'' was supposed to start with a recap of the first movie but Creator/SamRaimi couldn't get copyrights to show footage and the other actors wouldn't come back, so it quickly retells the first movie with just Ash and Linda instead of a gang of friends.
** Some other things get retconned such as the cabin being rented to them being changed to them illegally squatting, which leads to the owner's daughter showing up and thinking Ash killed her parents.
** ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness'' begins with a recap of the second film but {{Ret Con}}s the ending of Ash immediately killing Deadites in the medieval era and being hailed as a hero to him appearing in the aftermath of a battle and being carted off in chains, mistaken for a member of the losing side.
* According to ''Film/RockyBalboa'', the sixth ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' film, Rocky did retire from boxing due to a suspected brain injury, but by modern standards he was completely able to fight; he never asked for a second opinion because Adrian didn't want him to fight anymore. Everything else in ''Film/RockyV'' didn't happen.
* In Film/HammerHorror, ''Film/TheEvilOfFrankenstein'' follows the general events of ''Film/TheCurseOfFrankenstein'' and ''Film/TheRevengeOfFrankenstein'' (Literature/{{Frankenstein}} has created monsters and has been outcast from society for it) but changes several details like the method he used to make them and how the first monster died.
* The original ''Film/{{Highlander}}'' ended in a way that didn't really allow for {{sequel}}s. "There can be only one," said the {{tagline}}, and the movie ends with only one Immortal. ''Film/HighlanderIITheQuickening'' gets around this by bringing in other Immortals from another planet, and ''Film/HighlanderIIITheSorcerer'' (which [[CanonDiscontinuity completely ignores]] ''Highlander II'') uses SealedEvilInACan. The rest of the films (which [[AlternateContinuity follow the]] [[Series/{{Highlander}} TV series]]) accept the original film in broad strokes except for its ending.
* ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreetPart2FreddysRevenge'' is considered by some the worst of the series, and its events are seemingly ignored in productions that followed -- but elements introduced in that, such as Freddy retaining possession as a power and the Springwood Slasher nickname, appeared in the rest of the franchise, and ''Dream Warriors'' even follows the timeline set by it (''Freddy's Revenge'' is five years after the original, ''Dream Warriors'' is six). Scenes from it are also used in the montages featured in ''Freddy's Dead'' and ''Film/FreddyVsJason''.
** ''[[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet3DreamWarriors Dream Warriors]]'' and the subsequent sequels were perhaps written with the trope deliberately in mind. They don't really mention anything that happened in ''Freddy's Revenge'' (although the fact of Nancy being committed does figure into the proceedings in ''Dream Warriors'') and yet they don't really contradict any of it either, and when in ''Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare'' Freddy says, "First they tried burning me...then they tried burying me...They even tried holy water!" this exact wording allows for "burning" part to refer either to ''Freddy's Revenge'' or to Nancy trying to [[KillItWithFire burn him]] in the first film, or to his original death by burning when he was still human.
** ''Film/WesCravensNewNightmare:'' The ''Nightmare on Elm Street'' franchise is subtly implied to be similar but different from the real-world films. There are six films, the sixth of which killed off Freddy, and Heather only appeared as Nancy in the first and third ones. However, it's implied that [[spoiler:Nancy never died in the InUniverse movies]]. Creator/NewLineCinema wants Heather to come back for the seventh movie, and her reaction doesn't imply that this would conflict with the third movie. An interviewer also describes all five sequels to the original movie as popular, while several of the real-world sequels received negative reviews.
* ''Film/FreddyVsJason'' takes this approach to both franchise's canons to make the match-up between its two villains possible. For ''[[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Nightmare]]'', Springwood was basically destroyed by [[Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare the chronologically last movie]] and Freddy killed off (''[[Film/WesCravensNewNightmare New Nightmare]]'' doesn't count as it's a RealWorldEpisode plot). For ''[[Franchise/FridayThe13th Friday]]'', Jason was either [[Film/JasonGoesToHellTheFinalFriday dragged off to hell after his body was blown up by the FBI]] or [[Film/JasonX he was kept and cryogenically frozen and wound up in space]]. Instead, Springwood found a way to block off Freddy's access to their kids by shutting the whole thing up and Jason is buried somewhere in the woods around Camp Crystal Lake after his last outing (?). Also, Lori's house is implied to be the same house that Nancy lived in, and her mother was killed in a similar way to Nancy's mom, so the implication is that Lori and her friends were the first generation of teens previously affected by Freddy.
* The plot of ''Film/MastersOfTheUniverse'' is kicked off when Skeletor and his evil forces "finally" capture Castle Grayskull and the Sorceress, implying that the film was intended to be a live-action continuation of Creator/{{Filmation}}'s [[WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983 animated series]] (which had just recently ended at the time). Despite this, there are numerous differences between the film and the series (most notably: He-Man ''isn't'' an alter ego assumed by Prince Adam of Eternia, and mainstay characters like Cringer and Orko are [[AdaptedOut nowhere to be seen]]), suggesting that they aren't set in exactly the same continuity.
* ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'': Somebody asked Meyer how they would explain the new uniforms, and he said "We don't. The other film doesn't exist." Military services do change their uniforms, but in the end it came as an ultimatum from the cast who hated the over-engineered costumes of the previous film. The bridge design also changed dramatically, enough that it involves speculation that Starfleet ships come with a modulator bridge system and can just switch one out for a new one. Conveniently enough, this appears very plausible when examining the physical models of the ships.
* ''Film/SilentHillRevelation3D'' takes this approach to the plot of [[Film/SilentHill the first movie]] in an attempt to bring its own story closer to [[Franchise/SilentHill the game series]]. There are references, connections, and even flashbacks to the first film's events, and a handful of returning characters, but numerous important plot details are changed or ignored. For example:
** The evil cult's beliefs, symbols, and motives are completely changed from the first film to match the game cult.
** The ending of the first movie is essentially ignored; [[spoiler: Sharon and Dark Alessa are not merged, Rose is still in Silent Hill instead of at home, much (perhaps most) of the cult is still alive even though it was strongly implied they had all been massacred]].
** The main character's age is changed (the movie is set years later, but her change in age from the first film does not match the time span between the movies).
* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries''
** ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' was supposed to be a ContinuityReboot, but the writers didn't want to go all the way, ultimately making it this trope.
** ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'' is mostly treated as CanonDiscontinuity in ''Film/TheWolverine'' (for starters, the opening has Logan in World War II alone instead of accompanied by half-brother Sabretooth), except for some {{Continuity Nod}}s.
** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'' explicitly contradicts elements from ''X-Men Origins: Wolverine'', and WordOfGod is that they were simply treating the movie as CanonDiscontinuity. Despite this, a brief {{Flashback}} to the events of the film (Sabretooth crushing Logan's bone claws) is seen when the young Xavier reads Logan's mind. This presumably means at least ''some'' of that movie still happened.
** ''X-Men Origins: Wolverine'' is treated as this in ''Film/Deadpool2016''. The two movies clearly take place in separate continuities, but there are also enough obvious parallels between the two of them that it can be assumed that at least ''some'' of the events of ''X-Men Origins'' still happened in Deadpool's past. Deadpool is still played by Creator/RyanReynolds, he definitely lives in the same universe as the X-Men, he has definitely met Wolverine, he has enough of a history with the X-Men that he's been invited to join the team numerous times, and he spent several years [[NoodleIncident performing covert operations for a Special Forces team]] prior to the events of the movie. Deadpool ''definitely'' never had his mouth sewed shut by Weapon X, but he could conceivably have served with Wolverine and the rest of Team X during his time in the Special Forces. Note that the superhuman training program in ''Deadpool'' is never explicitly called "Weapon X,"[[note]] Though a few writers and cast members ''have'' called it that in interviews [[/note]] so it technically doesn't contradict the detail about Deadpool first being recruited into Weapon X in the 1970s.
*** ''Film/Deadpool2'' at the end [[spoiler: has a montage at the end where Deadpool goes back in time to fix things, including shooting the ''X-Men Origins'' Deadpool. He also shoots Ryan Reynolds reading the script for ''Film/{{Green Lantern|2011}}'', so it is best to say Deadpool uses continuity as a suggestion or a source of gags rather than anything that makes sense]].
** ''Film/{{Logan}}'' still picks up some things from ''Origins'' -- Wolverine's driver license has the name James Howlett, one of the mutants of the X-23 project has powers drawn from Chris Bradley's DNA, and an adamantium bullet is featured again -- and downright reinterprets one of its elements with [[spoiler:X-24, a Logan clone that deeply resembles that movie's Sabretooth.]]
* ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation'', while keeping the basic ending of the previous film ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' (which ended with [[spoiler: Zartan impersonating the President of the United States and Cobra Commander and Destro being captured]]) omits many characters from the previous film without any explanation, changes the Joes from a multinational team into a solely US-based one, and overall removes many of the fantastical elements of the previous films, and overall has a more realistic feel.
* ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'' shares the same basic concept and setting of the first three films--it's AfterTheEnd in Australia, Max is a former cop, and his family were murdered--but according to WordOfGod is not in exactly the same continuity as them. If you've seen the original movies, the discrepancies are pretty obvious: Max still has his V-8 Interceptor in the opening scene (he lost it in ''Film/TheRoadWarrior'', and it was supposedly the last of its kind), there are apparently multiple flourishing post-apocalyptic civilizations in Australia (the original ''Film/MadMax1'' took place JustBeforeTheEnd), and Max's deceased child was apparently a young girl rather than an infant boy. The idea is that the whole series is in-universe folklore, written long after his real deeds have passed into legend.
* ''Film/AngryVideoGameNerdTheMovie'' coexists somewhat loosely with [[WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd the web series]].
** The series sometimes breaks the fourth wall and acknowledges that the "Nerd" is just Creator/JamesRolfe playing a character he can step away from, but the movie makes it clear that the Nerd is ''always'' the Nerd, on- and off-camera.
** After years of fan demand, the show hinted that the Nerd was going to finally review the infamous ''[[VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial E.T.]]'' on Atari 2600, but for copyright reasons, a [[BlandNameProduct generic stand-in]] called ''Eee Tee'' had to be used instead. When the review segment was later re-edited as a normal episode, the real ''E.T.'' game was swapped back in, with no in-universe explanation for the change.
** Elements of the movie such as the Nerd's day job at a modern game store and his friend/coworker Cooper are never alluded to in the series, creating two subtly different interpretations of the Nerd as a character.
* ''Film/MightyMorphinPowerRangersTheMovie'' was deliberately conceived as taking place in an AlternateContinuity from the original ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' TV show, with the events of its story later being "replaced" in the timeline by Season 3's "Ninja Quest" storyline: the Rangers get their ninja powers from Dulcea of Phaedos in the movie after having their original powers taken by Ivan Ooze, while they get them from Ninjor in the show after having them taken by Rito Revolto. Also, this being a big-budget movie, their suits look completely different (they're bulky, contoured latex rather than tight, sleek spandex). Tommy is also implied to have been an original Ranger rather than a SixthRanger, and Rita and Zedd's forces are completely overhauled (Squat, Babboo, and Finster are [[AdaptedOut nowhere to be seen]], and they include a CanonForeigner named Mordant). Despite most of the characters and cast of the show being in the movie, it's effectively '''''based on''''' the show rather than being a direct continuation.
* ''Film/DirtyLaundry'' is this mixed with LooseCanon and WritingAroundTrademarks. The story is clearly about ComicBook/ThePunisher, but the details are deliberately left very vague, allowing it to be slotted into any continuity or left as it's own universe. For example, the Punisher is played by Creator/ThomasJane who played the character in [[Film/ThePunisher2004 the 2004 adaptation]], so it could be a sequel to that film but no references are made to any events from it. The backstory is thin and ambiguous; Punisher is living in his van after his last adventure went sideways and he's doing some laundry before he gets to work on finding a new hideout. That's all we're told.
* ''Film/GuestHouseParadiso'' is loosely based on the [=TV=] series ''Series/{{Bottom}}''. The main characters have different last names, somehow recovered from being killed by machine gunfire in the final episode and now run a hotel.
* At first, ''Film/{{Bumblebee}}'' seems to be straight prequel to ''Film/Transformers2007'' but it ends with [[spoiler:Optimus Prime and the Autobots arriving on Earth shortly afterwards, instead of Bumblebee calling them only twenty years later. Hence, it picked up elements from the original movies - Bumblebee unable to talk and eventually becoming a Camaro, Sector 7, Megatron's absence - but is a whole new continuity]].
* ''Film/TheReturnOfTheLivingDead'': As the film was more or less an unauthorized sequel to ''Film/{{Night of the Living Dead|1968}}'' by John Russo, who co-wrote that film with George A. Romero before they ended their partnership, the film gets around this by the characters saying that the movie ''Night of the Living Dead'' was based on a true story but that the film got some of the details incorrect.
* Having gone through so many {{Continuity Reboot}}s, the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' films have periodically gone through this in regards to the events of [[Film/Godzilla1954 the first film]] and Godzilla's origins.
** ''Film/GodzillaVsMegaguirus'' says that the ending of the 1954 film didn't happen; Godzilla just walked off into the ocean on his own after Tokyo was completely razed and continued to menace Japan afterwards.
** ''Film/GodzillaAgainstMechagodzilla'' states that most the 1954 film happened except for the part where Godzilla's body was completely destroyed by the Oxygen Destroyer. His skeleton survived, allowing it to become the framework of the cybernetic Mechagodzilla. The film's timeline also includes many of the non-Godzilla kaiju films produced in the Showa era, with events corresponding to release years, though ''Film/{{Gorath}}'' stands out as it was set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture and has the moon being destroyed, presumably meaning only the kaiju attack happened.
** ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'' suggests that Godzilla wasn't killed in 1954, but was buried in ice in Antarctica in a fight with the ''[[Film/{{Atragon}} Gotengo]]'' some undefined time afterwards.
** ''Film/Godzilla2014'' has Godzilla first awakening in 1954, but remained publicly unknown for another sixty years and never having the chance to attack Tokyo before he was nuked back into dormancy.
** Godzilla was originally defined as being some sort of unknown prehistoric amphibious reptile that was mutated by nuclear energy. The Heisei series more clearly defined him as being a mutated "Godzillasaurus", a tyrannosaur-like dinosaur that somehow survived extinction. ''Film/Godzilla1998'' did away with a prehistoric origin, but retained the nuclear mutation and reptilian parts (from an ordinary iguana). The Film/{{Monsterverse}} reestablished Godzilla as a prehistoric amphibious reptile, but while still nuclear, he's not mutated this time. ''Film/ShinGodzilla'' meanwhile again has him as a prehistoric amphibious organism mutated by radiation, but from some kind of fish-like animal this time.
* 2011's ''VideoGame/JurassicParkTheGame'' fit in somewhat well with the movies (outside of an {{Age Lift}}ed main character), which at that point was up to ''Film/JurassicParkIII'' with a fourth movie stuck in DevelopmentHell. But then ''Film/JurassicWorld'' finally released and would contradict several elements of the aforementioned game. Things got more interesting when ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'' has Isla Nublar suffer a volcanic eruption, with the volcano bearing same name as in the video game. Then, the Barbasol can {{MacGuffin}} that was shown destroyed in the game was found in ''WesternAnimation/JurassicWorldCampCretaceous'' and is shown in the possession of Lewis Dodgson in ''Film/JurassicWorldDominion'', further calling things into question. When asked about it, [[WordOfGod writer-director Colin Trevorrow]] said it was done on purpose, saying that ''a'' version of the game's story did happen in the movies, but not ''the same'' one.
** The television series ''WesternAnimation/JurassicWorldCampCretaceous'' is largely regarded as canon but depicts some events from the films in a slightly altered way, which has led fans to suggest that the kids may be UnreliableNarrator's.
* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'' is a SoftReboot that replaces most of the cast of ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'', but it does make a handful of references to it: Creator/ViolaDavis, Creator/JoelKinnaman, Creator/MargotRobbie, and Creator/JaiCourtney return as Amanda Waller, Rick Flag, ComicBook/HarleyQuinn, and Captain Boomerang, and the film acknowledges that Harley and Boomerang previously served in a different supervillain black ops team run by Waller and supervised by Flag. Harley's own movie ''Film/BirdsOfPrey2020'' likewise only had a few {{Continuity Nod}}s to ''Suicide Squad''.
* Due to the lukewarm reception of ''Film/InspectorGadget1999'', ''Film/InspectorGadget2'' took steps to distance itself from its predecessor. Dr. Brenda Bradford catches ChuckCunninghamSyndrome[[note]][[WhatCouldHaveBeen Though she was mentioned in an early animatic]][[/note]] and Gadget and Claw were altered [[TruerToTheText to be more like their cartoon counterparts]]: their civilian names (John Brown and Sanford Scolex respectively) are dropped, Gadget is more bumbling and Claw speaks with a deep, gravelly voice while wearing a wide-brimmed hat that keeps his face obscured from viewers. Aside from vague mentions of Gadget having previously arrested Claw, none of the events of the first film are mentioned and some details even contradict the 1999 film (such as Brick and [=McKibble=] saying [[RememberTheNewGuy they've worked for Claw in the past despite not appearing in the first film]]).
* Sony Pictures adapting the ''Literature/MillenniumSeries'' went from [[Film/TheGirlWithTheDragonTattoo2011 the first]] to the fourth book in ''Film/TheGirlInTheSpidersWeb'', a SoftReboot that could serve as a direct sequel - even if there are mentions to Lisbeth's father Zalanchenko dying and Mikael Blomkvist writing an expose about him, implying the second and third novels still happened.
* The 2004 ''[[Film/Catwoman2004 Catwoman]]'' film with Creator/HalleBerry features a new Catwoman named "Patience Phillips" in the lead role instead of Selina Kyle, it doesn't take place in Gotham City, and it makes no reference to any characters from the ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' comics other than Catwoman herself. But it ''does'' notably establish that the film's version of Catwoman is a LegacyCharacter who gets chosen for the role by a "cat goddess", and that there have been numerous "Catwomen" throughout history. During the exposition scene where all of this is laid out, Patience's mentor shows her pictures of previous Catwomen--and one of the pictures is of Creator/MichellePfeiffer in ''Film/BatmanReturns'', hinting that the film takes place in the same universe as Creator/TimBurton and Creator/JoelSchumacher's Batman films (even if it doesn't reference any of their events).
----
** However, a sliding scale of canonness has returned, at least to some degree. ''Anime/StarWarsVisions'' is fully non-canon, while the Lego Star Wars projects like ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOStarWarsHolidaySpecial'' and ''Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures'' are stated to being "canon adjacent" rather than accurate depictions of what "really" happens. Then there are the continuity differences, such as Cobb Vanth's origins varying a bit between his appearances in ''Literature/StarWarsAftermath'' and ''Series/TheMandalorian'', and the ''Film/StarWarsTheLastJedi'' contradicting aspects of the novelization of ''Film/StarWarsTheForceAwakens''. Basically, the anime stuff is non-canon unless stated otherwise, the Lego-stuff is semi-canon, and comics/books are fully canon unless contradicted by a film or TV series.
** ''Film/StarWarsTheRiseOfSkywalker'' begins by mentioning in its OpeningCrawl a message [[spoiler:Palpatine sent throughout the galaxy announcing [[BackFromTheDead his return]]]]. This was a reference to an event that happened in ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' used to promote the film.
* The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse has done this with its various incarnations of the Hulk. ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'' is mostly a ContinuityReboot of ''Film/{{Hulk}}'', Creator/EdwardNorton taking over the title role for Creator/EricBana, but it keeps details of the first film in broad strokes, such as starting out in South America, where TheTag of the first film left off. ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' does the same thing to ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'', replacing Norton with Creator/MarkRuffalo but making references to some of the plot points of that film, such as "breaking Harlem." Further installments of the MCU films make more references to ''The Incredible Hulk'', such as bringing back Creator/WilliamHurt as General Ross and showing a picture of Creator/LivTyler as Betty Ross. ''[[Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings Shang-Chi]]'' and the ''[[Series/SheHulkAttorneyAtLaw She-Hulk]]'' series also bring Creator/TimRoth back as Abomination.
* Film/JamesBond:
** When Timothy Dalton took over the role of Bond: as he was about twenty years younger than Roger Moore, the events of the previous films (which had all been quite consistent up to then) were acknowledged to be canon in Broad Strokes but assumed to have occurred more recently than the 1960s.
** ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'' was a clear [[ContinuityReboot reboot]] of the James Bond film series, even providing an OriginStory. But it accepted Judi Dench's M and her uneasy relationship with [[ChivalrousPervert Bond]], both features of the Creator/PierceBrosnan Bond movies. Broad strokes of the Pierce Brosnan era's political landscape also remained ("oh, the Americans are going to be unhappy that we beat them to this!").
* The ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' franchise have a good number of sequels and spin-offs that don't quite align with each other. But since TimeTravel is a major plot instigator, this is embraced as part of the TimeyWimeyBall and each new story just does its own thing while lightly implying events of previous films. Exact dates for Judgement Day have changed, along with the actors, and other events both happen and not happen. More specifically:
** ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'' takes a broad strokes approach to [[Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines the third movie]], seen as FanonDiscontinuity to many, with the only clear reference to it being that Kate ended up as Connor's wife and the Terminator fuel cells. Even still, there weren't any explicit references to ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' (except the Music/GunsNRoses song). The impression was that it was meant to be that you could watch the original ''Film/TheTerminator'' and then this movie without any gaps.
** You can look at the movies as various timelines surrounding the events of the Skynet takeover and the life of John Connor. The idea is that every time a person or a Terminator is sent back in time, the resulting timeline is slightly different, and each movie could be a glimpse at one of the timelines. ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'' hints at this idea, with characters from the future who knew each other in the future finding that the memories of one character before they traveled to the past are not consistent with the memories of another character.
** ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'' also takes the TV show's approach of differing timelines, starting from the events of the original and taking a wild tangent from there (though elements of the second one, such as the T-1000, still show up, [[spoiler: and "Pops" basically becomes the T-X [[Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines from the third]] after he CameBackStrong from the FinalBattle]]). This is was made clear by the fact that the meeting between John Connor and Kyle Reese was completely different from the one in ''Salvation''.
* The CGI ''WesternAnimation/{{TMNT}}'' was shown as a tentative continuation of [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1990 the]] [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIITheSecretOfTheOoze film]] [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIII series]] by Creator/NewLineCinema, but adapted elements of many other sources into its narrative, such as Karai's existence with the Foot Clan and April not being a news reporter. They even had a few {{continuity nod}}s that only serve to make things stressful for fans. WordOfGod is that it's meant to be a sequel to the first movie only, ignoring the two sequels. This of course conflicts with the {{Mythology Gag}}s seen at the very end of the movie.
* ''Franchise/EvilDead'':
** ''Film/EvilDead2'' was supposed to start with a recap of the first movie but Creator/SamRaimi couldn't get copyrights to show footage and the other actors wouldn't come back, so it quickly retells the first movie with just Ash and Linda instead of a gang of friends.
** Some other things get retconned such as the cabin being rented to them being changed to them illegally squatting, which leads to the owner's daughter showing up and thinking Ash killed her parents.
** ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness'' begins with a recap of the second film but {{Ret Con}}s the ending of Ash immediately killing Deadites in the medieval era and being hailed as a hero to him appearing in the aftermath of a battle and being carted off in chains, mistaken for a member of the losing side.
* According to ''Film/RockyBalboa'', the sixth ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' film, Rocky did retire from boxing due to a suspected brain injury, but by modern standards he was completely able to fight; he never asked for a second opinion because Adrian didn't want him to fight anymore. Everything else in ''Film/RockyV'' didn't happen.
* In Film/HammerHorror, ''Film/TheEvilOfFrankenstein'' follows the general events of ''Film/TheCurseOfFrankenstein'' and ''Film/TheRevengeOfFrankenstein'' (Literature/{{Frankenstein}} has created monsters and has been outcast from society for it) but changes several details like the method he used to make them and how the first monster died.
* The original ''Film/{{Highlander}}'' ended in a way that didn't really allow for {{sequel}}s. "There can be only one," said the {{tagline}}, and the movie ends with only one Immortal. ''Film/HighlanderIITheQuickening'' gets around this by bringing in other Immortals from another planet, and ''Film/HighlanderIIITheSorcerer'' (which [[CanonDiscontinuity completely ignores]] ''Highlander II'') uses SealedEvilInACan. The rest of the films (which [[AlternateContinuity follow the]] [[Series/{{Highlander}} TV series]]) accept the original film in broad strokes except for its ending.
* ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreetPart2FreddysRevenge'' is considered by some the worst of the series, and its events are seemingly ignored in productions that followed -- but elements introduced in that, such as Freddy retaining possession as a power and the Springwood Slasher nickname, appeared in the rest of the franchise, and ''Dream Warriors'' even follows the timeline set by it (''Freddy's Revenge'' is five years after the original, ''Dream Warriors'' is six). Scenes from it are also used in the montages featured in ''Freddy's Dead'' and ''Film/FreddyVsJason''.
** ''[[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet3DreamWarriors Dream Warriors]]'' and the subsequent sequels were perhaps written with the trope deliberately in mind. They don't really mention anything that happened in ''Freddy's Revenge'' (although the fact of Nancy being committed does figure into the proceedings in ''Dream Warriors'') and yet they don't really contradict any of it either, and when in ''Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare'' Freddy says, "First they tried burning me...then they tried burying me...They even tried holy water!" this exact wording allows for "burning" part to refer either to ''Freddy's Revenge'' or to Nancy trying to [[KillItWithFire burn him]] in the first film, or to his original death by burning when he was still human.
** ''Film/WesCravensNewNightmare:'' The ''Nightmare on Elm Street'' franchise is subtly implied to be similar but different from the real-world films. There are six films, the sixth of which killed off Freddy, and Heather only appeared as Nancy in the first and third ones. However, it's implied that [[spoiler:Nancy never died in the InUniverse movies]]. Creator/NewLineCinema wants Heather to come back for the seventh movie, and her reaction doesn't imply that this would conflict with the third movie. An interviewer also describes all five sequels to the original movie as popular, while several of the real-world sequels received negative reviews.
* ''Film/FreddyVsJason'' takes this approach to both franchise's canons to make the match-up between its two villains possible. For ''[[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Nightmare]]'', Springwood was basically destroyed by [[Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare the chronologically last movie]] and Freddy killed off (''[[Film/WesCravensNewNightmare New Nightmare]]'' doesn't count as it's a RealWorldEpisode plot). For ''[[Franchise/FridayThe13th Friday]]'', Jason was either [[Film/JasonGoesToHellTheFinalFriday dragged off to hell after his body was blown up by the FBI]] or [[Film/JasonX he was kept and cryogenically frozen and wound up in space]]. Instead, Springwood found a way to block off Freddy's access to their kids by shutting the whole thing up and Jason is buried somewhere in the woods around Camp Crystal Lake after his last outing (?). Also, Lori's house is implied to be the same house that Nancy lived in, and her mother was killed in a similar way to Nancy's mom, so the implication is that Lori and her friends were the first generation of teens previously affected by Freddy.
* The plot of ''Film/MastersOfTheUniverse'' is kicked off when Skeletor and his evil forces "finally" capture Castle Grayskull and the Sorceress, implying that the film was intended to be a live-action continuation of Creator/{{Filmation}}'s [[WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983 animated series]] (which had just recently ended at the time). Despite this, there are numerous differences between the film and the series (most notably: He-Man ''isn't'' an alter ego assumed by Prince Adam of Eternia, and mainstay characters like Cringer and Orko are [[AdaptedOut nowhere to be seen]]), suggesting that they aren't set in exactly the same continuity.
* ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'': Somebody asked Meyer how they would explain the new uniforms, and he said "We don't. The other film doesn't exist." Military services do change their uniforms, but in the end it came as an ultimatum from the cast who hated the over-engineered costumes of the previous film. The bridge design also changed dramatically, enough that it involves speculation that Starfleet ships come with a modulator bridge system and can just switch one out for a new one. Conveniently enough, this appears very plausible when examining the physical models of the ships.
* ''Film/SilentHillRevelation3D'' takes this approach to the plot of [[Film/SilentHill the first movie]] in an attempt to bring its own story closer to [[Franchise/SilentHill the game series]]. There are references, connections, and even flashbacks to the first film's events, and a handful of returning characters, but numerous important plot details are changed or ignored. For example:
** The evil cult's beliefs, symbols, and motives are completely changed from the first film to match the game cult.
** The ending of the first movie is essentially ignored; [[spoiler: Sharon and Dark Alessa are not merged, Rose is still in Silent Hill instead of at home, much (perhaps most) of the cult is still alive even though it was strongly implied they had all been massacred]].
** The main character's age is changed (the movie is set years later, but her change in age from the first film does not match the time span between the movies).
* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries''
** ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' was supposed to be a ContinuityReboot, but the writers didn't want to go all the way, ultimately making it this trope.
** ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'' is mostly treated as CanonDiscontinuity in ''Film/TheWolverine'' (for starters, the opening has Logan in World War II alone instead of accompanied by half-brother Sabretooth), except for some {{Continuity Nod}}s.
** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'' explicitly contradicts elements from ''X-Men Origins: Wolverine'', and WordOfGod is that they were simply treating the movie as CanonDiscontinuity. Despite this, a brief {{Flashback}} to the events of the film (Sabretooth crushing Logan's bone claws) is seen when the young Xavier reads Logan's mind. This presumably means at least ''some'' of that movie still happened.
** ''X-Men Origins: Wolverine'' is treated as this in ''Film/Deadpool2016''. The two movies clearly take place in separate continuities, but there are also enough obvious parallels between the two of them that it can be assumed that at least ''some'' of the events of ''X-Men Origins'' still happened in Deadpool's past. Deadpool is still played by Creator/RyanReynolds, he definitely lives in the same universe as the X-Men, he has definitely met Wolverine, he has enough of a history with the X-Men that he's been invited to join the team numerous times, and he spent several years [[NoodleIncident performing covert operations for a Special Forces team]] prior to the events of the movie. Deadpool ''definitely'' never had his mouth sewed shut by Weapon X, but he could conceivably have served with Wolverine and the rest of Team X during his time in the Special Forces. Note that the superhuman training program in ''Deadpool'' is never explicitly called "Weapon X,"[[note]] Though a few writers and cast members ''have'' called it that in interviews [[/note]] so it technically doesn't contradict the detail about Deadpool first being recruited into Weapon X in the 1970s.
*** ''Film/Deadpool2'' at the end [[spoiler: has a montage at the end where Deadpool goes back in time to fix things, including shooting the ''X-Men Origins'' Deadpool. He also shoots Ryan Reynolds reading the script for ''Film/{{Green Lantern|2011}}'', so it is best to say Deadpool uses continuity as a suggestion or a source of gags rather than anything that makes sense]].
** ''Film/{{Logan}}'' still picks up some things from ''Origins'' -- Wolverine's driver license has the name James Howlett, one of the mutants of the X-23 project has powers drawn from Chris Bradley's DNA, and an adamantium bullet is featured again -- and downright reinterprets one of its elements with [[spoiler:X-24, a Logan clone that deeply resembles that movie's Sabretooth.]]
* ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation'', while keeping the basic ending of the previous film ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' (which ended with [[spoiler: Zartan impersonating the President of the United States and Cobra Commander and Destro being captured]]) omits many characters from the previous film without any explanation, changes the Joes from a multinational team into a solely US-based one, and overall removes many of the fantastical elements of the previous films, and overall has a more realistic feel.
* ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'' shares the same basic concept and setting of the first three films--it's AfterTheEnd in Australia, Max is a former cop, and his family were murdered--but according to WordOfGod is not in exactly the same continuity as them. If you've seen the original movies, the discrepancies are pretty obvious: Max still has his V-8 Interceptor in the opening scene (he lost it in ''Film/TheRoadWarrior'', and it was supposedly the last of its kind), there are apparently multiple flourishing post-apocalyptic civilizations in Australia (the original ''Film/MadMax1'' took place JustBeforeTheEnd), and Max's deceased child was apparently a young girl rather than an infant boy. The idea is that the whole series is in-universe folklore, written long after his real deeds have passed into legend.
* ''Film/AngryVideoGameNerdTheMovie'' coexists somewhat loosely with [[WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd the web series]].
** The series sometimes breaks the fourth wall and acknowledges that the "Nerd" is just Creator/JamesRolfe playing a character he can step away from, but the movie makes it clear that the Nerd is ''always'' the Nerd, on- and off-camera.
** After years of fan demand, the show hinted that the Nerd was going to finally review the infamous ''[[VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial E.T.]]'' on Atari 2600, but for copyright reasons, a [[BlandNameProduct generic stand-in]] called ''Eee Tee'' had to be used instead. When the review segment was later re-edited as a normal episode, the real ''E.T.'' game was swapped back in, with no in-universe explanation for the change.
** Elements of the movie such as the Nerd's day job at a modern game store and his friend/coworker Cooper are never alluded to in the series, creating two subtly different interpretations of the Nerd as a character.
* ''Film/MightyMorphinPowerRangersTheMovie'' was deliberately conceived as taking place in an AlternateContinuity from the original ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' TV show, with the events of its story later being "replaced" in the timeline by Season 3's "Ninja Quest" storyline: the Rangers get their ninja powers from Dulcea of Phaedos in the movie after having their original powers taken by Ivan Ooze, while they get them from Ninjor in the show after having them taken by Rito Revolto. Also, this being a big-budget movie, their suits look completely different (they're bulky, contoured latex rather than tight, sleek spandex). Tommy is also implied to have been an original Ranger rather than a SixthRanger, and Rita and Zedd's forces are completely overhauled (Squat, Babboo, and Finster are [[AdaptedOut nowhere to be seen]], and they include a CanonForeigner named Mordant). Despite most of the characters and cast of the show being in the movie, it's effectively '''''based on''''' the show rather than being a direct continuation.
* ''Film/DirtyLaundry'' is this mixed with LooseCanon and WritingAroundTrademarks. The story is clearly about ComicBook/ThePunisher, but the details are deliberately left very vague, allowing it to be slotted into any continuity or left as it's own universe. For example, the Punisher is played by Creator/ThomasJane who played the character in [[Film/ThePunisher2004 the 2004 adaptation]], so it could be a sequel to that film but no references are made to any events from it. The backstory is thin and ambiguous; Punisher is living in his van after his last adventure went sideways and he's doing some laundry before he gets to work on finding a new hideout. That's all we're told.
* ''Film/GuestHouseParadiso'' is loosely based on the [=TV=] series ''Series/{{Bottom}}''. The main characters have different last names, somehow recovered from being killed by machine gunfire in the final episode and now run a hotel.
* At first, ''Film/{{Bumblebee}}'' seems to be straight prequel to ''Film/Transformers2007'' but it ends with [[spoiler:Optimus Prime and the Autobots arriving on Earth shortly afterwards, instead of Bumblebee calling them only twenty years later. Hence, it picked up elements from the original movies - Bumblebee unable to talk and eventually becoming a Camaro, Sector 7, Megatron's absence - but is a whole new continuity]].
* ''Film/TheReturnOfTheLivingDead'': As the film was more or less an unauthorized sequel to ''Film/{{Night of the Living Dead|1968}}'' by John Russo, who co-wrote that film with George A. Romero before they ended their partnership, the film gets around this by the characters saying that the movie ''Night of the Living Dead'' was based on a true story but that the film got some of the details incorrect.
* Having gone through so many {{Continuity Reboot}}s, the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' films have periodically gone through this in regards to the events of [[Film/Godzilla1954 the first film]] and Godzilla's origins.
** ''Film/GodzillaVsMegaguirus'' says that the ending of the 1954 film didn't happen; Godzilla just walked off into the ocean on his own after Tokyo was completely razed and continued to menace Japan afterwards.
** ''Film/GodzillaAgainstMechagodzilla'' states that most the 1954 film happened except for the part where Godzilla's body was completely destroyed by the Oxygen Destroyer. His skeleton survived, allowing it to become the framework of the cybernetic Mechagodzilla. The film's timeline also includes many of the non-Godzilla kaiju films produced in the Showa era, with events corresponding to release years, though ''Film/{{Gorath}}'' stands out as it was set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture and has the moon being destroyed, presumably meaning only the kaiju attack happened.
** ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'' suggests that Godzilla wasn't killed in 1954, but was buried in ice in Antarctica in a fight with the ''[[Film/{{Atragon}} Gotengo]]'' some undefined time afterwards.
** ''Film/Godzilla2014'' has Godzilla first awakening in 1954, but remained publicly unknown for another sixty years and never having the chance to attack Tokyo before he was nuked back into dormancy.
** Godzilla was originally defined as being some sort of unknown prehistoric amphibious reptile that was mutated by nuclear energy. The Heisei series more clearly defined him as being a mutated "Godzillasaurus", a tyrannosaur-like dinosaur that somehow survived extinction. ''Film/Godzilla1998'' did away with a prehistoric origin, but retained the nuclear mutation and reptilian parts (from an ordinary iguana). The Film/{{Monsterverse}} reestablished Godzilla as a prehistoric amphibious reptile, but while still nuclear, he's not mutated this time. ''Film/ShinGodzilla'' meanwhile again has him as a prehistoric amphibious organism mutated by radiation, but from some kind of fish-like animal this time.
* 2011's ''VideoGame/JurassicParkTheGame'' fit in somewhat well with the movies (outside of an {{Age Lift}}ed main character), which at that point was up to ''Film/JurassicParkIII'' with a fourth movie stuck in DevelopmentHell. But then ''Film/JurassicWorld'' finally released and would contradict several elements of the aforementioned game. Things got more interesting when ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'' has Isla Nublar suffer a volcanic eruption, with the volcano bearing same name as in the video game. Then, the Barbasol can {{MacGuffin}} that was shown destroyed in the game was found in ''WesternAnimation/JurassicWorldCampCretaceous'' and is shown in the possession of Lewis Dodgson in ''Film/JurassicWorldDominion'', further calling things into question. When asked about it, [[WordOfGod writer-director Colin Trevorrow]] said it was done on purpose, saying that ''a'' version of the game's story did happen in the movies, but not ''the same'' one.
** The television series ''WesternAnimation/JurassicWorldCampCretaceous'' is largely regarded as canon but depicts some events from the films in a slightly altered way, which has led fans to suggest that the kids may be UnreliableNarrator's.
* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'' is a SoftReboot that replaces most of the cast of ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'', but it does make a handful of references to it: Creator/ViolaDavis, Creator/JoelKinnaman, Creator/MargotRobbie, and Creator/JaiCourtney return as Amanda Waller, Rick Flag, ComicBook/HarleyQuinn, and Captain Boomerang, and the film acknowledges that Harley and Boomerang previously served in a different supervillain black ops team run by Waller and supervised by Flag. Harley's own movie ''Film/BirdsOfPrey2020'' likewise only had a few {{Continuity Nod}}s to ''Suicide Squad''.
* Due to the lukewarm reception of ''Film/InspectorGadget1999'', ''Film/InspectorGadget2'' took steps to distance itself from its predecessor. Dr. Brenda Bradford catches ChuckCunninghamSyndrome[[note]][[WhatCouldHaveBeen Though she was mentioned in an early animatic]][[/note]] and Gadget and Claw were altered [[TruerToTheText to be more like their cartoon counterparts]]: their civilian names (John Brown and Sanford Scolex respectively) are dropped, Gadget is more bumbling and Claw speaks with a deep, gravelly voice while wearing a wide-brimmed hat that keeps his face obscured from viewers. Aside from vague mentions of Gadget having previously arrested Claw, none of the events of the first film are mentioned and some details even contradict the 1999 film (such as Brick and [=McKibble=] saying [[RememberTheNewGuy they've worked for Claw in the past despite not appearing in the first film]]).
* Sony Pictures adapting the ''Literature/MillenniumSeries'' went from [[Film/TheGirlWithTheDragonTattoo2011 the first]] to the fourth book in ''Film/TheGirlInTheSpidersWeb'', a SoftReboot that could serve as a direct sequel - even if there are mentions to Lisbeth's father Zalanchenko dying and Mikael Blomkvist writing an expose about him, implying the second and third novels still happened.
* The 2004 ''[[Film/Catwoman2004 Catwoman]]'' film with Creator/HalleBerry features a new Catwoman named "Patience Phillips" in the lead role instead of Selina Kyle, it doesn't take place in Gotham City, and it makes no reference to any characters from the ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' comics other than Catwoman herself. But it ''does'' notably establish that the film's version of Catwoman is a LegacyCharacter who gets chosen for the role by a "cat goddess", and that there have been numerous "Catwomen" throughout history. During the exposition scene where all of this is laid out, Patience's mentor shows her pictures of previous Catwomen--and one of the pictures is of Creator/MichellePfeiffer in ''Film/BatmanReturns'', hinting that the film takes place in the same universe as Creator/TimBurton and Creator/JoelSchumacher's Batman films (even if it doesn't reference any of their events).
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