Highlander 2

The only Bond reboot has been Casino Royale.

No.

Why not? It's clearly a sequel and after the prequels, clone wars and last 15 years of PT era Star Wars, it's kind of a reboot as well.

It is in no way a reboot. It's a sequel to Return of the Jedi.

Which version? The one where they fucked up the storyline and made Connor McLeod into an Alien instead of immortal?

It's a reboot in the sense that's it's a changing of the guard. The old characters are being phased out, passing the baton to a new group of main characters.
Not unlike Star Trek: Generations which ended TOS crew moving full time to TNG crew.

That's not a reboot. A reboot involves recasting the existing roles and restarting the series altogether.

Star Trek has to be the best answer here. Unlike every other reboot (probably) ever, it's not a do over. It's just a new timeline.

Wouldn't it be X-Men: First Class? Days of Future Past seems like a direct sequel to First Class whereas First Class comes off as more of a reboot/sequel.

Well First Class was originally intended to be a prequel, and for the most part it was, some minor continuity issues aside. While DOFP was certainly a direct sequel to First Class, it also firmly rebooted the old continuity.

It's not a changing of the guard, it's a continuation of the Skywalker story. Naturally characters are going to change with a decades-long and counting storyline. Generations was a "passing of the torch" film but that doesn't make it a reboot either. Your definition of the term is skewed.

yes

Just for the record, the following are NOT sequels (they're reboots that are semi-sequels..the OPPOSITE of what the OP asked about):

Star Trek (2009)
Creed


The Force Awakens is definitely a sequel that also serves as a semi-reboot.

But it's NOT a sequel...you're misunderstanding the OP's question. He's talking about direct sequels that also offered fresh characters/ideas that re-launched a "stale" series in new ways. Star Trek (2009) was a reboot that also tied in to the old story...total opposite of what the OP meant (I think!).

If you're going to argue this, then we need a clear definition of what a "semi-reboot" is. Many of the movies others are mentioning are also just continuations (sequels) and not really reboots.

Creed - I wouldn't say it's a reboot at all. I agree it's not a sequel, but another story in Rocky's world, where he's a supporting member.

I disagree.

A reboot can also be a simple change of direction. The only Star Wars that has existed for the last 17 years has been Anakin Skywalker and the Clone Wars. Disney killed the Clone Wars and all but abandoned that time period in an effort to effectively reboot the franchise.

I don't see The Force Awakens as a reboot. It's a new story in the Star Wars universe and a sequel to Return of the Jedi. Disney isn't placing as much emphasis on the Prequel Trilogy but they haven't wrote it out of existence in the continuity. Frankly I don't see Creed as a true reboot either. It's still in the Rocky universe of films and is following events and characters previously known while introducing a new character.

To me a reboot is a previously existing franchise that's telling a new story with new actors. Something like Batman Begins is a good example.

Nope. A reboot indicates an erasing or ignoring of the previous movies. Such as Casino Royale. The previous Bond movies were in a completely different continuity - one that did not exist in Casino Royale's world.

On the other hand, Sean Connery's Bond went after revenge for Blofeld killing his (Lazenby's) wife in the previous movie. And Roger Moore's Bond visited his wife's grave (again, Lazenby was the one portraying Bond as he got married and was suddenly widowed in the same day) and it was clearly HIS wife as he had a pained, regretful look on his face as he put flowers on her grave. Timothy Dalton's Bond was still not over the death of his wife (again, referring back to Lazenby's movie) when Felix's new bride brought up the issue of Bond getting married someday (and Tracy's death was still a raw nerve for him, so much so that when Della is killed on her wedding day to Felix Bond completely loses it and goes after revege - again - regardless of losing his job, his life, or whatever the consequences were). It is clearly the same character who has gone through the same events.

Until Casino Royale.

That' a reboot. It ignores/deletes/erases the previous movies from it's cinematic universe. It's starting over by losing the history.

But the Op is asking about a "semi-reboot", as opposed to a "reboot"

And that's fine - but there was also a question as to what constituted a true Reboot. A change in direction isn't a reboot. A change in actors isn't a reboot.

A semi-reboot or a soft reboot isn't really a reboot, but it is that change in direction or change in characters or actors without losing continuity.

The Pierce Brosnan era of the Bond movies could have been seen as a soft reboot. He was supposed to be the same character with the same history, but they just didn't talk about it. And then he got a new female M and a new, more empowered Moneypenny - but it was still supposed to be the same guy with the same history. Sort of. Craig's Bond in CR was totally different. None of the stuff that happened before was part of his life. He was never a spy during the Cold War. It was a fairly major change, and a RESTARTING of the whole series.

But none of this gets as complicated as the Godzilla series. It was rebooted with Godzilla 1985, and again with Godzilla 2000. But the millennium series for Big G featured no fewer than 4 reboots out of the 6 movies in that era! And they were fairly hard reboots, too!

Thanks for all of the replies. And I apologize about any confusion by what I meant by a "semi-reboot." As others have stated, by semi-reboot I meant the start of a new series with new characters and a new direction in the story, but that also keeps a couple of the older characters and takes place in the series's already established continuity.

In TV terms - a spinoff, more or less.

If going by this terminology than I would go with:
Star Trek: Generations
Star Trek (2009)
Star Wars: Phantom Menace
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Creed
U.S. Marshals (was intended as a series but never took off)
Shaft