How about a family movie? 1. Family intact 2. Not-all-that-threatening monster attacks 3. Kids deal with threat on their own 4. Family reunited

Action movie: 1. Hero estranged from wife/child 2. Wife/child kidnapped 3. Hero shoots and beats up everything in his path (extra points for destroying vehicles and infrastructure) 4. Hero reconciled with wife/child

The movies in these recipes would only be 2 minutes long at best. It's the other 108 minutes of material that makes a difference.