The Antagonist dies early. With at least 30 mins to go in the movie.

I know there are plenty where the protag dies early, but can't think of any where the bad guy or gal does.

And who better to ask, than ya'll.

Hit me.

Hmm.

Luke Cage series?

Cottonmouth dies pretty early on, but he is then replaced by a bigger, badder villain mentioned before: Diamond Back

In the Wizard of Oz, when the witch dies they still have the problem of how to get home. They get back to Oz and the wizard won't see them, if I remember. So it might not be 30 minutes before, but there's still the main problem even after she dies: getting home.

In the Godfather, the antagonist we meet early in the story dies like around the midpoint. Of course, more powerful enemies remain, but the man who engineers the shooting of the Don gets it early.

How about The Rock?

Quoted from leitskev In the Wizard of Oz, when the witch dies they still have the problem of how to get home. They get back to Oz and the wizard won't see them, if I remember. So it might not be 30 minutes before, but there's still the main problem even after she dies: getting home.

I havent seen that movie in years. That's exactly the type of scenario I'm looking for.

Quoted from Mr. Blonde How about The Rock?

I haven't seen that. Perhaps I will watch.
Cheers

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films Hmm. Luke Cage series? Cottonmouth dies pretty early on, but he is then replaced by a bigger, badder villain mentioned before: Diamond Back

Hmmm, I'm leaning towards films more so. But good example.
Cheers

I think maybe different scenarios could work. In most cases, as long as the antagonistic force remains, the hero still faces the obstacle. So your story's Darth Vader character might die at the end of act two, but the Empire remains to be defeated. There might be reasons particular to your story for doing it that way.

Another thing I have notices is that a lot of movies have a kind of reset at the beginning of act three. Usually this comes from the hero finally learning what he needs to know, but there can be more to it. This realization might culminate in the defeat of the villain.

If you have a reset, treat it like the beginning of a story in some ways. Set up a huge final obstacle that has to be overcome.

There are so many films that have killed off a big star early on and it's risky but if done right it can be really a gut punch to the audience. I remember watching 15 Minutes ...and Dinero was killed off like at the beginning! I was like WHAT??? this is why I came to the movie! But not a lot of villains are killed off early unless you can trick the audience or, as Kevin stated, have the threat of the dead villain carry on through the movie.

How about when Samuel Jackson was swallowed up by that giant shark in Deep Blue Sea?! That wasn't far into the movie if I remember correctly but I remember it shocked me! I was like what are they going to do now!

It's like the writer throws in a false protagonist. Maybe for star quality or whatever. They start off as what appears to be a main character and then they are killed off. It makes an audience really mad at first but if the movie pays off in the end... you will think.... how clever was that!