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Introduction
Franchises
What, when, who, how, why? Briefly cover their effect on cinema.
Intellectual property involving the same central characters, settings and trademarks of an original wok of media such as film.
Franchise Importance
Franchises have become the dominant format for films in Hollywood. The modern reliance on franchises began with the release of X-Men (1999) and The Matrix (1999).
Franchise Success
Of the top 10 highest grossing films of all time, 7 are franchises, of 2014, all 10 are.
Producers
Pre-existing fan bases
The pros and cons of this approach.
Profits
Synergy
Pre-existing Fan Bases
Producers can pick and choose the most popular stories, tapping into a massive pre-existing fan base. However, this approach runs the risk of misrepresenting the original property and alienating fans.
Bryan Singer's X-Men.
Franchises are designed to make profits, by using formulaic stories and '5 year plans'; telling the story over several franchises is a license to print money. Evidence of this is Marvel's schedule of releases over the next decade
8 Harry Potter films.
Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy.
Synergy is where most of the profit is made. If a franchise can capture a core audience it can maintain success (by staying true to it's form; Alien) and sell merchandise through many companies. This is called horizontal integration.
Case Study
Star Wars (Lucas, 1977)
Production budget: $11 million
Domestic gross: $307m
It's cultural neutrality afforded it international success, to a the degree that it doubled Fox's stock price in 3 weeks. In exchange for a lower salary, Lucas retained the merchandising and sequel rights, which is where the real money came from ($7bn).
The Golden Compass (Weitz, 2007)
Production budget: $180 million
Domestic gross: $70m
It made $300m overseas, but New Line Cinema sold overseas rights to fund the production. It's anti-Christian themes were likely the reason for its poor US performance.
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