How important are film franchises for producers and audience?

Film franchises, a series of films connected by at least one common element, are incredibly important to both the fulfilment of audience expectations and to the studios and producers hoping to make huge sums of money on a single series’ intellectual property.

The audience for these franchises, after several films and spin-offs or tie-ins, become engrossed in the world of these films and will emotionally invest heavily in the universe. For example, the Harry Potter franchise expands beyond the films and this audience will want to experience each facet of the Potter universe; be it a new theme park attraction, a studio tour and through many different spin-offs and tie-ins such as video games. Not through manipulation, but through the careful expansion of a film franchise producers provide the audience with fulfilment. They produce new films and continue the story of the characters they are so involved with over many years and continue to keep the brand alive in the public consciousness, of course leading to a higher profit in total. The series becomes a social experience and studios prey upon this sensibility. Producers provide audiences with entertainment and keep that audience entertained over years of films, toys, video games, theme parks and other merchandise – a shared bond with the studio and audience.

For producers in particular, the success or failure of a single film will either seize the prospect of a franchise or damage these prospects irrevocably. Walt Disney Pictures’ John Carter didn’t turn a profit at the box-office and stunted any hope of a huge scale science fiction franchise such as Star Wars, yet with the immense wealth of Disney John Carter was merely a blemish on their total profit loss that year. For some studios, failure means the destruction of the company unlike Disney. This suggests that studios are willing to spend more on budgets in the hopes of success, but also spend less in case of a huge flop. Many studios are known for one single franchise, so making a mark on the industry is very important to producers in terms of the public awareness of a product. This awareness allows studios to make even more money than the film series through synergy, the collaboration of multiple companies owned by the same proprietor working to promote a single product. Synergy can save a franchise, even if the film series underperforms. Similarly, a long dormant franchise can still provide a flow of revenue through merchandise such as the ALIEN and Star Trek franchises.

Audience expectations are also incredibly important to a film’s commercial and critical success. The Batman franchise, one of the highest earning in the entire industry, is no stranger to this. 1992’s Batman Returns was a sequel to 1989’s Batman and much darker than its predecessor in terms of graphic violence and tone. The studio, Warner Bros, holds this as the reason for its underperformance at the box-office compared with the original film and created much controversy. Batman Returns was a victim of its own expectations, promising a tone in line with the first film when its audience were perhaps not children. Audiences expect what they saw in the first film, but bigger and better – this was why Returns was such a critical success. 1995’s Batman Forever ditched the director of the first two films and brought in a new director to produce a more family-friendly and mainstream film, hoping for a much higher box office performance comparatively. This film brought in a bigger element of comedy alongside action and romance prevalent in the franchise so far. Broadening the appeal of the franchise was a complete commercial success, but alienated critics with the repetition of the story of the last film. Much lighter, more campy and even funnier was Batman Forever in its attempt to grab a younger demographic. So, in the attempt to seize higher profit than the last film and successfully continue the franchise – the studio meddled and crafted a different experience, perhaps betraying the original audience. This shows just how important a film franchise such as Batman is to producers that they would go to drastic lengths to improve the chance of success.

In conclusion, film franchises are always going to be important to studios as they provide multiple streams of revenue not only at the box-office but also through the avenues of tie-ins and spin-offs. These offshoots expand the brand awareness in the public consciousness, eventually increasing the status of such a brand and the film series will flourish. This is an incredible opportunity for studios to build foundations for multiple films in a series and increased profit in the long run.