How important are film franchises for audiences and producers? - Film Practice Exam

Film franchises do so well in the industry for many reasons, as they are important to the audience as well as the producers. A Film franchise is a certain number of films that are all connected by a specific and certain element. To create a film franchise there is a process in which the companies must go through in order to succeed. Horizontal integration is the process of conglomerates being able to sell the same product or a variation of it through different media outlets, and through this process this creates synergy which is the interaction of multiple elements (e.g film companies) to produce a greater effect together than individual components. 

Although there is the technical side to how film franchises work there is also the basic importance of them and the purpose they serve. For example the Star Wars films. That franchise has lasted for a long time as it captured the audience and it still does, this lead to the franchise being bought by Disney, the purpose of buying the Star Wars is not to make more films but for Disney it meant they an create a theme park dedicated to the franchise and make money that way. The advantages for Disney is that Star Wars will never be forgotten because it is so big, so they will never stop making money and they can create as many different adaptations from the Star Wars brand as possible. Obviously for the producers this is great for them as it gives them a reputation and builds up their name for having been a part of starting that franchise that was such a big success. 
This is the same for other franchises such as Harry Potter. Harry Potter from all of the films alone together made $7,709,205,984 at the worldwide box office, not counting the merchandise, theme park or studio tours. This franchise was of course extremely popular and important to the audience and producers.  From the first film it was based on the novels by J.K Rowling which were already very popular and famous which meant that there where already people interested in this new film adaptation and an audience with high expectations. Even the first film offered escapism for the audience and captured their attention with the character Harry Potter and with the elements of fantasy and adventure. As this franchise started as the main age group who appreciated it most was around 11 year olds who where the same age as the main character, so as they watched this first film they could recognise the same themes in it that Harry was encountering for the first time too, these themes being such things as friendship, although for harry this also included magic. This meant that the audience felt a part of personal identity within the film making it more appealing. 
As this certain franchise went on the story lines and the stylistic features matured so did the audience. The films took a darker grittier turn in Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban, from then on the films had a less feel good factor as it led up the cinematic climax. However it did still follow the same familiar simple structures as all of the other films that the audience loved, this being how Harry, Ron and Hermione always go to Hogwarts, find something going wrong, accusing the wrong person, and then solving the problem anyway with some mention of Voldermort. This familiar basic narrative structure went on until the last film or two. This being The Deathly Hallows. The last Harry Potter film was the one that made the most money at the worldwide box office,$1,328,111,219, for many obvious reasons. This film was important to a vastly wide audience. One of the worlds biggest and most known franchise films were coming to an end in one giant climactic ending. The audience who had started this adventure with Harry in the beginning 7 years ago was know about to see how it all ended and if/how Harry Potter defeated the dark lord which was what it had all been leading up to. This particular film played on the emotions of the audience with the amount of deaths and just the emotion between all of the characters. The audiences came flooding to the cinema to see this last Harry Potter film so they could see all of the final reveals of certain characters pasts and futures. For some audience it was to see how Voldermort died, others to see if Ron and Hermione ended up together or to see what happened with Snape.

Now as these films where going on and gathering a bigger and bigger audience from the start there where also different companies creating synergy into making such things as theme parks, studio tours and a lot of merchandise. The success of the franchise obviously meant that the producer and film companies could basically sell anything with the Harry Potter name on it. Replica wands for every single character stretching up to hundreds of pounds, or film cels. A theme park was opened in florida by the producers and meant that the audience could enter in the magic Wizarding World of Harry Potter. This was also the case when in London they opened the Harry Potter Studios, where they showcased the actual sets and props used. Each of these places obviously made a lot of money for the producers. However for the audience and producers film franchises can mean an awful lot more than just money. Film franchises can last for a very long time and in Harry Potter's case another novel called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them which although isn't about Harry Potter himself, it is to do with the wizarding world which is all that is important to the audience, to be apart of the magic again. This will be coming out and then most likely turned into a film as it is a part of the producers and audiences lives that will never be forgotten.