How important are film franchises to film studios?

Film franchises allow film studios, importantly, to produce massive box office revenue. If a single film is successful enough, another will be made in the same series to spawn a franchise with enough room for more instalments. Brand loyalty is an important part of this process, prompting fans of the first film to seek out the second, third and so on. This means that often a sequel will make much more money than its predecessor at the box office, seeking a wider audience than the first. A fantastic example of this is the Batman franchise and its effect not only as a film series but also its success in other media.

From a small audience of comic book readers since 1939, Batman was adapted into film serials and more popularly a television series in 1966. The camp and silly series proved popular, but diminished the image of a dark and brooding vigilante from the early comics. Even so, a film was produced from the 60s series simply titled ‘Batman’ in 1966. This colourful image of the character remained that way until the film series finally caught up in 1989’s ‘Batman’. A marketing blitz accompanied the film, such as Pepsi and McDonald’s product tie-ins. The studio behind the film, Warner Bros, created synergy through its ownership of DC Comics – the publishers of the monthly comic series and created a tie-in comic book to release around the release of the film. This process is called ‘Horizontal Integration’, the expansion of one product into many different sectors in the industry. Warner are able to create many different product tie-ins to the main product in hundreds of sectors much different to the actual film; from cutlery to action figures, able to keep the character in the public consciousness.  

Another film in the series, a sequel to ‘Batman’ entitled ‘Batman Returns’ was released in 1992. Now there is an animated series produced by Warner Bros. Animation to air around the release of the sequel: ‘Batman: The Animated Series’, tapping into a more-child friendly market on FOX and Cartoon Network – owned by Warner Bros.