How important are film franchises for audiences and producers?

I believe that film franchises are very important for audiences and producers because they give audiences the chance to go on a journey with the characters and see them develop. Take Harry Potter for example, as a child I loved Harry Potter and being able to grow up with the characters helped me connect with them more, they experienced the same struggles that I was going through at that age but with more action and fantasy, giving me the chance to escape from reality and go and see my ‘friends’ accept another challenge and fight another battle. As an audience we’re now able to engage with the story and characters outside of the of the cinema thanks to synergy. We can now go on even more adventures with characters as we can play games, and control their every move. This is synergy as we’re able to interact with the franchise in more than one format. For example when Frozen came out it became very popular very quickly and now you can buy toys, games, dresses, sing along DVDs, scooters and many more items. Franchises are now able to offer a social experience, as we like to experience them with our friends now, this is positive for audiences as we’re now able to spend more time with friends and family. It also brings different age groups together as I always went to see Harry Potter films with my older brother, giving us more to talk about.  The previous films in a franchise create expectations for an audience which guarantees an instant “like” for the next couple of films. For example if you wen to see Thor then you’re guaranteed to like the second and third if it comes out.

However franchises do have their negatives for audiences, for example the franchise reduces the potential choices of films that we’re now able to watch and then more studios begin to make franchises and not independent films, in the top grossing films of 2014 there were 15 franchises and this shows us that our choices are being limited and as an audience we’re accepting this because we enjoy franchises. But then again do franchises insult us an audience? It’s like we’re getting told what to watch and that we don’t want any independent films, our intelligence is getting insulted as we’re now only shown franchises, we don’t get a say in what gets and accept the fact that there are no more challenging films. As a result of this films are becoming more predictable and no we have less choice than ever before.