Franchise

How important are film franchises to producers and audience?

Franchises in the film industry are very important to the creation of profits for studios and increasing box office totals from audience members around the globe. This is due to the realisation from Hollywood that the rest of the world can in fact be capitalised upon for broader markets to expand production into through setting and casting actors of a certain country or region very tactfully in order to bring in a larger audience. For example, Universal Studios who own the Despicable Me franchise made less worldwide from Despicable Me 2 than they did with the release of the spin off film Minions which focuses on the antics of several of the little yellow creatures made famous through their inclusion to the franchise. This is because the marketing campaign around the world was so forceful that it saw the Minions take over many global brands such as McDonalds, Tic Tac, Comcast’s Xfinity, Chiquita Bananas and Chinese smartphone maker Vivo. Through this, the entire world was made aware of the Minions and therefore was more enticed to go and watch it at the cinema. This is especially prevalent in areas such as China where animated movies are booming. Even without a Despicable Me 2 release, animated features grossed $248 million (1.5 billion yuan) in 2013, up from $104 million (630 million yuan) in 2009.

In this case too, family movies such as Minions do well at bringing in more people as families will go and see the film together and younger children have to go to the cinema with at least one parent therefore every ticket sale for younger children can be essentially almost doubled.

On a more close to home view, franchises have been able to expand the cinematic universe for many successful films through the introduction of sequels, merchandise, theme parks etc. This has been proven to work through franchises such as Fast and Furious, Terminator, Jurassic Park, Star Wars and of course the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe which in itself has been able to almost guarantee the years biggest blockbuster hit since the release of The Avengers in 2012. This is because the audience are already made pre aware of the characters and sometimes even the plot of the film.

As well as this, the creation of a franchise issues the development of merchandise that allows the brand to meet a plethora of audience types from children - possibly even babies - to adults and make them aware of the brands specific features.

Sequels are a studio’s technique for easily creating a project that will be able to rake in as much as or more box office profits than its predecessor as well as bringing critical excellence to the studio. After realising their potential after The Godfather: Part II became the first sequel to win best picture at the Academy Awards, follow ups to the successful films were able to squeeze a franchise for all they were worth over the next twenty years and until present.

Studios favour them, as they are relatively easy to produce creatively. For example, pick an action film that was a success, lets say Die Hard, where the protagonist fought off criminals in a skyscraper in Los Angeles, the sequel was simply moved to a different location of an airport where he still fought off a gang of criminals.  

Negatives of franchise for audience:

• ·      Less independent films
• ·      Less chance of finding a new project that is exciting and not simply regurgitation

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Negatives of franchise for producers:

• ·      Less creative scope
• ·      Independent filmmakers are severely underestimated
• ·      Monopolises the film industry