"Neither producers nor audience need stars anymore"

How far do you agree with this statement?

I believe this statement to be true because audiences are more interested in franchises and producers can make more money from a franchise. Franchises meet audiences expectations and can sell well internationally. Every year more and more franchise films come out and less star driven films are released. For example, in 2013 8 out of 10 of the highest grossing films of that year were franchise films and 2 weren't (Gravity and Oz the Great and Powerful). And then in 2014 there was only one film out of the highest grossing 10 that wasn't a franchise, Interstellar. This clearly shows that film franchises, re-makes and sequels are more appealing than the stars who appear in them or direct them. Back in the 80s and 90s most films were star driven by stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Cruise, in films like Terminator, Top Gun, and Predator. However, there are still some stars that can be the main selling point of a film and does well. For example, Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant. It replaced Star Wars: The Force Awakens in number 1 in the Box Office which was a very loved franchise film. The Revenant did so well because of the performance by Leonardo DiCaprio and managed to become number one in the Box Office.

Now franchises are what people want to see and what producers want to make. Franchises are important because they're cash cows, producers can just keep milking it until people don't want to see the film anymore and they make a new one. They are also important because of synergy. Producers can make a lot more money from selling other stuff that are part of the franchise, like video games, toys, TV shows and merchandise. They make the least amount of money from making films than other products but they wouldn't sell without the film. For example, Disney (the 66th largest corporation in the world) have a revenue of $42.3 billion and a Net income of $6.1 billion. They also make $20.36 billion on Media Networks, $14.09 billion on parks and resorts, $5.98 billion on studio entertainment, $3.56 billion on consumer products and $1.06 billion on interaction. Another reason is franchises can financially support companies. For example, Disney lost $200 million when they made John Carter in 2012 because it did so bad but when Disney brought out The Avengers, they made $1.518 billion, so all the money that was lost from John Carter, a standalone film, was made back from a franchise film and there was still a lot more money left over. This shows that franchise films can financially support companies, even big ones like Disney. Another reason why franchises are important is because they are on-going narrative experiences. Franchises are stories that go on for years and years, sometimes decades, and it keeps the audience interested but standalone films are just for 2-3 hours and then its done. A film in a franchise will come out every year continuing the same story as the last and expanding the universe of that film, it keeps the audience interested in the films and they will keep watching it because the films are fulfilling their needs of expectation. People expect the same thing to happen in a franchise but differently. They want the same characters in a the same kind of trouble but with more, more problems, bigger universe, more characters. For example, Alien did really well and people loved it. It had a simple story with relatable fears (fear of the unknown, fear of others, fear of the dark and claustophobia  and fear of technology).

If I had more time to finish I would include how Aliens did better than Alien because it was bigger with more action but with the same main character in the same kind of problem.