SSC Film Studies

How important are film franchises for producers and audiences.

A franchise is a film in a series that gives opportunity for other films and products to be sold. Such as star wars as there are 6 films and the producers can make things such as toys, clothes and games. A franchise has a huge effect on to producers and audiences because it gives producers twice as much profit. Franchises also state that big ‘stars’ do not make a film, for example harr potter made stars such as Daniel Radcliff, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. This has a big effect as stars are less needed in films than what they were 10 years ago. If a franchise captures fans they will be more likely to have a continued success as they will want to watch every film which also means it does not have a massive effect if there is one bad film as the fans/audience will still go to watch the film in the pictures but they could still lose fans if the film is not successful.

Most films from a franchise have the same story line but with a different task for example in Die hard it is the same plot yet the films have all been successful and grossed millions. This doesn’t matter, as the audience likes familiar experiences from the other films of the franchise. Fans of franchises like to see the same group of people in the franchises so it is risky to kill main characters in the film.

Producers can bring in a bigger audience if one of the films in the franchise offer a new cinematic experience for example avatar is not the best film but it has grossed the most money because when it came out it was one of the first films to offer the new 3D experience also uniqueness in the film is the key to initial success for a successful franchise.