How important are film franchises to audiences and producers?

How important are film franchises to audiences and producers?

A franchise is an intellectual property involving the same central characters, setting and trademarks in a specific piece of media, usually film. Film franchises have become increasingly popular over the years, not only with producers but with audiences also. Producers are attracted to film franchises mostly because it guarantees a number of things, firstly, it guarantees money, weather the film is a flop or not, this is due to the fact that there is already a specific fan base that will see the films, this is also due to synergy that can be created from the franchise, if a series of films is made, then producers can then begin to create products connected to the films that fans will buy. For example, Harry Potter, since the massive success of the franchise, a number of products have been made in order to pull more money in from the use of synergy, A Harry Potter theme park has been made, A Lego Series, a wide range of toys and merchandise such as plastic wands and Clothing, fans buying these products means that more money is made for producers. Another positive for producers s that they already have existing stories that they can make, however making an original franchise can have a lot more positives as it leads to less risk of disappointment from already existing fans, an example of one hugely successful original franchise is the series of alien films, Alien is a franchise made up of seven films, including the Alien Vs Predator series and Prometheus. This franchise proved how important franchise is to audience, and how franchise can affect the cinematic experience of audience. The success of Alien did not come from the stars like Sigourney Weaver, but instead came from the completely new cinematic experience that it offered audiences. The Alien films were something that audience had never seen before and introduced a new genre of film, a mix of Horror and action, the first films became a massive success. The film was a box office hit for a number of reasons, it offered a story that was completely original, however simple, therefore allowed audience to be gripped by the horror of the alien rather than a confusing storyline, it also offered us central characters who we could make a connection with throughout the films. The second film was almost as successful as the first, due to the success of the first film it was only a matter of time before a sequel was made, the second film ‘Aliens’ was released in 1986. The film was just as popular as the first, if not more, and again offered the same experiences as alien had, this was simply presented through the title, ‘Aliens’ I connoted to audience that we are getting alien…but more. The film was again completely original, and didn’t repeat the formula of the previous film, instead it gave us more horror more action, and more intensity, through this film we were allowed to invest emotionally into characters due to the fact that it created a family unit through the use of a child and male protagonist, Not only did this offer a more emotional experience but it also meant that more people would be attracted to the film as they knew we would become emotionally connected wit characters and it wouldn’t just be all horror and action. The second film quickly became a huge success with fans of Alien, and set itself up for a third film after ending the second on a cliff hanger. This heightened audience expectation, as they though the films were going to get better and better, the cliff-hanger meant that existing fans would return to see a third film, however expectations were quickly shattered. The third alien film presented to us how although franchise is massively important to audience due to the fact that we invest emotionally in characters, it also presented how hard it is to keep films alive, and offer something new with every film, film 3 proved to producers that if audience expectation is high, then films need to live up to them. The film did not offer the same cinematic experience as the other 2 films.

• ·      Bad story line
• ·      No empathy with characters
• ·      Expectations were not met
• ·      Killed main characters we connected emotionally with
• ·      Didn’t offer same thrills as other 2
• ·      Film was rushed

Alien 4 –

• ·      Another bad storyline
• ·      Tried to copy old films
• ·      Relied on formula Alien 3 damaged
• ·      Audience saw film as a risk
• ·      Franchise was over after the third film when Ripley died.
• ·      Not unique.