How Important Are Film Franchises For
Audiences and Producers?
The film industry has recently had a surge in the use of franchises, most movies that are being released nowadays are part of a series or the beginning of what could hopefully be a series of films. This is for many reasons, firstly it is less of a risk to keep making sequels when you’ve established a large audience and the main reason for wanting to pump out more sequels is money.
If the first film in a series is successful, it almost always guarantees the success of future films because the audience of the first film will want to see the continuation in the story and find out what happens to the characters they love. Franchises, nine times out of ten, guarantee money will be made for the film company producing it. There are exceptions to this of course, with films such as John Carter and The Last Airbender, (TLA) which were intended to be Franchises but failed, and when pitted alongside sucessful franchises such as Star Wars and Harry Potter it’s clear that they failed miserably. The reason for these failures is ultimately due to bad timing and even worse casting. TLA, had great potential to be a franchise because it had an existing storyline and fanbase, this would appeal to directors and producers because they already have a story set out and an audience to pay money to see it. However, this audience had many expectations for the film that were not met and so because the first film failed, the chances of it ever being a franchise were slimmed considerably.
Having an existing fanbase to pay to see the movie isn’t the only important thing producers will get from using an existing story. These fans will also pay for merchandise that creates an opening for the company to create Synergy. Depending on the success of the franchise, audience will pay money for clothes, books, TV shows and straight to DVD spin off movies. All of this pulls in more money for the producers.
The success of sequels in a franchise relies on a few things, all of which are important. For a movie to be successful you have to impress the audience and they will want a sequel that takes offers them new cinematic experiences without leaving out old ones.
A prime example of this would be Alien, a movie that newly combined the genre of horror with the genre of Sci-Fi. It was a huge success and grossed $104, 931, 801. After the success of the first film, the audiences were open to more, especially since Alien’s narrative ended with an opening to create a sequel. James Cameron’s sequel Aliens is considered one of the best sequels of all time. The trailer for it tells the audience that they can expect the same thrills and frights from the first movie but there will also be added new experiences. The title isn’t simply “Alien 2” it is “Aliens” which implies that this time there is more than one enemy. It’s the same characters and the same idea but also it is entirely different and new. The audience would still get the same fear of the unknown and other horror themes but added action in the movie would appeal to a wider audience that may have been scared off by the horror genre in the beginning.
Films like this that offer new experiences but still cater to audience expectations, tend to do better than films that repeat the same formula over and over.
Aliens grossed even higher than the original making $131,060,248 at the box office and again left room for another sequel.
Alien 3 was not as successful or well liked as the previous films but it still did not fail completely. This is because the fanbase had already been established and wanted to see what happened to the characters next. This is also one of the reasons why it failed as a sequel, in the beginning of the movie the audience is informed that many of the fan’s favourite characters have died and they are given little or no explaination for this. The audience will have expected these characters to be present in the movie and if they did die, to have seen it play out on screen and because they did not get these things they have been let down.
Alien Resurrection was also a failure because it was too much of the same basic thing and did not offer a new experience for the audience.
Film Franchises are important to producers because they are usually a safe way to make money, fans will pay to see sequels even if they aren’t great purely because they like the franchise and are attached to characters. It generates a lot of cash through not only movies but also Synergy.
Franchises are important to audiences because they offer new cinematic experiences combined with familiar feelings and emotions. They entertain and they often meet the expectations the fans set. People are willing to pay to see a movie in a series because they want to go back to a world they’re familiar with but also get new surprises
The film industry has recently had a surge in the use of franchises, most movies that are being released nowadays are part of a series or the beginning of what could hopefully be a series of films. This is for many reasons, firstly it is less of a risk to keep making sequels when you’ve established a large audience and the main reason for wanting to pump out more sequels is money.
If the first film in a series is successful, it almost always guarantees the success of future films because the audience of the first film will want to see the continuation in the story and find out what happens to the characters they love. Franchises, nine times out of ten, guarantee money will be made for the film company producing it. There are exceptions to this of course, with films such as John Carter and The Last Airbender, (TLA) which were intended to be Franchises but failed, and when pitted alongside sucessful franchises such as Star Wars and Harry Potter it’s clear that they failed miserably. The reason for these failures is ultimately due to bad timing and even worse casting. TLA, had great potential to be a franchise because it had an existing storyline and fanbase, this would appeal to directors and producers because they already have a story set out and an audience to pay money to see it. However, this audience had many expectations for the film that were not met and so because the first film failed, the chances of it ever being a franchise were slimmed considerably.
Having an existing fanbase to pay to see the movie isn’t the only important thing producers will get from using an existing story. These fans will also pay for merchandise that creates an opening for the company to create Synergy. Depending on the success of the franchise, audience will pay money for clothes, books, TV shows and straight to DVD spin off movies. All of this pulls in more money for the producers.
The success of sequels in a franchise relies on a few things, all of which are important. For a movie to be successful you have to impress the audience and they will want a sequel that takes offers them new cinematic experiences without leaving out old ones.
A prime example of this would be Alien, a movie that newly combined the genre of horror with the genre of Sci-Fi. It was a huge success and grossed $104, 931, 801. After the success of the first film, the audiences were open to more, especially since Alien’s narrative ended with an opening to create a sequel. James Cameron’s sequel Aliens is considered one of the best sequels of all time. The trailer for it tells the audience that they can expect the same thrills and frights from the first movie but there will also be added new experiences. The title isn’t simply “Alien 2” it is “Aliens” which implies that this time there is more than one enemy. It’s the same characters and the same idea but also it is entirely different and new. The audience would still get the same fear of the unknown and other horror themes but added action in the movie would appeal to a wider audience that may have been scared off by the horror genre in the beginning.
Films like this that offer new experiences but still cater to audience expectations, tend to do better than films that repeat the same formula over and over.
Aliens grossed even higher than the original making $131,060,248 at the box office and again left room for another sequel.
Alien 3 was not as successful or well liked as the previous films but it still did not fail completely. This is because the fanbase had already been established and wanted to see what happened to the characters next. This is also one of the reasons why it failed as a sequel, in the beginning of the movie the audience is informed that many of the fan’s favourite characters have died and they are given little or no explaination for this. The audience will have expected these characters to be present in the movie and if they did die, to have seen it play out on screen and because they did not get these things they have been let down.
Alien Resurrection was also a failure because it was too much of the same basic thing and did not offer a new experience for the audience.
Film Franchises are important to producers because they are usually a safe way to make money, fans will pay to see sequels even if they aren’t great purely because they like the franchise and are attached to characters. It generates a lot of cash through not only movies but also Synergy.
Franchises are important to audiences because they offer new cinematic experiences combined with familiar feelings and emotions. They entertain and they often meet the expectations the fans set. People are willing to pay to see a movie in a series because they want to go back to a world they’re familiar with but also get new surprises
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