Why Franchises Took Over Hollywood
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- Опубліковано 2 чер 2024
- Franchises aren't anything new, but recently we've been seeing more and more of them. Starting in the 2000s it felt like they were everywhere. The issue isn't just that franchises are so popular, it's that lately, it feels like original films have taken a backseat. So, what changed?
In this video we go over why franchises took over Hollywood. There are a bunch of reasons, some that you might not expect.
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:29 - What are Franchises?
02:44 - How popular are they today?
06:08 - What Changed?
10:48 - What does the future look like?
Harry Potter . Pirates of the Caribbean . Star Wars . Die Hard . Hunger Games . Why are Franchises Everywhere . Franchise Fatigue . Disney . Disney Fatigue . Marvel . James Bond . Carry On . Universal Classic Monsters . What happened to original films . Mid budget films . Godfather: Part II
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An understated factor is the rise of the international audience.
Hollywood now tries to make films that appeals worldwide across different cultures and languages. In that case, having recognizable brands and franchises along with tons of action sequences ensure "universal appeal".
I notice that when people talk about the box office now, even in this video. The complete focus is on the worldwide numbers.
@@hudsono6925 corrected
Baby Driver, Edgar Wright, the car scenes and soundtrack are perfect
the most notorious instances i can think of recently are Rebel Moon and Army of the Dead
both Zack Snyder and Netlix has tried to turn them into multi media franchise before actually making the first solid movies
thats why everything i can see in these movies and also most of commercial movies nowadays is hints about sequels and spin offs
Watch Defoe and Pattinson in "The Lighthouse", really strong picture
I saw Steven Spielberg's The Fablemans last year and enjoyed it a lot. Spielberg's most recent films seem to be personal projects rather than franchise starters like Jaws, Indiana Jones, and Jurassic Park.
The main problem for me is that movie tickets are simply too expensive. Back in the 90s and 2000s I would often show up at the theater on any random day at any random time and see whatever was showing next. Maybe because I was bored or because it was hot and my apartment didn’t have AC. And my friends and I went to the movies almost every weekend. Back then tickets were between $5-10. Matinee was often half price. Plus there was an old theater that showed $2 movies on certain days.
Even if the movie wasn’t good I still enjoyed the AC, popcorn, and just getting out of the house. But with prices as high as they are now it’s just not worth it anymore.
Plus the time commitment. You used to have 3 trailers and then the feature would start. Now it's advertisements and 30 minutes of trailers. It's absurd.
My best guess (before watching) is that studios determined that franchise films are more financially viable because we know those films worked at a certain time, and thus that there is an audience for those films.
Maybe they are perceived to be easier to market and perceived to have the potential to make more money for the investment in them.
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas also argued in a 2013 interview that films that are standalone (in particular would be mid budget oriented), would be streaming series as opposed to theatrical releases.
Also, the rise of streaming may have led to the decline of DVD’s as a secondary source of income, and studios becoming more risk averse.
Some studios will just forcefully make a franchise from a film that doesn’t really warrant having one. Some examples I can think of include the show “Fargo” and the film “10 Cloverfield Lane”
Or when they make a Franchise / Cinematic universe before a film is even released. Like the Dark Cinematic Universe that was kinda scrapped after The Mummy released
To be fair 10 Cloverfield Lane was really good
Don't you utter another bad word about the Fargo show, otherwise I'm gonna throw hands. One of the best TV shows, period
I thought people liked these shows.
The Holdovers is really really good. One of my top 10 films of 2023. Everyone should go watch it.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a favorite non-franchise film of mine. A lot of amazing world building and visuals and a simple but fun story I absolutely love. It also had a big impact on how a lot of franchise films now are shot.
Other underrated non-franchise favorites: Gattaca and The Final Girls
The burgeoning dominance of franchises in Hollywood, particularly superhero narratives from the MCU, DCU, and Sony, while commercially successful, has arguably led to a saturation point, raising concerns about the sustainability of original storytelling within the industry. This scenario underscores the need for a recalibration of Hollywood's approach to filmmaking, emphasizing the importance of original films, the revival of physical media, and a renewed focus on quality and innovation.
Firstly, the resurgence of physical media could play a pivotal role in diversifying Hollywood's revenue streams. In the past, sales from DVDs, Blu-rays, and VHS tapes provided a financial safety net that allowed studios to take risks on original content. The decline in physical media sales, exacerbated by the rise of streaming services, has coincided with an increased reliance on franchise films, which are perceived as lower-risk investments. Reinvigorating the physical media market could thus offer studios more flexibility to invest in original storytelling, benefiting both creators and audiences seeking fresh narratives.
Moreover, Hollywood's current franchise dilemma also calls for a break from the relentless production of superhero films. While these films have undeniably captured the global imagination, a relentless focus on them risks overshadowing other genres and original stories. If superhero films continue to be a staple, there should be a concerted effort to ensure they are driven by quality-encompassing writing, direction, acting, and production values-and not merely seen as cash grabs. Learning from both the successes and missteps of early 2000s superhero films like Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man trilogy, Iron Man, and X-Men, can offer valuable lessons in crafting stories that resonate deeply with audiences while pushing the genre forward.
Directors and creators should approach intellectual properties with genuine passion and vision, rather than prioritizing commercial success. The most memorable and impactful superhero films often transcend the genre, weaving in complex themes and character studies that speak to universal human experiences. This approach not only elevates the material but also broadens its appeal beyond traditional superhero film audiences.
Furthermore, Hollywood could benefit from looking beyond its borders, drawing inspiration from Korean, Japanese, and other international cinema, known for their innovative storytelling and risk-taking. The global success of films from these regions underscores the universal appetite for compelling narratives, regardless of their origin.
Finally, the industry and its audiences must champion standalone and independent films, recognizing that the greatest superhero stories are those that stand on their own as exceptional pieces of cinema. Encouraging risk-taking in creative and other aspects of filmmaking can lead to a renaissance of original content, offering audiences a richer, more diverse cinematic landscape.
In conclusion, for Hollywood to thrive and continue captivating global audiences, it must embrace a broader vision that values originality, quality, and diversity in storytelling. By learning from the past and being open to global influences, the film industry can forge a future where both franchises and original films coexist and flourish, driven by a genuine passion for storytelling.
One of my favorite films I feel as if doesn’t get talked about enough even in most film spaces is Children of men by Alfonso Cuarón
What genre?
Dystopian thriller with rare, but great action. But this movie is gonna make you feel miserable
That’s a good film.
Past Lives is a great and non-franchise, original film that is now available for rent on streaming that I highly recommend.
highly recommend "Heat", one of my favorites
I somewhat disagree with the ending statement. People should watch whatever the eff they want. If it's formulaic franchise films they want to watch, let's let them. Other than that, good, informative video.
How doesn’t bro have more subs, these video essays in depth and amazing quality/edited
There are very few big budget movie franchises going on right now that I feel compelled to watch and support. Nowadays I strive to see as many original, standalone films in cinemas as possible.
If a new blockbuster comes out and shows promise, I'll go and see it but that rarely leads to a new breakout film series. The recent Dungeons & Dragons for example.
And I agree, we'd all be far, far better off WITHOUT the streaming phenomenon.
Streaming you could argue has led to projects that would have been greenlit as mid budget films 15 years ago being greenlit as seasons of highly serialized streaming series.
It arguably causes projects like those to suffer the most.
Also, there’s the aspect of studios not having as much post release revenue from films as they did when DVD’s were used more.
Which as alluded to in this video causes studios to be more risk averse.
It's criminal you only have 54.1k subscribers.. I will make it 54.1k AND 1 today, but hopefully more people will see the great work you obviously put into these videos!
Thanks, it means a lot!
The Bad Sleep Well by Kurosawa. The greatest noir ever
i can't think of a film meeting your challenge to recommend that was released within the last 5 to 10 years, 2014 is around the last time a film came out i genuinely thought was excellent, i've enjoyed certain films since then, but i can't remember anything coming out that was so incredible i have to tell others about it
I've started watching more international film and media lately (French, Korean and Italian mostly) and holy hell, they are far beyond superior to current Hollywood it's actually crazy. It made me realise how much heart, charm and talent Hollywood has lost over the last decade or so because other countries are still pushing out the same.
Personally, two films I recommend that I feel haven’t got all the praise they should have: Shoplifters by Hirokazu Kore-eda and Sorry to Bother You by Boots Riley
If you can, i believe y’all should watch these
Yes Shoplifters was great! Still haven’t gotten around to watching Sorry to Bother You but will need to check it out soon!
Yes I love these two movies and more people should watch them!
100% recommended: Contratiempo (Invisible Guest) from Spain, 2016 👌👌👌
Okay so a film I really like is a low budget one called Coherence (2013) I recommend it.
Also when I was a kid and I saw Real Steel (2011) I felt that film on its own was great and I always wondered why it never got sequel, it seemed like the type to.
Possessor & Upgrade are two SciFi films what have really interesting concepts with lower budgets for the genre which I think deserve more love
I feel most of the frustration post Endgame isn’t so much “why so many franchises,” (We’ve been saying that) It’s frustration over the SAME franchises being released over and over. No matter a new release the franchises themselves are starting to look dated. 2023 I feel was the breaking point of all this.
Think about it, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Mission Impossible, Jurassic Park, Fast and Furious, Marvel, DC, Lord of the Rings, all franchises that got their start pre 21st century and all have movies and shows made surrounding them in the last 4 years. In summer 2023 the biggest hits where none franchise adaptations in Barbie and Oppenheimer. That same year we had a Fast and Furious, a Mission Impossible, and even an Indiana Jones movie. All of which showed diminishing returns.
So what gives? It’s not as simple as “people are tired of franchises.” These franchises are seriously showing their age.
Hollywood is blind to this since knee jerk reaction is to double down by having WB is remake Harry Potter and green light new Lord of the Rings films. Pixar is making a Toy Story 5 and we already have a Kung fu Panda 4 coming out. Is time a flat circle to these people?!
The failure to invest in new franchises is Hollywood’s real undoing.
man for me one of the best movies ever it "Trainspoting". this movie is not talked about enogh but Ewan Mcgregor acting in this movie is magnificent and the metaphors in this movie are smart, really one of the best movies ever created.
Magnolia has become one of my favourite movies ever. It's extremely engaging and compelling from start to finish.
don't forget about the score
@@user-ys3om3tm2c Oh yeah, the score is amazing, and made even better by songs like The Logical Song.
but i have to say that i never get the rain of frogs at the end@@collecticus
@@user-ys3om3tm2c What I learned from it, sometimes miracles just happen.
Go watch “O’Brother Where Art Thou?”. Absolute Masterpiece
The disappearing conventional means of advertising have also taken a huge effect. If your diet is streaming, you don't read newspapers, and you install ad-blockers, you're not going to be made aware of what's coming out. The complaint about Marvel was often "each film is merely an advertisement for the next", but "current billion dollar movie" really does seem like the only thing everyone's eyes are on.
“Dinner in America” (2021) - Mike and Jay really liked it, need I say more?
Not my Favorite but I can't not recommend Sunshine (2007). Amazing Visuals, beautiful soundtrack, stacked cast. If you love space movies with both awe and edge to it, give it a watch.
If you don't like Anime or have never watched Anime I recommend these....
"Your Name"
"Wolf Chidren"
"The Girl who leapt through time"
I never watched Anime until I was 20 or about 21 years old, and I saw these. I thought it just wasn't for me. But men, these people really know how to tell good stories. Just give these a chance, I'm a 100% sure you'd love them.
My current top 4 are:
Nightcrawler
Punch Drunk Love
Hell or High Water
Black Swan
I'm still waiting for Jaws 19
In Bruges is kino
The movie Primer. It's an amazing movie that's not part of a franchise. Second reason I mention it is that it never gets mentioned in lists of "look at these great movies which are indie/got made on low budgets".
Primer is absolute gold and its budget was 7000 USD. You can't tell that from watching it at all, plus it's a time travel movie so that's always noice. Shane Carruth's other movie Upstream Color is also very original and interesting.
I would recommend thai film Bad Genius. Would described it as a heist film about cheating exams.
I highly recommend the 2000 version of House of Mirth. Gillian Anderson should have been nominated for an Oscar for her performance as Lily Bart.
In my country, there are still more original movies than remakes/franchises.
I recommend "Before the devil knows you're dead", the last Sidney lumet film, from 2007
Universal is rushing the new Jurassic movie to release in 2025 when they didn't even had the director(even though now they have)
That is the proof of how studios are desperate for franchises
You should all watch 'The Long Kiss Goodnight' fantastic action movie
My film recommendation is HANA-BI. Beautiful.
Synecdoche, New York and Moon are two films I love.
My film reccomendation is little miss sunshine :)
I love Polytechnique by Denis Villeneuve. It may be a little hard to get, but it's defenitly worth it. Even like it more than his Dune films, because it is so simple and yet so powerfull
I remember going to watch a man called Otto that came out recently, thinking it looked lame, but my god was I wrong.
I love and adore that movie.
with dune part 2 being one of the biggest sequels this year, might i recommend his film “Enemy”. fantastic psychological thriller
One overlooked film I really enjoyed: Dinner in America.
6:08 a movie that I think that needs more awareness and ISN'T a franchise is "Gaby: A True Story"(1987 or 1988 between the packaging and the other sources…) basically it's about a woman who was born in the 50's in Mexico City, Mexico to some wealthy people and she had a severe case of Cerebral Palsy where she couldn't "talk" and could only use her foot for communicating… I'd say more but I don't want to give TOO much away!! 😁😁
Will have to check it out! Haven’t heard of this one before but it sounds interesting
@@FilmStackmost people don't know about it, found out it has a DVD for sale on Amazon but I have the VHS copy and I seen some people posted it on UA-cam for it to be muted because of copyright… 🙄🙄
Touched by Love (1980)
Annie's Coming Out (1984)
Gaby: A True Story (1987)
My Left Foot (1989)
@@2adamast all good films, but only "Gaby: A True Story" is the most underrated of the bunch… I'm not sure if anyone did a statistic about them… though I'm pretty sure what I said was correct…
I just saw Maelström, and it is the most underrated Villeneuve movie !
Unbreakable, Split ,and Glass created a rather intriguing franchise with an anticlimactic conclusion.
The Royal Tenebaumbs, I believe it's the best movie showcasing family dynamic is a funny earnest warm way, from a relatively famous director in Wes and yet grand Budapest and Rushmore get more praise.
I love this film! Thank you for sharing ☺️
An under rated stand alone film I really liked from last year was Elieen.
12th fail is must watch but it is in Hindi
Blue is the warmest colour
franchises are another reason why there are no movie stars in the industry anymore. right now, based off of watching dune 2, the only young movie stars are timothee chalamet and zendaya, but ultimately, tom cruise is the last real box office needle mover.
Ironically, half of The Godfather Part 2 was the rest of the original novel adapted for the screen
Here’s the thing about citing the Godfather however… Godfather part two made about 1/5 what the original Godfather made, despite having three times the budget… They both must might have won the Oscar for best picture, but Godfather part two was nowhere near the financial success the first one was
The 1988 movies had A-list movie stars as their appeal instead of IP.
I will bet you $20 you will love the 1981 movie
“Whose Life Is It Anyway?”
Housebound is fantastic Same guy that made Megen
I am thinking of watching wild robot
Before The Wrath (2020), Pilgrim's Progress Journey To Heaven (2023, free on UA-cam), John Carpenter's They Live (1988), The Gospel Of John (2003)
Sick of Myself from 2022 was my favorite of that year
The movie I think needs more awareness is calitos way.i feel like it's some what forgotten because of the success of scarface at the time it came out
Lisa Frankenstein my favorite of 2024 so far
The Lighthouse, Prospect and Annihilation are all small budget original films.
Love Story (1970) it made Ryan O’Neal a household name in the 1970s
how come it seems hardly any videos about movie franchises even mention the king of movie franchises, Godzilla?!
2023 was a break in this number. The top3 movies of the year were not sequels. I hope 2024 follows the same track.
I don't know if Predator counts as not part of a franchise because of Alien Vs Predator but go watch that.
My personal picks are Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Hugo, and Alita: Battle Angels
I more wished Hollywood take chances by doing better adaptaion of failed movies and tv shows that could do better!
I don't know that many people that know the movie Masterminds in 2016 sure it's stupid but I love it
WINGS OF DESIRE 1987!!! Absolutely changed my life and my perspective of humanity and our connections🫶🫶🫶
Great non franchise movie "the 13th warrior"
The Promised Land is an amazing picture
I don't agree with going to review sites before going to see a film. In my opinion, you should go to your theater and choose a film that you seem to like by reading the synopsis, the name of the director or the actors. For me you have to “see random films”.
Why?? That's how people did it before those sites, even The Statler Brothers had a song talking about reading the paper to know what's on before seeing a show(movie) and that was in 1973(?)!!😮😮
@@jescis0
I didn't say that criticism didn't exist before. I say that I prefer to go see random films and make my own opinion without being influenced by the critics.
@@trorisk Oh Ok, that's your right too!! I usually don't do it neither, but I'm also an amateur historian and I was thinking about that part and not your opinion, but I will say that in that case, you be right 👍🏻👍🏻
Because we love the familiar. Same witj music. We use art for entertaintment. Its sad but most people wanna recapture nostalgia all the time. Myself included 😮🙃
City of god (2002) by Fernando Meirelles
Watch--> silenced ( Korean movie)
Recommandation from me:
It’s such a beautiful day (2012)
The fifth element
Poor things is incredible! Highly recommend
The dance scene was so good haha but such a nice looking movie. Will be interesting to see who wins the Oscar for Production Design, Poor Things or Barbie
times they are a changing
Superheroes are now just overrated, damp and overused
Yeah and I don’t see it slowing down anytime soon, if anything we’ll see much more of them really soon with the MCU restructuring their next phase and the DCEU doing a reboot
Malèna (2000)
james bond dr.no come out in 1962 not 1961
Probably due to the current financial situation, franchises are easy ways to make money without the risk of a new ip failing. Also one that i would recommend is good bye Lenin.
It all has the *same coat of paint* lately
What starts out a a stand alone film should sometimes remain that way.. now we have the directors cut the extended cut the reimaged version or the same movie or if you see it on a streaming platform giving you loads of warnings beforehand that you might love it hate it or be offended by it.on top of that it's got crap actors bad ccg or piss poor script I hardly watch anything now as most films are plain woke or garbage yet years ago I would watch 3 vhs or dvd a night now it more or less good night TV shows and movies greed killed the original moves off we are worse for it now adays
Cinema Paradiso
Poor things
NEO I fall
Simple answer : the audience supports franchises. Hollywood isn’t a place that doesn’t what it want it does what makes them money if audience stopped supporting franchises and more original films guess what Hollywood will make more of
A lack of originality coupled with exploitation of nostalgia
I’m glad A24 was like: Let’s just do our own thing
More director driven as opposed to studio driven, correct me if I’m wrong?
I really liked “the Favourite” of Yorgos Lanthimos, so I stated watching others of his movies (Poor Things, the lobster)
Highly advanced
Franchises cause too much build up.