{"id":10664,"date":"2018-04-25T07:00:59","date_gmt":"2018-04-25T06:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/\/?p=10664"},"modified":"2021-12-28T00:27:11","modified_gmt":"2021-12-28T00:27:11","slug":"thinkpiecethursday-magic-franchises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/thinkpiecethursday-magic-franchises\/","title":{"rendered":"The Magic of Franchises"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thinkpiece Thursday<\/h3>\n

Movie Franchises Done Right<\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/a>Avengers: Infinity War<\/em> is the culmination of a decade of films, with probably a hundred-or-so Characters from all across the universe. Chances are, it’s going to break box office records, and join the likes of Toy Story 3<\/em>, Fast & Furious Seven<\/em> and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2<\/em> in the billion-dollar club.<\/p>\n

What do these four movies have in common? They’re the conclusion to long-running franchises, and the end of the story for Characters that audiences will have grown up with. We have watched these Characters grow- Captain America, Buzz Lightyear, Harry Potter, Brian O’Conner- and evolve as they face the events from multiple stories. Each time, they learn something new, they experience loss, their appearances change. As we grow up, so do they.<\/p>\n

Time And Care Pay Off<\/h4>\n

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J. K. Rowling and Warner Brothers worked hard to tell eight excellent movies, and every time it paid off. They could have been unremarkable films and made decent money, but the creators put in the effort to make an exceptional product, and this series will be remembered forever.<\/p>\n

When Pixar started out, Toy Story<\/em> was a huge gamble but it paid off. A few years later, Disney announced a sequel going straight to DVD. The studio wrestled back control, told a story worth telling and the results spoke for themselves- it helped Pixar become the animation powerhouse it is today. Years later, they decided to end the Toy Story<\/em> franchise and take their care making a perfect ending. It grossed over a billion dollars and was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.<\/p>\n

Developing Organically<\/h4>\n

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The studio continued the pattern- introducing more Characters to a movie at a time, then bringing them all together. Each time, the box office improved. Some were more successful than others, but audiences got to know Characters as they appeared more often.<\/p>\n

The Fast and The Furious<\/em> started off as a generic car-racing movie. It limped on for a few more installments with different characters, never quite capturing the magic of the original. Then the studio decided to change gears, hire a new director, and crucially bring back Characters from the first four movies. Somehow, this worked and with every new Fast and Furious<\/em> movie, featuring Characters that now had a chance to develop, the movies became more successful.<\/p>\n

When you have a plan, and it shows that you really care about these Characters, it pays off. It doesn’t matter if you planned it all out from the beginning, or it happened organically and you maintained the quality of each sequel. When you realize you have something special that people connect with and you work hard to nurture these Characters, the aforementioned examples prove that it will often result in success.<\/p>\n

Forcing It<\/h4>\n

The previous examples, across multiple movies, make you care about their characters and developed a rich, ongoing story. Yes, even The Fast and The Furious<\/em> did this. They all took their time to build a universe and didn’t rush their storytelling.<\/p>\n

However, they are the exception to the rule. More often than not, in the case of Avengers<\/em> and Harry Potter<\/em>, competitors thought in the short-term and wanted what these franchises had worked long and hard to achieve. They wanted the same success in a much shorter space of time, and it didn’t work out for them.<\/p>\n

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