License to Kill at the Box-Office - Film Franchises - Essay Example

1 TOPICS IN FILM STUDIES: LICENSE TO KILL AT THE BOX-OFFICE: FILM FRANCHISES Introduction A cursory glimpse of the list of the all-time world highest grossing movies reveals that out of the first 20 top box office movies, 17 movies belong to franchise films while only 3 do not belong to this category i.e. Titanic (#1), Finding Nemo (#15) and Independence Day (#18). The rest belong to the category of film series or multiple film sequels which are multi-film deals or collection of films related to each other and in succession. Lord of The Rings (#2,9,16); Pirates of the Caribbean (#3,6); Jurassic Park (#10); Spider-Man (#12,19); Shrek (#13) are all trilogies. The Harry Potter (#5,7,11,14) film franchise, meanwhile, is a pentalogy while the Star Wars series (8,17,20) is an octology (IMDb. All-Time Worldwide Box Office). It is worthwhile to mention that the James Bond film franchise, which consists of a series of 23 films ranks first among the top highest-grossing movie franchises in the world with a gross take of $5.065 billion followed by the Harry Potter and the Star Wars series (The Numbers.com). The Success of Film Franchises The hereinabove data is a potent proof of the reality that in the movies, moviegoers would rather prefer to patronize movies which they are familiar with in terms of the characters and the story lines and which they know beforehand that there is a high possibility of them enjoying the movies to the hilt. They would rather not risk their money and time with films which they are not so sure whether the quality, the acting and the direction and the story would be to their liking. Like in books, comic strips, TV serials, one good thing must lead to another. 2 Once delectably sensed, there arises an urge to ask for more of the same thing. Because of clamorous demand, movie moguls are left with no recourse but pander to the wishes of the movie going public. They are aware of the built-in advantages of movie franchises, which are a ready, hard-core audience, a marketing hook and a possibility of generating new fanatics by simply improving the visual quality of the succeeding serials through the taking advantage of advances in cinematic technology especially the special effects phase of film making. Sadly though, many movie producers fail to sustain the movie going public's interest in their purported movie franchises, inevitably run out of steam and end up only in the sequel stage. Others run short of ideas and need the most opportune time to stage another reboot or even a prequel to continue the movie franchise undertaking. An example of this is The Chronicles of Narnia which had already netted more than $1.168 billion but is at the moment stymied in its production of a third serial, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, due to a finalisation of a more convincing and appealing screenplay (Sammons 2004, p.48). The most crucial challenge to all though, would be how to vigorously maintain the franchise's commercial appeal and potential and yet make it firmly self-contained as a narrative so that it will not end up churning a "series that outstays its welcome" (Thompson 2008, p.7). History of Film Franchises The movie world took a while to discover the magic and the marketing power of film franchises. Since the birth of cinema on December 28, 1895 when French brothers Louis and August Lumiere invented short films using a portable cinematograph serving as camera, 3 projector and film processing unit all in one, film serials were the last thing in the minds of early movie producers (Fullerton 1998,p.32). But then serialised installments were then in vogue in magazine and book publications and later in comic strips. As early as the 18th century, the story teller Sheherazade to prevent herself from being executed by the Arab king had invented serialised stories or novellas. This string of novellas became the Arabian Nights or The One Thousand and One Nights (Salis 1999, p.24). The Arabian Nights proved to be the progenitor of the film franchises with the filmisation in 1902 by Thomas Edison of the Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Aladdin soon followed in 1906 and then Sindbad the Seaman. Hundreds of other Arabian Nights films ensued making film franchises a reality (Marzolph et al 2004, p.22). The Britons Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle then popularised novels in serial form and written for popular magazines. The Sherlock Holmes novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle afforded the chance to be adapted to the cinema. In 1900 Sherlock Holmes Baffled was crudely made and this was followed by over 150 other Holmes film franchises (Redmond 1993, p.164). The Tarzan, Dracula, Frankenstein and Agatha Christie among other film franchises raged on as film fanatics kept on asking for more. The call of the box-office tills ensured that film franchises stay and proliferate. Film franchising hit a high note in 1962 when Dr. No introduced agent 007 James Bond, he with the license to kill, to worldwide audiences. This was one of the 12 novels of author Ian Fleming, which all celebrated casual sex and gory violence with political undertones and with menacing villains out to control the world. Its success motivated others to join the film franchise bandwagon. The James Bond series 4 established the formula of old fashioned entertainment sprinkled with sex and violence. The essential thing was to make the preceding Bond films and novels as attractive to the senses as possible and to heighten its popularity to the maximum to ensure continuity of the film franchises (Lindner 2003, p. 108). Film franchises with the hero given the license to kill the villains soon proliferated with the comic book superheroes being transported to the big screen. Superman, Spider-Man and Batman series excited movie audiences. Others of this genre joined the fray with the Dirty Harry, Bourne, Die Hard, Terminator, Matrix, Mission: Impossible film franchises. The emergence in the 1970's of the auteur theory of film literature and brilliant directors such as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg who strove to become 'auteurs' themselves intensified the strength of film franchises (Raw 2003, p. 80). The Spielberg-Lucas combine engendered memorable and successful blockbuster film franchises that proved once and for all that film franchises is the best way to ensure hefty profits and a secured niche in film history. Lucas' Star Wars has since netted $3.53 billion and occupied the number one position among the all-time highest grossing film franchises. Spielberg's Jaws had $1.31 billion and ranked third while his Indiana Jones (ranked 7th) and Jurassic Park (ranked 10th) series raked in $1.16 billion and $958 million respectively (Forbes.com). Finally, the icing on the cake in film franchises was provided by the Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter film series which are family entertainment pictures. Why Film Franchises Are Here To Stay 5 Movie producers have their eyes on the box-office when they churn out movies. Artistic success and awards, which also happen to generate interest in movie goers and prod them to patronise the movies are but delightful bonuses. But since they have realised that film franchising is the key to a surefire bonanza at the tills and that starting from scratch with ambitious movies that have no previous film attached to it is too risky, film franchises have caught the fancy of any movie producer anywhere. Studio heads have accepted the reality that the movie going public have cemented expectations of time-honored conventions of comedy, horror, thriller, science fiction, love or war story and in order to be appreciated it must rehash, recycle or spin-off. The public generally dislikes updating of such conventions in a too artsy or experimental manner and most likely will reject such product (Manchel 1990. pp. 56-57).Star Wars, James Bond, Harry Potter, Batman and their ilk have started a trend and each studio mogul has been pressured to rummage through their past film stocks and search for the next film franchise to dust off, devise and imagine. Just the thought of the behemoth United Artists reeling to its death throes with the massive fiasco at the box-office of Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate, which was produced for the princely sum of $44 million but which only raked in at $3 million at the box-office or the spectacular box-office bombs Ishtar, Gigli, Hudson Hawk, Adventures of Pluto Nash, Inchon, The Postman, Howard the Duck, all exploded with ballooning mega budget bucks but sadly turned out to be monumental duds, scared the hell of movie producers in venturing to produce untested and unfranchised films. All of these, closed down studios and ended careers (Giantis, msn.com). Film franchises, meanwhile, are secured with an awaiting, 6 ready-made audience which would readily reward the producers for faithfully bringing back to the screen their beloved movies by lining up at the tills. It is clear then that rehashes, sequels, prequels, remakes or even spin-offs are a surefire guarantee at the box-office. It is so because these attract a specific kind of movie fan and reflect his fantasies, feelings, faith and interests (Kunkel 2009, p.92). Film franchises succeed because as a rule it engages audiences on their most essential and elemental levels of emotions. Frances Marion once commented that audiences hanker after arousal of their emotions. She averred that audiences crave for "something that will pleasantly excite it, amuse it, wring it with suspense, fill it with self-approval, or even arouse its indignationand above all else, it wants to be sent home happy" (Maltby 2003, p.10). This is the secret of success of such film franchises as Jaws, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Exorcist, Star Wars and their likes. Once the producer has succeeded in establishing a cult following for his film series, half the battle has been won and the financial return has been guaranteed. Here the hard-core fans enter the movie theatres already acquainted with the characters and already familiar with the story. They are suspended with the dilemma of what events will transpire and how their beloved characters will resolve the turmoil that beset them. When Sherlock Holmes was killed off in the Final Problem, audiences vehemently protested and wept in anger and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was compelled to resurrect Holmes from the ashes and continue the Sherlock Holmes franchise with The Return of Sherlock Holmes (Conan Doyle 1989, p.258). With the death of Ian Fleming in 1964, audiences were in a quagmire as to what will happen to James Bond. The producers and owners of the Bond publishing rights Glidrose, 7 were then constrained due to public demand to continue the James Bond saga by commissioning Kingsley Amis and later John Gardner to resume the writing of the Bond novels and screenplays (Scott & Jackson 2004, p.142). All these illustrate the fact that when one has gained a cult following, there is no stopping the film franchise. The Success of Movie Spin-offs A spin-off is defined as a by-product or derivative of "something larger and more or less unrelated". It is also "something derived from an earlier work, such as a television show and starring a character who had a popular minor role in another show" (The American Heritage Dictionary). The television has been a good source of so many film spin-offs. The list is inexhaustible but the most popular ones are Mission: Impossible which spawned the Tom Cruise trilogy; Star Trek which generated 11 Star Trek movies; Batman; Addams Family; The X-Files; Charlie's Angels; Scooby-Doo; The Transformers: Police Squad which was the basis of 3 Naked Gun films; Pokemon and the list goes on and on. The fact that movie studios keep on churning such spin-offs speaks of how successful spin-offs can become. Successful films are also sources of spin-offs. From Superman emerged Supergirl. From Batman emerged Catwoman, portrayed by Sharon Stone, Michelle Pfeiffer and lately by Halle Berry. From X-Men emerged Wolverine where Hugh Jackman reprised his role and where Wolverine will be searching to discover his past (Icon Group Int'l 2008, p.601). In the offing are films based on the lives of Magneto and Deadpool. Spin-offs and here to stay are more films derived from television and the movies are in the planning stage. 8 The Possibility of a Batgirl Movie as a Spin-off of the Batman Franchise The Batgirl character is not a novelty. She, like Batman and Robin are creatures of the imagination of Bob Kane. She first appeared in the comics strips series Batman in 1966 and was successfully introduced on television as the Gotham City Public Library librarian Barbara Gordon who in most propitious instances transforms herself into the Batgirl fighting the villainous Killer Moth. Yvonne Craig then successfully portrayed the Batgirl. The Batgirl as a spin-off from Batman had been proven to be a good idea. It once drew the interest of young girls and with the right deft touch from the screenplay writer, it can also draw universal interest from people of all walks of life. It can attain unprecedented success depending on how it is handled and produced. If Catwoman had been successfully produced as a spin-off from Batman, the more chances will it hold that Batgirl would be just as successful or even more so. It has been proven that Batman on television can suffer from staleness which ultimately ended to rejection by TV viewers. This happened in 1966 and the introduction of Batgirl eased the loss of Batman mystique and was a sniff of fresh air (tvobscurities.com). Prior to the 6 Batman movies from 1989 to 2007, which were directed by Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher and Christopher Nolan, there were countless Batman movies since 1949. Since then millions worldwide had already seen a Batman movie. The film franchise thus, suffers from vulnerability of being rejected due to being stereotyped, hackneyed and losing its freshness and novelty. There had been several rehashing, sequels, prequels, spin-offs, remakes, metaseries and cross-overs. Batgirl has only appeared twice in the movies i.e. Batgirl vs. Catwoman and Batgirl Birds of Prey and thus it still has lot of novelty. Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl can easily make her 9 entrance again after the Enter Batgirl, Exit Penguin TV movie in 1967 (Fulton 1990, p.49). Many are not even aware that there is a Batgirl movie. Many are of the opinion that had the 1967 Batgirl featured a powerful Batgirl that can demolish her enemies with her superhuman strength and her savvy of various self-defense techniques, Batgirl should have rescued the Batman series from bombing out of television in 1968. The producers only allowed Batgirl only to kick and throw objects at the criminals and never even allowed her to nab the villains by her own strength and talent (experiencefestival.com). If a modern Batgirl be rehashed with probably Angelina Jolie featured in it, who would be given superwoman characteristics, chances are the movie will succeed at the box-office. A decorative Batgirl like the one portrayed by Alicia Silvestone in the 1997 Batman and Robin should also be steered clear of to make it a potent Batgirl movie. Batgirl is thus a welcome film as a spin-off from the Batman series. Conclusion Film franchises found their way to millions of viewers' hearts worldwide because they invariably engage the audiences on the most essential and elemental human levels of emotions. They invariably had interesting plots that pleasantly excite, stimulate, fill with suspense and self-approval or even arouse indignation. Film studios will keep on churning these movies because they bring gargantuan profits as they reflect the movie goers' fantasies, interests, faith and feelings. Audiences go inside the cinemas already acquainted with the characters and the story lines and they had become cult fanatics and enraptured audience to the film genre. The Batman film franchise is one such example. But too much of a good thing threatens to make it stale and trite and a spin-off might provide a delectable departure from such hackneyed franchise. Thus, a Batgirl movie, which would give the heroine superwoman powers has the capacity to strike it big at the tills and thus spell success. Works Cited The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., 'Spin-off', Houghton Mifflin Conan Doyle, A 1989, 'The adventures of Sherlock Holmes', Macmillan. Experience Festival 2009, 'Batgirl- Batgirl in other media', http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Batgirl_-_Batgirl_in_other_media/id/4834275 Forbes 2009, 'Top 10 all-time highest grossing movie franchises', http://www.forbes.com/2005/06/15/cx-/r-franchiseslide_11.htmlthisSpeed=40000. Fullerton, J 1998, 'Celebrating 1895: the centenary of cinema', John Libbey & Company. Giantis, K 2009, 'Movie news', http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspxnews=131054 Icon Group International, Inc. 2008, 'Discoveries: Webster's quotations, facts and phrases', ICON Group International Inc. IMDb. 2009, 'All-time worldwide box-office', http://www.imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegross region=world=wide, June 8, 2009. Kunkel, V 2009, 'Instant Appeal', AMACOM Lindner, C 2003, 'The James Bond phenomenon', Manchester University Press. Maltby, R 2003, 'Hollywood Cinema', Wiley-Blackwell. Manchel, F 1990, 'Film study', Fairleigh Dickinson University Press Marzolph, U & van Leeuwen, R & Wassouf, H 2004, 'The Arabian nights encyclopedia', ABC-CLIO. The Numbers. 'Movie franchises', http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/series/franchises.php Raw, L 2006, 'Adapting Henry James to the screen', Scarecrow Press. Redmond, C 1993, 'A Sherlock Holmes handbook', Dundurn Press Ltd. Salis, E 1999, 'Sheherazade through the looking glass', Routledge. Sammons, M 2004, 'A guide through Narnia', Regent College Publishing. Scott, LV & Jackson, PD 2004, 'Understanding intelligence in the twenty-first century', Routledge Television Obscurities 2003, 'Batgirl and the Batman phenomenon', http://www.tvobscurities.com/articles/batgirl.php Read More