According to Box Office Mojo, Titanic (1997) is the only single film to make the Top 10 of all-time revenue (not adjusted according to inflation). Data shows the rapid growth of the trend of building franchise films as well as the potential profits it can bring.
Safety economic problem
In 2019, fans witnessed the return of many popular film brands, such as Avengers, X-Men, John Wick and Toy Story.
Experts affirm that revenue is the biggest driver of this trend. Based on box office performance, studios consider expanding existing franchisees or creating new franchisees. Therefore, the big screen recorded the birth of more and more branded films.
Released in 2014, John Wick brought in 88.7 million USD while the production cost was only half that figure. A profit margin of more than 50% is enough for Lionsgate to turn the green light on the post-story. Although keeping the investment level, John Wick: Chapter Two 2017 can "pocket" up to 171.5 million USD. Most recently, episode 3 of the series also achieved an interest rate of about 70% when earning 279.9 million USD.
With a constantly improving record, Lionsgate has set the release date for part 4 right at the time when John Wick: Chapter 3 - parabellum was still on sale globally.
In 1916, The Fall of a Nation was produced to follow birth of a Nation (1915), marking the first appearance of the film in many parts in the history of cinema. According to The Guardian, this was a popular method applied to B-class films to take advantage of costumes and props.
In addition to the above reason, modern film studios also tend to "eat a lot", increasing investment in sequel parts. For example, while the funding level for Avengers 2012 was $220 million, Marvel Studios invested 1.5 times more in Avengers: Endgame (2019). Notably, Marvel's willingness to play is commensurate with the revenue of 1.5 billion USD and 2.7 billion USD respectively (the film is still on air).
In contrast, Jurassic World 2015 was invested with 150 million USD, earning 1.6 billion USD, while the post-production (2018) expanded the budget to 170 million and only earned 1.3 billion USD.
However, whether it is a small profit or a big profit, branded films are still a safe strategy when the film studio has a plan for the number of people released in theaters based on the success of the predecessors. Accordingly, film brands have become a popular trend today.
Hollywood brand films "orecast"?
On the other hand, the fact that brand-name films are dominating the big screen has made experts worried about the decline of Hollywood.
The Guardian said: "In the past, every time you visit a cinema, you would discover a new world of characters, situations, locations or ways of looking."
The newspaper recognizes the benefits that branded films bring, but also has to affirm their consequences. "Some works should only be individual films instead of lasting two, three or four parts. Not to mention, his successors also encountered many difficulties in production. This leads to exhaustion in creativity," The Guardian commented.
However, it is advisable to summarize the responsibility for the film series too early. Because expanding the story is an opportunity for filmmakers to dig deeper into the psychology of the characters and produce stories with characteristics.
Marvel Studios is a typical name on the path of brand films and is a minority case in Hollywood who has succeeded in building the cinematic universe. Inheriting comic books and creative edits, the film studio has continuously achieved success in both professional and revenue aspects.
On rotten Tomatoes, Marvel owns 16 works with scores above 80% out of a total of 22 films released. At the same time, the duo Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame excellently brought in more than 2 billion USD from the global box office. The core factor that makes the Marvel Cines Universe (MCU) popular is said to be the machous, systematic connection between feature films.
On the other hand, the 2019 summer box office was disappointing with names like Godzilla: King of Monsters (Warner Bros. ), Dark Phoenix (Fox) or Men in Black: International (Sony). All three products are rated no more than 40% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Notably, previous films in each brand were rated by Rotten Tomatoes at 75%, 47% and 68%, respectively - showing low expectations from the audience. Moreover, due to their not-so-good content, CNBC rated the three names as "lazy" post-tories.
On the contrary, continuing to bring to the screen the stories that fans want to see from a assassin, John Wick: Chapter 3 - parabellum has achieved success.
However, Gamespot commented that the new part of the series seems to have been produced just to attract viewers to the theaters for the next projects. Because Parabellum ended with John Wick being chased as a big reward - the ending similar to the prequel.
"When each new film is simply produced to set up a sequel, the film brand is at risk of collapsing before the story is truly completed," Gamespot commented. Accordingly, the focus of the issue is still on the plot and content.
Temporarily concluded, even though it is a "grandfather's son, grandfather's grandchild", not every film has achieved positive results. Many " householdings" return every year, ending up with disastrous spraybombs.
Because the creative content and aspirations of fans are the key factors that determine the success or failure of a film - whether individual or within a chain of famous brands.
