Tolkien up in Heaven hearing Zaslav’s talk about LOTR becoming an Endless Franchise and just. Screaming. Endlessly.

Yeah...its the reason i've been feeling the pangs of franchise fatigue. the older i get, the more i appreciate the value of endings and self-contained standalone narratives

@matt0044

4 ай бұрын

Personally, I feel like Star Wars at least has something to it with each installment involving a facet of the vast galaxy. The phrase, “one door closes, another one opens” comes to mind.

@myxomatoad2

4 ай бұрын

Never ending stories are exactly why I largely stopped reading superhero comics in the 90’s. To see the same storytelling ethos overtake cinema is just kinda depressing.

@94evangelion

4 ай бұрын

@@matt0044 I do like some of the the spin off material made during the prequel era of the franchise such as Knights of the Old Republic, the 2 Clone Wars shows, Star Wars legacy. But another part of me resent that Star Wars has been reduced to another IP being milked to death, especially after Disney bought it.

@misterlau5246

4 ай бұрын

Yes. It seems we are not the market target... 🤔 I'm old, I have more money now than when I was a teen, so AMUSE ME, HOLLYWOOD, and everything else.. 🤔 Star Wars episode 8 made me not watching episode 9. I'm sure I was not the only one who just wanted to see Luke Skywalker being the big potato BUT NAAAAAH😬🤬

@douglaswolfen7820

4 ай бұрын

This is something that TV shows used to excel at. Whether they were about a private investigator, or a doctor, or someone who faced a different monster every week, they would always have some kind of story engine The main characters might barely change over the course of 5 years on the show, but each episode would introduce a new antagonist to face, or a new innocent to save, and _that_ was the story. We'd get invested in the new character and in the new issue of the week, and then that issue would be resolved with a satisfying conclusion These days it feels like they want to get us invested in the main characters actually developing and going through arcs, which is fine, but then they don't let the characters go through any real arcs that really land in a satisfying way. It's a middle-ground, in between the older style of movie and the older style of TV show, and IMHO it really doesn't work

It feels like this is why I've found myself going back to my old fandoms, lately: those stories have ended, and while myself and a lot of other people write fanfiction for them, the stories themselves are finished.

@CritterKeeper01

4 ай бұрын

I think you're on to something here. I've gotten back into the TV series "Forever" from 2014, and the only series I really get excited about new entries are book series.

Meanwhile, Studio Ghibli literally can’t get Hayao Miyazaki to retire and stop making beautiful standalone animated films

@dante6985

4 ай бұрын

The Boy and the Heron was beautifully animated but a miss narratively.

@maxxjapan619

4 ай бұрын

LittleKurbioh summing up Hayao Miyazaki, "Shut up! I'm trying to animate cute shit here!"

The idea of an ending actually made series live longer. The idea of showing something that was precious to you and ENDED was a complete timeless thing to pass on. For years people showed the Star Wars films to their kids for example with nothing new, just a timeless full complete story. Trying to pump out new endless content is whats actually causing the death of a lot of IP. The worse thing that happened to TV and Film (and maybe video games to) was becoming ‘Content’.

@pavlovs-wug

4 ай бұрын

Couldn't agree more - even with the Star Wars prequels you could still set aside a weekend to watch them all. Heck it's still possible with the newer films if you're really determined 😅 but I don't think there'll ever be a 'Marvel marathon' or fans discussing their version of the machete order... even at the time of Infinity War it was getting absurd! I hadn't wanted the MCU to stop up to that point, but I was disappointed that Wave 3 wasn't the end. It would have been a quality conclusion and carried on like Star Wars/LOTR

If you had asked me ten years ago, I would have said "YAY! *insert favrotie franchise here* FOREVER!!! Nothing has to die!" Now I am saying "Please let it die... let these old franchises die and allow new ones to flourish.

Soap operas I think are in a class on their own. They were designed to be unending, to show the lives of the characters in a fictional setting that was relatable or just our of the realm of possibility. It's a continuing story with no set end. You grow up alongside of the characters in a soap opera, and they become like an extension of your life and your social circle. At least, that's how it used to be, and may still be for those who watch. I was raised on Days of Our Lives, and just today, when I talked with my mom, she told me that Doug Hayes had just passed away, and my heart twisted, because the actor had played Doug on Days for nearly its entire run on air. He was in an episode back in December. I'd seen him hundreds of times over the 44 years of my life, if not thousands, so it did feel like an old family friend had passed. And because Days films so far out, his death won't be acknowledged on the series for months. His wife, who also plays his wife on the show, will have to continue without him until the show can write in a suitable ending. Soaps are intended to be multigenerational, so I don't think the label of franchise quite fits. Fans don't talk about the "greater Days of our Lives universe". It's just the show, with its rotating cast of characters, centered around the core families, telling familiar stories in new ways.

I remember the plan for the Universal Dark Universe franchise that scuppered by how badly The Mummy from 2017 did. That seems like the type of thing I could imagine the executives trying to start up again when they feel that people will have forgotten about The Mummy.

I have to say, as someone who is writing about franchise fatigue for his master’s thesis, this is immensely helpful :D My personal viewpoint is that while I don’t think franchises themselves will ever “die” in the sense that they’ll stop making new products, but a large number of them have died in terms of their cultural relevance. The release of a new Marvel, DC or Star Wars film used to be a cultural event, but now most people seem to either ignore them, actively avoid them, or don’t even know they’re coming out.

@marocat4749

4 ай бұрын

The problem isnt them being picked up, its the oversaturation. I think even on the channel was talked about the sommer blockbuster events, oversaturate and loose all the novelty, even become annoying. Also ther is kinda a bit cynicism in the current market why something is brought back it it actually wants to tell somrething with fresh ideas, or is just a cashgrab from a studio, without anyone injecting that . To be clear if someone can make out of a cashgrab something telling somethin genuine, great, but its rare. Franchasises may not die, but damn, they should take healthy rests.

What will eventually force studios to take more risks whether they want to or not is that overusing franchises tends to cause all the wells to run dry around the same time. You see this with Disney now where neither the MCU nor Star Wars nor the live-action remakes of animated classics have the excitement around them that they once did and even the new animated films that lean heavily on their tried-and-true formula for success have been too hit or miss to keep subsidizing everything else.

I really hope that nobody grabs the rights to Discworld, because they will drive that into the ground.

@nymphrodellsalavin

4 ай бұрын

Discworld just isn't an IP that can be adapted onto film. Please stop trying, directors

@quintencrook6068

4 ай бұрын

@@nymphrodellsalavin That's not going to stop Hollywood. They will always try to find a way to make something work, and once they find any amount of success, it's like a feast for the vultures from the carcass of what was once a creative idea.

@nymphrodellsalavin

4 ай бұрын

@@quintencrook6068 Oh, I know. It's just a hope. I'm not going to watch Discworld adaptations as a point of principles

@mttylerdurden9

4 ай бұрын

Ok. But what if it turns out to be good?

@nymphrodellsalavin

4 ай бұрын

@mttylerdurden9 Only if my friends nag me enough 😅

I was a little relieved that Our Flag Means Death was cancelled. I’d rather have some things unresolved but with a happy ending than have something go on beyond the ability to keep track of. Like I don’t dislike all the new Star Wars stuff I’m just at the point where it’s not fun trying to keep up with it.

Look at the Baldur's Gate francise, It was dead, but suddenly Larian announced Baldur's Gate 3! It was a passion project, that turned into a huge hit that hopefully cause the industry to get better!

@WhitneyAllisonGG

4 ай бұрын

It actually Forgotten Realms as Franchise operates like the Comic books and it's never ending Soap Opera. BG3 is actually set a 100 years in the future when 1 and 2 occurred. You actually don't need to play the BG1 and BG2 because BG3 will in game tell you need to know.

@MoramothHauntz

4 ай бұрын

I saw all the hype and thought to myself "Wait they're only on 3?"

A video about the destructive and creatively devoid nature of capitalism. Great video Vera!

I have honestly had it with franchises to the point that I miss when a new Marvel film comes out even though I was a die hard Marvel fan up until Infinity War 2. I couldn't even pinpoint why, but a big part I think is the social element that came with these movies. We would go as a group on opening night or close to it and that made the movies a lot more enjoyable than they had any right to be. But then this all sort of fell away, partly it was Covid, partly franchise fatigue, partly lack of money for some people, myself included. If I go to the cinema nowadays, I tend to go to the small arthouse theatre because they actually show movies I couldn't just catch on Netflix or Disney+ in a month or so and I'd rather my money go to smaller studios and directors than our corporate overlords.

@trekman10

4 ай бұрын

It felt like a communal thing for me, my whole social circle from late high school and early college made them into events, hanging out in the mall beforehand and getting dinner I think I valued that more than going on reddit after every film or episode dropped to talk with internet strangers

@trekman10

4 ай бұрын

It felt like a communal thing for me, my whole social circle from late high school and early college made them into events, hanging out in the mall beforehand and getting dinner I think I valued that more than going on reddit after every film or episode dropped to talk with internet strangers

"Part of the journey is the end." Practice what you preach, Marvel. A story that doesn't stop where it should loses its meaning.

@pious83

4 ай бұрын

HISHE: Avengers: Endgame -> "Goodbye" movie phase: GoTG 3, Black Panther 2, Spider-Man: NWH, Dr. Strange 2 -> *BREAK* -> MCU 2.0 ala Fantastic Four, X-Men etc

@CyberYork123

4 ай бұрын

@@pious83 A Goodbye movie phase would have been a better idea. Instead they tried to create something even bigger they the stuff that had before. And even as a fan of the MCU movies I cannot see where all of is going. How are the Eternals tied to Shang-Chi? What has Wakanda to do with Dr. Strange? Do the Marvels care about Ant-Man and the Wasp? I have no idea. Instead I'm getting more and more TV shows the even more characters. I have lost track. And now the MCU feels like homework (somebody smarter the me said that).

@jadenbryant9283

4 ай бұрын

@@pious83 honestly that would have been a good compromise to have 5 more movies as a bit of an epilogue and take a 5 or 6 year break and do a soft reboot with new characters not tied to the previous MCU but still have some return

@pious83

4 ай бұрын

@@jadenbryant9283 Also as many have suggested as a preference. The Eternals should have been the first Marvel series, not movie, after these epilogue films. Giving the cast and plot the correct amount of time to develop. Meanwhile showing people that things would be different moving forward.

@jadenbryant9283

4 ай бұрын

@@pious83 agreed having eternals be a sorta of sneak peak into what the Mcu is gonna be like

Small correction: mid-budget movies are still made, mainly by the branches of the studios designed for indie movies and Oscar bait, but not as many and they don’t receive even close to the same marketing push. Also obviously a lot go to streaming now. And in terms of the ending, the frustrating thing about antitrust is that it’s built to be more about “under what circumstances are we comfortable letting this deal go through” rather than “should this deal go through at all”. Plus, the more markets a company operates in, the harder it is to call them a monopoly (in the legal sense). Ultimately antitrust regulations exist to ensure there is still competition in the market, so legally as it stands regulators can’t do anything just because a company has too much power-it has to be proven that they have participated in anticompetitive practices. Point is it’s woefully inadequate for the oligopolies we face today in nearly every market.

@marocat4749

4 ай бұрын

Plus american anti trust and anto monopol laws have been mostly defanged and would need serious supporting them again to do that job. I know america isnt the only country but a lot of that influence america has would also help with a lot big monopols international, cough disnes have to compere with itself for examle

@redheadmedia7901

4 ай бұрын

How did you watch the video already Lol. It still doesn't premiere in 12 minutes for me

@Elwaves2925

4 ай бұрын

@@redheadmedia7901 Is it released early to Patreon users? That would be my guess.

@adammyers7383

4 ай бұрын

@@Elwaves2925 that’s correct

@marocat4749

4 ай бұрын

Oh christian media keeps action bmovies alive somehow?! Be it a bit preachier and strange

I know it's a divisive film, but can we just appreciate that The Matrix Resurrections basically smashes down the fourth wall and has Smith criticise Warner Brothers for wanting to continue the trilogy and the fact they were happy to make it with or without the original team, has Neo and his design team talk about how it's impossible to replicate the success of The Matrix, Morpheus talk about a reliance on nostalgia, The Analyst talk about finding thst sweet spot between teasing people with what they want but keeping it just out of their reach so they'll keep coming back, and the Merovingian say something like "I will have sequel franchise spin-off" Lana Wachowski basically torpedoed her own IP to give a middle finger to Warner Brothers, knowing tnat Warner Brothers would be too focused on the profit a new Matrix would being in to care.

@christianwise637

4 ай бұрын

And for all its faults, one thing you can say about Resurrections is that it didn't feel like a cash-grab. It clearly felt like Lana making the film that she wanted to make, basically telling WB "you want another Matrix film? Fine, but we're doing it my way"

Thank you for the video, Vera! My current frustration with Hollywood (and the corporations around it) is how, for most part, there are just sequels, prequels, remakes, and reboots of established franchises. And when a new and original media work is announced, that usually comes with the statement of being the first one in a series. Heck, the first work was not even released yet, and executives are already pushing for sequels/spinoffs without knowing if it will be well received and a success. And considering David Zaslav's desire for keep milking dry oversaturated franchises in a desperate attempt of appeasing investors/shareholders, I will not be surprise if, in a few years, Warner Bros. Discovery announces a remake for the original "The Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy.

@mykaruest3620

4 ай бұрын

I just wished if they're gonna remake stuff, at least use really old works instead of something 2 or 3 decades old and still consumable for general audiences. Give Harry Potter and Lotr a few more decades since their adaptations are relatively fresh. Wonka is fine to me because it's a prequel based on a 50 year old movie and 60 year old book's world (Tim Burton's is his own separate adaptation). In the 90s, they rebooted black and white movies that were around 50 to 60-years old.

The thing is star trek, its a bit like dr who, it easy can reinvent itself, and would, if it werent doing too much and too nostalgia baity.

I hope the continuation of franchises force them to take more creative risks.

@rezza_lynsaii

4 ай бұрын

I doubt it tbh.

I was one of those people who got burned out on the MCU back by like Winter Soldier, and finding out they want to do more Lord of the Rings just made me cry into my pillow a little. And so here I am just going off into my own little corner where I don’t get into anything new because I’m just so, so, so tired. Thank you for another insightful, and entertaining video!

I think now studios are going to reassess how they make these movies. Last year, we had several flops. And for most of them, if they were released 5 years ago, they probably would have done better. But because of streaming, audiences are now trained to go to theater for only for big events. If it's something they can find at home, they will be glad to stay instead of spending so much money at a theater. This is coming from someone who loves going to the theater. I think it's funny that the top 3 movies worldwide are non-sequels. The last time that happened was 2001 I think. Granted those top 3 are still based on something.

@pavlovs-wug

4 ай бұрын

I have been wondering how long it'll take for the franchise studios to realise & act on this! They just have to look at these huge successes, which were of such good quality (though I can't say how much of that is due to novelty). Surely they must realise the value of investing in standalone passion projects or even crowd pleasers.

The only franchises I go for now are pretty much by a singular author. The biggest example rn would probably be the Cosmere written by Brandon Sanderson. Books also still have that understanding that the sequel will sell less (tho the first week sells might increase with well known authors or series). I do think books have a safeguard against franchising in that the author holds more weight. Ofc there are still book IPs that are long running like Hardy Boys and probably others from the pulp era. I've also been watching and playing more indie stuff since I'm tired of the big company franchise stuff. So books and Indie and companies I trust for quality (ex Nintendo and Fromsoft) are my primary source of entertainment nowadays.

Something that really frustrates me with franchises not dying is that sometimes they also squander any opportunity to take advantage of their potential. Star Wars is a big one, because I'd argue that the defining characteristic of the franchise is simply its universe, not a single character. This means that you could tell SO MANY STORIES about different people in different eras exploring different aspects of the universe. But no, we get more baby yoda. Executives roll the dice excessively in areas that they shouldn't and absolutely refuse to risk anything in the areas with the most potential

If they want to keep the IP so much they could start adapting fanfictions, because even if that ends up being bad, at least would be hilarious 💀 And I’ve read a lot of fanfics that are better than whatever the studios are doing with the franchises (tho is not like is that difficult at this point tbh)

@Altaira17

4 ай бұрын

If they start spending 250 million dollars to put fanfic on the screen I will definitely point and laugh-while I continue to read fanfic for free.

Oh my god I feel this so deep down in my soul. My favorite animes are single season tight narratives. I liked Star Wars because it was six movies spread over several decades and the rest was optional! And I did go into the optional stuff, but at my leisure! I read the stuff that interested me and skipped the rest because that was a thing that I could do! Now everything feels like it relies on everything and I can't keep up, so I just give up. I felt like I had a grasp on Star Wars, more than that even, but now, I just can't be bothered anymore. And that makes me sad.

@trekman10

4 ай бұрын

I got super into star wars right around when Disney bought Lucasfilm - I really loved Rebels and the Clone Wars. I really like making chronological playlists on Plex of my interests, but the star wars one stopped being fun, as Ahsoka and Obi Wan Kenobi's respective series just weren't good, so I deleted their files to free up space for shows I've heard about or haven't watched in a long time

24:15-19 the only exception I can think of is Andor, and that's just because it *was* a passion project with low studio/executive interference

The fundamental problem with the executive style you describe - how they bring their skills in from other fields and then try to use them to control what movies are being made based on the perceived value of their IP is that they're overreaching. Creative studios need some kind of leadership scheme that splits power. There is a lot to be said for having competent executives. (I would contend that "multi million dollar salary" is not one of those things that should be said, but that's another issue entirely) Even in an industry whose lifeblood is creative enterprises like film and TV studios, there is definitely stuff that needs that executive style of leadership. Developing and maintaining facilities like sound stages and workshops, for example. Financial management in terms of basic day to day operations, payroll, all that stuff. A lot of that stuff is honestly not that different between any business - sure you're paying actors and special effects artists in studios and engineers and construction workers in a construction company, but you're doing payroll either way But there also needs to be space in the leadership for the creatives. Someone who understands at least in some part the artistic aspect of the business. Someone who gets that a franchise that has ended its story has *ended.* Someone who understands that a reboot made 30 years later is tapping into nostalgia that took 30 years to generate. Someone like Gabe Newell at Valve who recognizes that actually making Halflife 3 is probably a bad idea unless they can come up with a Halflife 3 that absolutely blows the socks off everything, because a: that's what Halflife 1 and 2 did in their time, and b: the idea of halflife 3 actually releasing has become a meme that is pretty deeply rooted in gamer lore and therefore it needs to be *absolutely* brilliant to live up to the hype that it will almost certainly generate between announcement and release. (Though I fully admit Valve is a weird exception to anything normal in business because they have one of the biggest passive income generators in history. But he's the one guy I can actually think of who's in a leadership position in a creative business that has consistently resisted the temptation to shovel garbage out with their big IP brand who I think everyone will recognize)

How is the success of A24 not clueing in ANY of these executives that creativity yields better results??

@CouncilofGeeks

4 ай бұрын

Because they look at the highest gross that A24 ever pulled in ($144Million for EEAAO) and go "bah, that's chump change. Billion dollar box office or bust."

A few years ago, I was happy with things, with the exception of Star Trek (I didn't feel like Discovery was set in the same universe as other star trek, although that's changed). For me, I want narratives to be allowed to end naturally but worlds, like secondary worlds, I feel like those should be viewed as settings that can be used forever. But I say this as a hobbyist worldbuilder and creative professional.

I think its stupid that the executives of these companies can't seem to understand that new, original movies equals new IPs. They just don't seem to understand that these massive franchises all had a beginning.

In an industry of never-ending franchises, would a CCO acting like Michael Grade to Doctor Who in the 1980s, cancelling franchises left and right, be a good thing or a bad thing today?

Franchise fatigue is huge, and I'm definitely feeling it. I'm becoming more and more drawn to stories that are truly complete, with no extra stuff, sequels, prequels, reboots, remakes, or spin-offs, and it's getting harder and harder to find them. This is one reason why I want to make sure that I plan out exactly how many books it takes to tell a particular story, then recalculate and remove as much fluff/filler/irrelevant stuff as possible. I want to do this to become a better writer, but also to ensure that I tell the story that needs to be told, and then move on to something else. Also, absolutely no multiverses [since I don't like them much to begin with]. Characters have to stay in their respective universes.

Have no mega-hit books been written in the past 20 years? I guess not, since they would be making movies out of those IPs. They are out of ideas and out of things that will excite the public, so the only thing they have left is to flog the semi- and completely dead horses in their stable. We are seeing this across the board, in Silicon Valley as well as Hollywood (see: Meta). Execs have to sell their own performance as well, so a bad bet on a sequel is better than no bet at all (i.e., it is better to do something and have a chance at retaining one’s job than to do nothing and be guaranteed to lose it). So there is a strong incentive to imagine a bad idea is good and go sell it.

Excellent video. I do worry about things going on too long as if something starts, when will end, when will it get a definitive conclusion. I miss seeing the passion for a project, though I say the closet I see is one of my favorite directors being Guillermo, Del Toro. It's hard to say what will happen, granted I do enjoy some of the content, not all, but we shall see what comes.

Out of curiosity Vera, have you seen Patrick Willems videos on Content & Who Murdered Cinema? If you haven't, I'd recommend them as he hits on many of the same points. I genuinely try and avoid the word content because of his video on it. But he didn't bring up your best point because Vera I think you've hit the nail on the head with movie studios wanting to be like video game studios.

Agree with all of this, but just want to say that James Wan is a weird example to use at 16:19. The man started three different highly successful franchises before moving to Aquaman, all based on original IP, and The Conjuring is (I think) the biggest grossing horror franchise of all time when you include its various spinoffs. And then in between the two Aquaman movies, he wrote and directed another original big-budget horror movie with zero known stars, funded entirely on his name and with free reign to do whatever the hell he wanted, and he went WILD. In other words, Wan is totally one of those few directors who is himself a franchise. He didn't need Aquaman; he wanted Aquaman, because he's been expanding into action films.

Tbf, how long have the comics been around? Not to mention how those comics were shared universes of several series. 8:45 I mean, Halloween might have been nice to add to the thumbnail.

Does the 2002-2008 series *The Wire* by David Simon ring a bell to anyone? It's one of my most adored TV shows ever. It's roughly about drug trafficking in Baltimore, but digs much deeper and not an action crime show, but shows light of the different facets of this urban. They really touch the precarious situations of both sides, criminals and desolate state of the police force. They did not only hire professional actors, but also people from the street! I mention it here because the fanbase asked for continuation or spin-offs of that show but David categorical rejected all those requests. He was courageous enough and had the integrity to say 'my story is told and stands on its own', I highly respect this. If you don't know this series, you might want to take look at it. But it's brutal. Not so much for the _graphic_ violence shown on screen, but because the _inherent_ violence of the system. Some critics go so far to claim 'its depicting the state of the US on the scale of a city', something along this line, can't recall the proper quote.

money that's why franchises don't die money

I wonder how Warner Brothers are gonna try stop Batman going to the public domain in 2035?

@CouncilofGeeks

4 ай бұрын

They can't, but it'll be the same as Steamboat Willie, it's not the entire character or his associated cast that goes public domain, it's just that very specific version.

We need to force these executives to eat pizza for ever meal every day.

@Spielkalb-von-Sparta

4 ай бұрын

Pizza itself allows to many variation, we need to restrict them to three or four types. Salami, Thuna, Hawai and Magherita. And no extras allowed!

I've given up on so many franchises. I saw "Return of the Jedi" (OG) in theatres as a kid. One of my earliest memories was watching Star Wars on a microwave sized VCR at my after school care around 6 or 7. I was _invested._ Now? Meh. Maybe someday Ill watch Andor, when I have nothing better to do. Which may be never. The original trilogy was iconic, ground breaking, truly special. But revisiting it over and over and over has washed away that specialness. Now it's just another Disney franchise that I don't care about. It's sad to me that so many original pieces of work get so overmined and dissected that they lose most of their value. Star Wars, Marvel, LotR... the list goes on. Its why at this point the only Marvel I watch is origin stories. Give me a character we haven't seen on the screen before and do a great adaptation. But once they enter "the universe" I tap out. Because then we are getting into mining and I have no interest.

You forgot the cartoon of ghostbusters, like man in black it has a fine cartoon. Hell i like the cartoon brings back good side characters. And is actuallly good. I wish they would at least do at least what happewned to at least work with creatives to reuse franchises, be somewhat creative and offer something worth telling. Thats why i respect the gallactica, the prequel is amazing, because its different.

I love how the thin man is where we get the nick and nora glasses & beyond belief's Frank and Sadie Doyle! Inspired by franchises

Series 1 Doctor Who is fast becoming close to the top because it has a beautifully contained arc for nine that will never be touched.

They shouldn't be worried about "underutilizing" their properties, they should be considering how to expand the number of properties. That way, when audiences inevitably grow tired of something, they have something else to pivot to. Fear of losing money (or not making as much as they expect) seems to override the idea that small losses are something that you have to absorb in order to find the new thing that is successful. The primary issue here seems to simply be that risk avoidance isn't creative, and these companies are selling creativity but are more concerned about the profit.

The funny thing is that A24 has proven that you can, in fact, market movies based on the studio producing them. Yes, it is possible! They did it by supporting auteur-driven and risky projects, what the larger studios just don't want to do anymore.

Franchise fatigue is why I've almost stopped with western media altogether. I still watch the occasional movie or tv show in English, but I mostly watch stuff from Thailand, Taiwan, China, Korea and Japan. I just can't be bothered with so much of the stuff that comes out of the U.S., the U.K. or even Canada - and I used to love so much of it.

@mttylerdurden9

4 ай бұрын

Then you're missing out on a lot of great shows and movies that aren't franchises.

@ksaunders4362

4 ай бұрын

@@mttylerdurden9 so be it.

I’ve found myself really just enjoying picking whatever I wanna watch or follow out of these big IPs. Like for example I’m a SW sequels fan, so I mostly read those books and follow that thread of media, and I just ignore projects like Kenobi or Ahsoka as they didn’t catch my eye and I don’t care about the characters involved. When I saw Kenobi have a prequel trilogy highlight reel in its opening scene I knew what kinda fare it would be, and so I just simply ignored it lol. I lost absolutely no sleep. I definitely think some of these IPs can lie *dormant*, a lot of franchises from the 80’s or 90’s have been revived and resurrected, never truly ever fading away from popular consciousness. As long as there is that human desire to relive past nostalgia and replicate meaningful experiences/memories, capitalism is going to utilize and commodify that human desire. Like I previously stated though these IPs definitely do decay and fall out of favor, the MCU having the world in a chokehold then being universally mocked and derided in 1 or 2 years time was insane to see. Transformers films making billions then tripping over itself in reboots and cheap designs barely finishing across the finish line are signs of this. These legacy IPs’ impact probably won’t fade for a long while, but their cultural relevance can. I actually do think zoomers and gen alphas won’t catch this bug for the most part, if for no reason other than our gens not seeing the rise of those gigantic IPs and instead growing up *around* these legacy franchises and steadily growing sick of them or just wanted to make something new. We’re not immune to nostalgia of course, nothing about the younger gens are inherently different from those before us, but I think this current climate is truly unique in its benign soullessness. I think alot of people have grown hip to that. Like I’ll still sit my ass down and watch TMNT lol, but I do keep my ear out for new and fresh art that admittedly does ship out quite often, just with little fanfare.

18:26 they also seem to not realize it gives folks something to avoid. I'll avoid Blizzard-Activision products like I avoid Tom Cruse movies. Same thing that happened to the video game industry will happen to the movies.

Its not so much that franchises themselves have changed its that the studios now only do franchises where before youd have a couple of franchise films amongst a bunch of new stories.

Ironically, I think the MCU has room for mid-to-low budget genre movies. How hard is it to find someone that want to make a slasher flick, and make the slasher a comic villain. Or a lost world movie set in the Savage Land.

Wow. That Zaslav quote. How much nothing can you squeeze into one statement?

I would also add that no successful new movie is allowed to stand on its own anymore. I just recently found out they're making TWO more Kingsman movies and a TV show despite the third one (which I didn't bother to see) flopped...

Could one not argue that mid budget movies have gone to streaming? I also feel like those budgets are also going towards better TV. I watched tv in the 90s when it was just one stupid, mindless sitcom after another. Now we are experiencing a golden age of television of sorts, where there is so much good tv, one can’t keep up with how many good shows there are.

I remember reading the first Star Wars novel trilogy from Timothy Zahn. It was very exciting, and it continued the story of Han, Leia and Luke very well… and it was totally ignored by the studios. Sigh

Everything from Toy Story to call of duty ain’t dying anytime soon

You're so right. It's sad, really. Or it should be. But I've stopped being invested in movies and TV series years ago. Not worth it. I'll just be disappointed.

Regarding his comment on the Harry Potter series being 10 seasons, I don't think he misspoke... but I still think it will be 1 season per book... my feeling is that they are going to adapt the cursed child screenplay/stageshow along with the actual 7 books... The rumour was that they had already shopped that with the movie actors before greenlighting the series, as they weren't interested. This way, having Cursed Child already in the line up for adaption would mean they would have the actors signed up and Rowling considers it the 8th book and canon... so it wouldn't surprise me if including it was mandated... this being said they could just make the longer books 2 series long..

Studios being the hook in the games industry rather than the talent reminds me a lot of the rise of the 'superstar DJ' in the 80's - a world that we still kind of live in. Steve Coogan as Tony Wilson in '24 Hour Party People' puts it really well when he remarks that, as his club 'The Hacienda' shifts from live acts to dance DJs, the crowds were still coming to hear the music, but were applauding the DJs who played them not the artist who created them. "They're applauding the medium." I'd argue that club DJs have significantly more creative talent that studio execs, but still. They want to back to the glory days of the movie studio, when the delivery method was the draw rather than the art.

The funny thing about brand recognition with games is that studio names are the primary and often even the _sole_ reason I won't even consider playing most games. 😆 Pick a triple-A studio name and I can probably list at least three deal-breaking issues guaranteed to be in every game they produce. Movie studios might be headed in the same direction. Their main saving grace thus far has been the limits of what abuse they can implement in fundamentally static content.

IPs are also the death of new property. Zaslav cancelled Our Flag Means Death and yes, I am salty about it

"They aren't making Thin Man movies any more!" **sssshhhhh!** (Waiting for the announcement of a new Thin Man reboot)

@CouncilofGeeks

4 ай бұрын

Oh they’ve been saying that for 15 years at least.

I agree with your comments about The Thin Man, though there is a big drop-off between the 1st and 2nd. The edginess of The Thin Man (1st film) -- partly derived from the novel by Dashiell Hammett is mostly gone by TTM #2. (For instance hung over and shooting out Christmas tree ornaments in #1). But there is still good there. I'm a big fan of Planet of the Apes #2: Beneath the Planet of the Apes, which destroyed the whole earth in nuclear explosions at the end!

@CouncilofGeeks

4 ай бұрын

See the second one is actually my favorite, so… politely disagree.

TMNT is another one of those franchises that will never die, but is remarkably well-equipped to weather years of disinterest. However, starting with TMNT (2018), it seems like Viacom/Nickelodeon is determined to just keep the name rolling. TMNT (2018) is one of the best entries in the franchise, but it was initially not watched by a lot of people due to the fact that it came out less than a year after the 2012 series was unceremoniously cancelled. Much as I disliked the 2012 series, even I agree that a year's distance is not enough. If they had developed it and held onto it and released it even in 2019, then I think it would've been better received and wouldn't have gotten cancelled early. Now, it's being recognized for the masterpiece it is, and fans keep clamoring for it to return. However, the Mutant Mayhem movie is out, with already greenlit sequels and rumors of a show of its own.

17:40 METROID PRIME!

Ngl ive started treating most franchises i care about as finished, unless they can be classed as basically anthologies and bring in new castd and stories in a shared universe I dont care about MORE skywalkers and palpatines, thanks.

Daft thing about AI is, depending on the kind of data you gave the model to learn from, it might be more willing to allow franchises to go fallow for a bit than human CEOs are...

We've reached a point where no new franchises are going to ever be created, and the next 50 years of studio content will be based on the same few decades worth of material that we see now.

This reminds me how they're always trying to continue Terminator when it already has the perfect ending with 3: Rise in the Machines. Yes it wasn't as good as the first two movies but its ending is chef's kiss as a ending to the Terminator franchise coming full circle with John Conner accepting his destiny as the leader of humanity against the machines... It's been Studios wringing water from a stone since then.

I have heard that a good manager can manage anything. I cannot test this hypothesis because I have yet to meet a good manager😉 👍👍👍👍👍

Disney knew how to deal with the returning IP. They put a movie in the vault and started a new distribution after approximately 10 years. A new distribution of the original Snow White every decade gave them a lot of money. Now they have lost that plot. Now it needs to be a reinterpretation of every story every time.

@pious83

4 ай бұрын

They lost the plot when they first started to generate sequels to their most popular animated films. Fox and the Hound 2, the Cinderella sequels etc, etc, etc

18:10 Big Hollywood Studios trying to bring back the studio system from the Old Hollywood era, what could go wrong.... 🥴🥴💀💀🔥 The lack of heart and thought really shows in recent franchise movies nowadays 💀, and to think that the execs are going to push on it anyway because it still rakes in enough(??) revenue for them... Goodness me 🤦🏾 They should really have slowed down, but it seems like their operating model is more similar to the fast fashion one (ie. increasing supply to increase profit *despite* of demand, so in the end the consumers could do little to influence the market, if at all 💀) day by day, which is just awful... I saw from other comments that the US anti-trust laws need to be overhauled in order to be more effective in the 21st C, but I think that's an avenue worth trying, because this sort of consolidation couldn't be good for business in the long run anyhow...

@rezza_lynsaii

4 ай бұрын

When will it it end 😪

Great video. Bryan Fuller has a Friday the 13th prequel show coming out, so even that isn't. Sing left alone.

@jadenbryant9283

4 ай бұрын

eh its been nearly 15 years sicne we had a Friday the 13th show imo I think its been enough time to bring it back

Chris Nolan is successfully doing creative non franchise stuff; though he has said he’d like to do a Bond film. He told WB where to go and took up with Universal. The rest is Barbenheimer :)

something will have to change at some point, but who knows what will come next

Honestly, I don't have too much of an issue with franchises - to an extent. I was one of those nerds that read tie in novels and comics, so I'm here for more Star Wars, Star Trek, comic book movies. As far as the idea that Marvel hit their peak with Endgame and should have quit seems a strange notion to me, especially when I hear that from my fellow comic book enthusiasts. We didn't stop reading the comics after any huge event, because the stories went on for the characters. Same with the MCU. And there are so many other characters that can be utilized. I agree with you on the Hobbit movies, but there are other works that can be mined (forgive the pun) for material in that universe. Harry Potter is still very popular with people, even if the smartest of us gave up because of JK and her misguided, hate filled thoughts and beliefs. If there's a story to tell and can be told well, I'm all in for franchises. Maybe that makes me too much of a fanboy, but it's those movies and TV shows that keep me entertained and distracted from everything else going on in my life. All that said, this was a greatly refreshing take on this topic. The algorithm keeps trying to get me to watch the outrage a$$holes who just scream into their microphones about how "these properties are dead" and have their clickbait video titles of RIP (insert franchise name). You're a class act, Vera.

@rezza_lynsaii

4 ай бұрын

The difference is the MCU and Comics are completely different. The MCU should just stop now. Like I’m so tired of it 😅

@calebleland8390

4 ай бұрын

@@rezza_lynsaii sure, they're different, but the MCU is based on the comics. And I'm definitely not tired of it.

@rezza_lynsaii

4 ай бұрын

@@calebleland8390 Barley tbh, it seems they just wanna go original. Many people are done with it but each to their own. I just don’t think it’s gonna last much longer.

Seeing films and movies as "content" or "products" instead of works of art or entertainment has had a negative effect on the media.

The irony of the thumbnail zombies being from The Walking Dead (universe) 😂

@lewisthellama2569

4 ай бұрын

Maybe not irony but funny

I think execs ignore that a lot games still have tht director brands, kajima or , there are directors and teams attached that fans actually connect. Yeah execs ignore that names behind game series actually count a lot?!

It is easier and safer to do whats already works then make something new.

Re the suggestion they want something with the wizard boy name plastered over it rather than a 'spinoff'... Cursed Child is very much still a thing, and are the execs really suggesting that the theme parks and studio tour aren't bringing in public interest to the brand??!! If only the profits from their big IPs were reinvested in new ones, which I always assumed is how the popular IPs were popular in the first place. I feel like there was a recent era of looking to more indie projects and not slavishly following the 'mainstream', but that's nigh on unsustainable now because of the financial state of everything and oversaturation, plus the fatigue & apathy that's creating. It's just exhausting to try to find and promote new things, when 5 years ago it was exciting and rewarding

Look on the bright side, we might accidentally get a Lord of the Rings reboot that's actually good... no jokes about dwarf tossing, a less hysterical Gandalf, ditching the "glum Arwen / Aragorn getting dragged off by a warg" sub-plot, etc., etc...

I tell people that the reason everything is going to shit is because the world is being owned and operated by business majors as opposed to anyone who actually knows useful information. Business majors, on the other hand, only know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Hence why STEM and Art majors need to put aside their differences to do battle with their common enemy, because we are both being screwed over by them, and our respected fields are suffering as a result.

Just a quick one. Do you have any movies that could have been made into a franchise but never took off?

@elisabethmontegna5412

4 ай бұрын

ET?

Legit had a ramble with my friend about this spurred on by a prequel TV series that's coming that's before a singular film from the 90s that has a smaller cult-following in the UK. Literally boggles my mind that studios are so desperate they don't even care for the inevitable issues brought by linking it to a smaller property that won't have the name to bring in a huge fandom but is big enough to have fans who will complain it has ruined the film before it's even come out. Corpo bullshit keeping up being ridiculous

Old Man Burton comic aside, I increasingly worry that they'll make Big Trouble sequel.

The term youre looking for is "requel"

They keep making money.

Here's a franchise that's died: Police Academy. They had their movies, TV series, even a cartoon. But what has it done in the past 15 years? I don't even think studios want to touch it again.

I have not been excited to go see a movie in a long while. Because it all look the same to me and if I'm going to see something that I already know, why not just rewatch the original?

I must admit, that quote made me feel a bit sick. The later movie slate didn't make me feel any better. Personally, I have no interest in seeing anything else with 'Lord of the Rings' on it. If someone wanted to make a smaller and significantly more faithful Hobbit film, I might be interested. Let alone to bringing The Silmarillion to screens. But no to re-treads from me. It's also ironic that this current version of the mentality comes in the wake of the MCU's success. Yet WB bought DC in 1969. They could have had the "DCU" decades before Marvel. But they weren't interested in anyone other than the two marquee superheroes - Superman and later, Batman. Likely deemed "too risky" at the time. I think back to arguably the first franchise, Universal Monsters. Which was run into the ground because even back in the 30's and 40's, Studios didn't know when to stop. So little has actually changed in nearly 100 years.

To be fair, there's way more stories to adapt with Lord of the Rings. Especially the 3rd age.

The death of the franchise and the dial of destiny

The only way this would ever change is for the audiences to turn their back on them - but they won't- and while people are handing over their cash - they will keep churning them out.

I've heard news about a Gumby reboot, but it's been almost a year, and I have no idea what came of it.

@valolafson6035

4 ай бұрын

I'm sorry....what?

@Moonbeam143

4 ай бұрын

@@valolafson6035 Yep. Fox bought Gumby.

15:59 it has occurred to me this may be the real reason Scorsese hates the MCU. He used to be the big draw at cinemas, but now he’s not.

Vera, what you say is very interesting. But who would want to risk their bonus? As we say, "who is going to hang the bell on the cat?"