Industry trade paper Variety has done a lengthy feature piece on the health of eight of the biggest film franchises – taking into account factors like audience interest both domestic and overseas as well as cost-effectiveness and profitability.
The results suggest all of the major franchises have some room for improvement, but some offer more hope than others. Plotted on a graph taking into account both commercial potential and creative health, the biggest winner of the whole survey appears to be James Bond.
The hiring of Denis Villeneuve to direct the next entry has the entire industry excited, but key to that will be the casting of who plays the next Bond.
Coming off the worst of the survey was “Star Trek” with one exec saying “someone’s going to have to have a disruptive approach for it to be relevant again”. “Star Wars” didn’t fare much better as, despite much more commercial potential, creatively its seen as in a rut.
The results causing the most discussion are for Marvel and DC. One top agent says while joining the MCU is “still a crazy, life-changing opportunity,” they admit that “I don’t have as many clients asking to do one as they were five years ago.” One exec says while the two “Avengers” are bulletproof, “the standalone movies are in trouble, because you feel like you can miss it now” and nothing is “close to a guarantee” anymore.
DC on the other hand is scored considerably higher on the creative health front, the best score outside of Bond, with one exec saying: “Gunn did the most important thing: The first movie he made was really good”. Another is a little concerned that “Supergirl” and “Clayface” are the next cabs off the rank.
