The dangerous trend of franchises and sagas
Cinema today lacks original works that mark their era, generate popular acclaim, or even create a cultural trend. The widespread adoption of streaming platform subscriptions and the various lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have given audiences new habits when it comes to audiovisual works. Economically, the almost painless monthly subscription cost of platforms, given their vast catalogues that one can scroll through with growing indifference, can call into question every cinema trip. After all, why bother going out, spending nearly ten euros per person for two hours of content, when thousands of hours are available without leaving your sofa, and when today's film will be on the platform in a few months?
As a result, production studios in crisis, especially in Hollywood, capitalize on almost every current or past success to redirect an already engaged audience toward a new production, through an abundance of franchises. The anticipated cinematic event thus requires, as a prerequisite, having the previous movie fresh in one's mind to fully appreciate it. While the Marvel Cinematic Universe built its blockbuster phenomenon on multiple interconnections and storylines without making exhaustive viewing mandatory, after its climax in 2019, it has become completely obscure to anyone who hasn't diligently followed the original series available exclusively on its producers' streaming platform. In an era of overstimulation and saturation of cultural events, the required investment makes many people give up.
Moreover, these franchises and this explicit continuity from one production to another rest on economic and creative mechanisms that are perilous to maintain. While an original work emerges from a blank page, works that depend on another rely on the expectations of both producers and audiences, based on their first experience with the advertised title. This is why the crisis in the economic sector favours their abundance: they present a lower risk to monetize, whether from the top down or the bottom up. Nevertheless, once the theatre lights go down, the operation does not always pay off, because the success of a sequel depends both on reusing elements from the original project and on significant differences meant to generate enthusiasm around it. This precarious balance most often tips over, out of fear of alienating the audience won over by the original work, who are thought to be timid and fickle. From this perspective, the ideal Hollywood product lies in the pure and simple restitution of a cult film using today's conventions, in other words, a remake or a reboot.
Thus, we are witnessing the revival of franchises that "start from scratch" with films or series seasons that resemble investment plans more than artistic propositions. In the end, this industrialized recycling loses the trust of many viewers, who would prefer a surprise, whether good or bad, to a reheated version of the last box-office success.
