What is the next big franchise?

[inisideguy]

So I was thinking about various franchises in film. You have the big ones, Star Wars, Marvel, probably Harry Potter can be thrown in there with fast and furious and Jurassic movies. Various ones seem on life support, Transformers, Aliens, Pirates, Terminator. Some middling ones like Trek and DC universe. What do you guys see as the possibly the next big franchise to hit it out of the park at the box office?

[WhichDrWhowins]

It will be at least 10 yrs before something challenges the power of Star Wars, Disney, Avengers , but I can see video game to movie franchises and novels like the Twilight Saga, some other scifi chipping away providing a little competition and collecting some big bucks at the box office but nowhere near the Avengers levels ...... the James Bonds also seem to invent themselves .... there could be sleeping giants for example planet of the apes or babylon-5 or Dredd or Dune or some other cult following scifi fantasy franchise that gets revamped.

but I can see cartoon and video game to movie franchises the likes of transformers, tomb raider etc Hunger Games kinda like the Japanese battle royale was a big seller so there is always the teen book, young adult literature market. .. its always possible some film maker i dunno in say the USA, Europe, Canada might just take some anime concept and re-imagine it like I dunno Attack on Titan? I don't know if video games like Diablo, Call of Duty or Mario or whatever can translate to the big screen. There will always be something making money but it might be years before you see something as big as what is here today.

Some Korean, Japanese, European and Asian stuff have their own following 'The Host', Okja, Iron Sky, Akira but we seen also that some of these films don't translate well to the USA or Western audiences. I don't know I've a feeling some are getting tired with the blockbuster after justice league box office numbers but then again Thor and Wonder Woman were very successful movies !! Logan was huge and had a very small budget for a box office blockbuster. Not sure how to predict things maybe some years down the road DC Warner Bros will reboot and finally challenge Marvel? or Star Trek and other cult brands will reboot?

You know what would be nice? if film makers and writers started coming out with ORIGINAL material once again

[inisideguy]

It will be at least 10 yrs before something challenges the power of Star Wars, Disney, Avengers but I can see video game to movie franchises, and novels like the Twilight Saga, some other scifi chipping away providing a little competition and collecting some big bucks at the box office but nowhere near the Avengers levels

Yea who knows not really talking about Avengers or Star Wars levels. Something like Harry Potter levels. I don't see Terminator or Aliens or the like ever coming back to their glory. Weird ones like Fast and Furious though which is probably the most unlikely massive franchise ever can pop out.

[AndrewCrossett]

Jabberjaw.



Followed by the Jabberjaw Cinematic Universe.

I say this because it's the last Gen X thing that hasn't yet been picked up by the ankles and shaken until the change falls out of its pockets.

[Jackalope89]

The Wheel of Time series was picked up by Sony (think along the lines of Lord of the Rings for the kind of Fantasy series it is, rather then Game of Thrones).

[AndrewCrossett]

Of the mega-franchises, only Harry Potter, the MCU and Lord of the Rings came out of extremely well-known existing sources. The others were either created originally as films or came from lesser known literary works. So the next big franchise is likely something we've never heard of.

I think Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champions universe could be a big thing, if done right. Nice edgy, R-rated stuff with lots of violence and magic and sex, and fantasy world-building that is very distinct from the usual medieval-fantasy stuff. You could start with the well-known Elric stories, branch out to other heroes like Hawkmoon, Corum, etc., and have them all eventually cross over.

I see it more as a TV thing than film, though.

I'm kind of surprised nobody's made a big push to monetize H.P. Lovecraft yet. His work seems like it influences practically everything even remotely horror-related these days, but nobody tries to adapt the stories themselves. There have been a few films made, but nothing high profile. I'd think it's because people realize how very, very, very easy it is to adapt Lovecraft badly. But that's never stopped Hollywood before.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

I wish that they'd make the Dragonlance trilogy into movies but I'm not going to hold my breath...

[Qwerty]

I'm still waiting on my Carmen San Diego trilogy

[AndrewCrossett]

I wish that they'd make the Dragonlance trilogy into movies but I'm not going to hold my breath...

Dragonlance adaptation would be great, but another thing that's so large in scope (in terms of number of potential storylines) that it would be better for TV. Kind of a big budget for TV, though. Same for a Forgotten Realms TV show, which would be more likely to get backing from Hasbro/WotC since it's now the default D&D game world.

A Shadowrun TV show... man, that would be awesome.

[WhichDrWhowins]

Come to think of it scifi fanatsy books are there Demon Cycle? Redwall? Altered Carbon? The Heechee Saga? First Law? Black Company? Robin Hobb? Baxter? Kim Stanley Robinson? Alastair Reynolds? Heinleins planets? and I think the whole 'Cyberpunk' and 'Steampunk' are massively untapped genres just needing the correct story and waiting to get massive, it might require some original screen writter but you see it in the cult followings of Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell etc and a ton books and heap of video games and shows Almost Human, Neuromancer, Deus Ex series, Shadow run series, Technobabylon, and Nomad Soul which stared the late artist musician David Bowie .... Steampunk I don't know so much ... Hellboy's story and visual aesthetic is interesting in that its a mix of fantasy, scifi, horror, magic folklore and good old fashioned steampunk... maybe Steampunk like the movie City of Lost Children, tv series Into the Badlands, Clock Punk world, Sherlock Holmes, The Prestige or the Japan animation Full Metal Alchemist or some Mad Max story

even if you have a story or universe or product it can be easily messed up, some stories are just very difficult to translate to the big screen

[Panic]

The Red Rising trilogy of novels (by Pierce Brown) could be big if adapted to the cinema, though I've not heard anything of that nature occurring.

Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn novels are also something I could see being a big hit on the silver screen.

I'd love to see some kind of adaptation of Roger Zelazny's Amber books, though I think they'd be better as a big-budget TV series.

[Carabas]

Something we have never heard of because it isn't adapted from something old.

[Panic]

Something we have never heard of because it isn't adapted from something old.

I think that's what Jupiter Ascending was trying to do. Not that it tanked any worse than this year's Valerian, based on an existing property, did.

[inisideguy]

I think that's what Jupiter Ascending was trying to do. Not that it tanked any worse than this year's Valerian, based on an existing property, did.

Yea good or bad, I think that type of high concept sci fi stuff, is a hard sell to North American audiences for a movie franchise. Next year is gonna be a crazy one for movies thats for sure. I have to say there are several horror franchises that seem to do well.

[AndrewCrossett]

I'd love to see some kind of adaptation of Roger Zelazny's Amber books, though I think they'd be better as a big-budget TV series.

Yep, Amber would make for a perfect TV series. Really surprised it hasn't been done yet.

Lately when I think of adaptations, my mind immediately goes to TV rather than big screen. I think unless you have a series of books that's so popular the movies are guaranteed home runs, meaning you will definitely get to do the whole story (Harry Potter, LotR), TV is almost always the better way to go. I don't think even Game of Thrones would have succeeded as a feature film series.