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How come we can't make new memorable franchises?
Or: how come the eighties had so many franchises that we're still milking for IP right now?
Comments
One word: Nostalgia.
I'm just hoping that this trend leads to a Pirates of Dark Water revival in some form.
I don't personally watch Avatar (as in, the cartoon), but it looks like it's going to be pretty huge for this generation and at least one more to come. Likewise, video games are beginning to be a new origin point for franchises with longevity. I doubt Mass Effect is going to just lie down and die -- we're probably in for some book cash-ins, comics, perhaps a film and so on. The recent adaptation of A Game Of Thrones has also sealed A Song Of Ice And Fire's transmedia success for years to come. While it's hardly "new" in a technical sense, it's by no means a rehash and it's too faithful to be completely a retelling. There's been on bad game tie-in and there's an upcoming RPG with Martin's name in the writing credits.
While I certainly agree that I'd love to see more new franchises (or one-off pieces of media), we're also developing new franchises all the time. What's getting in their way is the caution of those with money. They want reliability, but often can't see the forest for the trees.
Bayonetta.
No More Heroes
Devil May Cry
Halo
Also the big elephant in the room: Harry Potter.
The only reason we can't objectively call them super memorable is because they haven't had the time to become such.
They've passed the seven year hurdle.
I don't particularly like Harry Potter, but there you go.
I wouldn't argue for Bayonetta. I mean, it's not a franchise yet.
Either way, I think that calling anything we have produced in the last year "Memorable" when we haven't been able to even test that the only way it can be tested is ridiculous
The thing about Harry Potter is that it just recently finished (For most people, anyway). You wanna measure if it's going to be seen as the Backstreet Boys of literature? Wait a couple of years, I think.
Also, the Backstreet Boys were the Backstreet Boys of music even while they were still around.
but it has a sword in it
Oh, it will be. But we don't know if it'll be remembered fondly. All signs point to "Yes". On the other hand, only time can tell. All I'm saying is that we're not time and thus we can't tell.
It's a lazy imitation of excalibur. Alex hates lame imitations of his beloved swordbando.
Twilight.
It will probably be remembered if only in a "Oh God, remember Twilight?" way.
So...is the topic of this thread that media franchises from the last few years haven't been fondly remembered for decades? Because the reason for that strikes me as kinda obvious.
Harry Potter is as old as the Pokemon Franchise.
Most people during this generation didn't discover it till the movies came up. Like I said, "For most people". It's not a universal truth for most, but the fact is, that the franchise didn't become the international phenomenon it is now until 2002
Almost. The books proved enough of a success to make film adaptations, and said adaptations are taken to be worse than the books.
I'd say Harry Potter's here to stay, although it might have one downfall. The books become darker as they progress, changing audience. Each book seems very much aimed at the general age group Harry belongs to at the time, so the shifts in tone might not sit well with future readers. Many established fans read some of the books and had to wait for each new release, growing themselves. To our generation, the shift in tone as it relates to when each book was released seems natural; to a child having them recommended, possibly not so much.
Personally, I think Avatar might have the strongest continued presence in the future. For younger age groups today, I think it might hold the same place the early 90s Batman does for many of us. In format, it might be considered even better given it's drama-like sequential episodes rather than being a series of connected but singular plots. Anime artstyle aside, taking on the anime narrative format was probably a good move for longevity. The movie might have sunk bad, but that's not necessarily a death knell -- in fact, it hasn't seemed to slow anything concerning the cartoon at all.
I'm not personally fond of Avatar, either.
But there you go.
^ I was aware of it in 1998, when the first book was released (or thereabouts?). Many of my classmates at the time were, too. Hell, I think we had the first book read to us in class a year or two later.
Didn't like it that much, though, even back then.
Yes, but you're an Australian. Think about it this way: How aware was the third world and non-English speaking countries of Harry Potter back then?
Then South America and other comparable regions might use a different starting point to see if Harry Potter sticks. But for the mass consuming anglosphere, it may have already stuck.
Given that the franchise is in the hands of J.K. Rowling rather than belonging to a corporation, though, it might die off through lack of continuation. Although that certainly didn't stop The Lord Of The Rings, so
My point is not that it hasn't stuck. The question is whether it will get unstuck at some point, if that makes sense.
Personally, I don't think so, but what I am getting at is that it's feasible, albeit unlikely.
Speaking of getting unstuck, I wonder what'll happen to the Modern Warfare games a few years down the line? With the FPS craze slackening and the tide of popular social opinion railing against militarisation, they might go down in history as more of a cultural footnote than the media force their fiscal popularity might imply.
I get this feeling they'll be remembered as a result of cultural paranoia -- perfectly representative of the social fallout that was the result of the 9/11 attacks, the ensuing fury towards ill-defined adversaries and the political manipulation that followed.
On the other hand, we're not out of that ballpark yet, are we? While there are now solid plans to pull forces from Afghanistan and Iraq, we've gone from a lengthy period of war into continued economic depression. With the bad guys killed and no wartime passion left to fuel such a game, we might see a shift in the nature of popular "hardcore" gaming.
I never noticed Modern Warfare being anything. Something about "I preferred Call of Duty when it was Second World War", tops. But the second-hand knowledge of them that I have tells me they might be remembered as computer-based reincarnation of that Red Dawn film.
No, but you get to pick the color it explodes.
Okay, I'll stop
Saying all the good franchises came from the old days is kind of ignoring the fact that the ones we actually remember are the 10% or so that weren't the same kind of forgettable crap that's always saturated every creative industry every day.
We'll look back on the 2000's the same way. Your children will know and remember the awesome things, and then when someone mentions Date Movie they'll go "huh? What are you talking about?" And you won't have the heart to tell them.
What about the Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo franchises?
"Saying all the good franchises came from the old days is kind of ignoring the fact that the ones we actually remember are the 10% or so that weren't the same kind of forgettable crap that's always saturated every creative industry every day."
In the case of the 80's, part of the 10% is indeed that forgettable crap.
To be fair, Blizzard seems determined to run Starcraft as firmly into the ground as possible. So I guess it'll be like Star Wars where people remember the first couple parts really nicely and cringe at the later ones.