James Garcia
This is an interesting topic, because the trends of release date claiming and rapid franchise building are relatively new. Blockbusters and sequels have been around for decades, but we didn’t see a gigantic tentpole push like this until very recently. Marvel’s astounding success in recent years has dramatically accelerated these trends and given studio heads a brand new way to make loads and loads of money from moviegoers.
Frankly, it’s a bit hard to tell if this is objectively “good” or “bad” for audiences, because we’re finding ourselves at the very beginning of a business model that’s going to play out over the course of the next decade. Warner Brothers has DC films slated from 2016 to 2020, while Marvel has plans that supposedly stretch all the way to 2028. The truth of the matter is, we may not know the answers we seek until these “cinematic universes” come to a close, or get rebooted somewhere along the way.
For the sake of argument, I’m actually going to side with the studios on this one. Yes, the upcoming slate of not only superhero films, but big-budget tentpoles in other genres can seem a bit daunting at times, but in the right hands and with the right execution, this could actually be a really, really good thing.
Let’s take a look at Warner Bros/DC for a moment. Up until very recently, the studio has never had a firm plan in place for its DC properties. What that’s lead to is a messy resume of hits and misses that ultimately didn’t lead in a constructive direction. Marvel, on the other hand, had a firm plan in place for The Avengers, and despite a few stumbles like Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk, they managed to reach their goal and achieve success.
What a plan does is make a studio accountable for the films it puts out. Release dates, contrary to popular belief, are not set in stone and can be shifted if need be. What they are is a tentative deadline and a way to show an audience that a plan is in place, and that all decisions are being made for a reason. All films are building toward something greater, or influencing one another in some way.
‘Franchise fatigue’ is a concept that hasn’t really been observed yet. The concept only really applies to bad films, or those that are poorly marketed. Just look at the success of Guardians of the Galaxy, which opened at the tail-end of summer and walked away as the top-grossing film at the domestic box office. If there were any year for franchise fatigue to come into play, 2014 would have been it. Sure, a movie like Sin City: A Dame To Kill For was dead upon arrival, but one can hardly blame a packed summer for that, as there were plenty of other factors (including a poor marketing campaign) that made the film fail.
Announcing release dates ahead of time does not have to be something that turns audiences away. In fact, I would argue that it does the opposite, and actually builds and fuels excitement for films that, this early in the game, are actually only concepts. Yes, we are at risk of being over-saturated, but let’s not forget that this is still a new strategy, and it may take a while for studios to work out the kinks. But history doesn’t remember release dates. It remembers the films themselves. And as long as they’re good, then announcing them ahead of time and building excitement is certainly not a bad thing.