Other filmmakers turn to novels or comic books for new stories for blockbuster movie franchises.
A hit and a clever way to extend a franchise:Godzilla vs Kong. Warner Bros
But a certain type of movie - the hit, for example - feels more like the product of a Hollywood meeting.
The issue:how can a studio keep extending a popular franchise? The answer:merge it with another popular franchise.
The monster mashGodzilla vs Kong,shot partly in Queensland,has been surprisingly successful around the world - taking $US285 million ($373 million) in two weeks,which is enough to spark confidence that audiences are returning to cinemas.
In North America,it had easily the pandemic’s best opening weekend,taking $US48.5 million,despite simultaneously streaming on HBO Max. In Australia,Numero reports it has taken a strong $17.4 million.
These results have sparked new life into Warner Bros and Legendary Entertainment’s Monsterverse franchise that started with a reboot ofGodzilla in 2014 followed byKong:Skull Island thenGodzilla:King of Monsters,with returns steadily diminishing until the new instalment.
Studios have made an art form of extending franchises. Here are nine tried and true strategies they use.
The crossover
The same thinking behindGodzilla vs Kong has also broughtFreddy vs Jason,Alien vs PredatorandBatman v Superman:Dawn of Justice.
The challenge is the studio never wants one adversary to triumph over the other,upsetting fans of the losing hero and risking interest in future movies.
So along comes a shared adversary.
Batman v Superman.Warner Bros
Build a universe
The hugely successful Marvel Cinema Universe franchise started with standalone movies about Iron Man,Hulk,Thor and Captain America.
With years of planning,they all built towards the Avengers movies,with the climacticAvengers:Endgame also involving characters from theGuardians of the Galaxy movies.
The next phase,starting soon withBlack Widow,brings in new characters.
From 2013’sMan of Steel onwards,the rival DC Extended Universe has included movies featuring Batman,Suicide Squad,Wonder Woman,Justice League,Aquaman,Shazam and Birds of Prey. It has also come up with an inventive way of extending theJustice League franchise:.
Change the hero’s race
AfterRocky became a hit and won best picture at the Oscars,Sylvester Stallone played the Italian stallion in five sequels culminating inRocky Balboain 2006.
In a long-overdue Hollywood recognition that not all movie-goers are white,the franchise then introduced an African-American version of Rocky,with Michael B. Jordan as Apollo Creed’s son,forCreed,Creed II and the comingCreed III.
Sylvester Stallone and Michael B. Jordan in CreedWarner Bros
That’s in addition to spin-off books,video games and a stage musical. And there has been talk of Rocky mentoring a young immigrant boxer to take the franchise in another direction.
Change the hero’s gender
AfterGhostbusters became one of the biggest comedies of the ’80s,the studio followed up withGhostbusters II and two animated series but found Bill Murray had no interest in another sequel.
But in a long-overdue Hollywood recognition that not all movie-goers are male,the franchise was relaunched with a female-ledGhostbustersin 2016. After online trolling from so-called “Ghostbros”,it disappointed at the box office.
Next up later this year comesGhostbusters:Afterlife,a sequel to the first two Ghostbusters movies with Murray,Dan Aykroyd and Sigourney Weaver back on board.
A new group of paranormal experts are on the case of a slimy demon threatening New York City.
And afterOceans Eleven,Twelve andThirteen,that franchise took a similar gender switch withOceans 8.
Bourne again
The James Bond series has just kept rolling along as new actors took over the role. But when Matt Damon stepped away from the Jason Bourne franchise,Jeremy Renner became a different operative for a movie set in the same world.
One unimpressed critic said the series had been “Van Halenised” with an abrupt change in frontman. Damon,the franchise’s original rock god,then returned for another movie.
Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. Universal
Slice and dice
Once it was so simple:there was the originalStar Wars trilogy - plus a couple of little-seen Ewok movies and a Christmas special - then the prequel trilogy.
But since Disney bought LucasFilm,theStar Wars franchise has been sliced and diced like a (cash) cow in a butcher shop.
Felicity Jones in Rogue One:A Star Wars Story.,Lucasfilm
As well as the sequel trilogy that culminated withThe Rise of Skywalker,there has been a spin-off with a female lead (Rogue One),an origin story spin-off (Solo),animated series,animated “micro series” of short episodes and,afterThe Mandalorian,nine and two planned new movies directed by Patty Jenkins and Taika Waititi.
The risk is that what was once canon could become cannon-fodder.
Expand furiously
The mega successfulFast&Furious franchise went to eight instalments - with increasingly confusing titles - before changing tack with the spin-offHobbs&Shaw. Coming this year is the ninth movie,F9, then more sequels,including anotherHobbs&Shaw and a female-led movie.
Dwayne Johnson (left) and Jason Statham in Fast& Furious Presents:Hobbs& Shaw.Universal
The franchise also includes - take a breath - an animated TV series,two short films,video games,theme park attractions and a touring live show. It will reputedly wrap up after an 11thFast&Furiousbut the studio will be very reluctant to leave it in the garage.
Get animated
After threeSpider-Man movies with Tobey Maguire,twoAmazing Spider-Man movies with Andrew Garfield then three moreSpider-Man movies with Tom Holland - as well as the the character’s appearances in Avengers movies - the franchise went animated and won an Oscar withSpider-Man:Into The Spider-Verse.
On the way is aSpider-Verse sequel,a female-ledSpider-Verse spin-off and a possibleSpider-Verse series.
Miles Morales becomes the Spider-Man of his reality and crosses paths with his counterparts from other dimensions to stop a threat to all reality.
Go live-action
After becoming a smash hit in 1994, The Lion King has become an industry.
It has generated two animated sequels,a hit stage musical,an animated TV series,a cartoon series,two series of short films then,in 2019,it joined other classic Disney animated movies with a blockbuster live-action remake.
In Hollywood,that’s the circle of life.