A storytelling franchise is a combination of setting and characters that a firm has released in the
form of a number of primary productions within the same or different media.
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, media conglomerates have been applying convergence
thinking to their franchises. Your goal in this paper is to compare how one firm or two have
tried to implement convergence in the case of two franchises; to examine the trade and general
press accounts of how the franchises performed and why; and what you can conclude about the
ways the one or two firms handled those franchises as well as the ways the trade and general
press illuminated this topic.
Choose two franchises that have appeared in a number of different primary productions (often
but not always major motion pictures) and secondary spinoffs within the past two years.
1. First, describe each franchise and note the time frame you are choosing.
2. Describe the nature of those primary productions.
3. Then explore the secondary spinoffs from each of those primary productions—for
example, broadcast or cable television programs, streaming video, toys, video games and
more—nationally and internationally.
4. Based on your reading in the trade and general press, what seemed to be the company’s
strategy—that is, its broad goal—for implementing convergence regarding the franchise?
Did it stress synergistic activities inside the conglomerate, deals with outside firms that
involved licensing or other arrangements, or both?
5. According to observers inside and outside the industry, how successful has the firm (or
the two firms) been so far with the franchises you are studying? In answering, compare
at least three metrics of success the observers have discussed: gross revenues with respect
to particular media? Gross revenues across media? Profits? Audience numbers?
Increases in these numbers across different primary productions and their offshoots?
International sales?
6. Finally, note how helpful for understanding the franchise’s cultural impact is the trade
and general discourse on this subject. Has the research led you toward an opinion about
the cultural impact of conglomerates’ convergence activities?
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