By ROBERT ITOFull New York Times Article
Published: August 11, 2007
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 10 — The item up for bidding was, at first blush, unremarkable. It was an unfinished manuscript, 397 pages long, less than half of the planned book, as well as an outline detailing story arcs and plot points to come. The writer? Someone named Jordan Ainsley, whom no one had ever heard of — not readers, not book editors, certainly not anyone in Hollywood. Yet the biggest movie studios were being asked to pony up seven figures for the privilege of committing the book, sight half-unseen, to film.
Post 80s Blockbuster, Post 90s SFX Movies, and Post 2000 Return of the Franchise Sequels, Hollywood scrambles for the next big thing with the close of Harry Potter/Spider Man/X-Men/Pirates/Resident Evil... (how did that ever become a franchise?).
Other than the revival of campy horror films (Splat Pack Films ie. Saw/Hostel), Hollywood has been feeding off franchise films to fill in their coffers. More specifically are the fantasy/comic genre films tailored for multiple merchandise deals (video games/novelizations/fast food deals/you name it) on release.
Some franchises are fun (Oceans/Bourne/and.. thats it) but what worries me are rumors like a new Fast and the Furious being planned. All I can hope is that we'll sit this through and wait for something better... or make our own movies!
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