The Franchise Era

Managing Media in the Digital Economy

James Fleury, Bryan Hikari Hartzheim, Stephen Mamber

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Year: 2019
• Edition: 0
• eBook ISBN:
  9781474419239
• Topic: Médias et arts de la scène
• Subtopic: Film et vidéo

As Hollywood shifts towards the digital era, the role of the media franchise has become more prominent. This edited collection, from a range of international scholars, argues that the franchise is now an integral element of American media culture. As such, the collection explores the production, distribution and marketing of franchises as a historical form of media-making – analysing the complex industrial practice of managing franchises across interconnected online platforms. Examining how traditional media incumbents like studios and networks have responded to the rise of new entrants from the technology sector (such as Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google), the authors take a critical look at the way new and old industrial logics collide in an increasingly fragmented and consolidated mediascape.

Table of contents

• THE FRANCHISE ERA
• Copyright
• FIGURES
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• Notes on the Contributors
• Foreword
• 1. INTRODUCTION: THE FRANCHISE ERA
• PART I THE FRANCHISE: DEFINING AND HISTORICIZING
• 2. The (Im)Perfect Organism: Dissecting the Alien Media Franchise
• 3. Evil Spawn or Good Business? New Line Cinema, Critters, and Film Franchising at the Margins
• Part II Video Games: Software, Hardware, and Space
• 4. The Happiest Plays on Earth: Theme Park Franchising in Disneyland Video Games
• 5. ‘Now They’re Playing with Power!’: Nintendo’s Classics and Franchise Legacy Management
• 6. From Cineludic Form to Mise-en-Game: The Ludification of Cinematic Storyworlds in the Star Wars Video Games
• Part III Animation: Adaptation Across Nations, Industries, and Platforms
• 7. Ghostly Boundaries: Transnational Tensions and Adapting Animation in the Ghost in the Shell Franchise
• 8. How to Animate Your Franchise: DreamWorks Animation and the Franchising of How to Train Your Dragon
• Part IV Television: New Directions for a Legacy Medium
• 9. TV Brand-casting, SVOD (subscription video on demand), and OTT (over the top) at Comcast and Disney
• 10. Network Streaming: TV Broadcasters in the Digital Space
• Part V Emergent Platforms: Possible Futures for the Media Franchise
• 11. Transmedia-to-Go: Licensed Mobile Gaming in Japan
• 12. Locating Esports Spectatorship-Studio Audience(ing) and Sites of Speculation
• 13. Hollywood’s VR Vision: New Frontier or Virtually the Same Thing?
• Index