The world has seen many iconic film franchises that rack in billions of dollars for large film companies, whether it be the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Fast Franchise, the Star Wars Universe, or the James Bond Universe.
The film industry is starting to see larger film companies milking every bit of juice out of these franchises, creating more and more films within their universes. This leads to what is seen to be a downgrade in production value and trust me… we’ve all seen it. Whether it be a drop in VFX which is prominent in Marvel’s “Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania”, the poor scripting in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”, when Rey takes on the Skywalker name, or the value of the film production being dropped overall seen in most franchise films. Over the past two decades, there has been a domination in franchise films, especially when it comes to making prequels and sequels with a shift from 6% to 32% between 1994 and 2014. Just before 2016, Warner Bros announced they were becoming more of a franchise-focused than a creatively focused studio. This demonstrates Warner Brothers’ shift from a creative studio to a profit-driven business as they understand that franchises have become the most successful way for studios to gain money, rather than developing original content.
This developed a domino effect, with other large film companies joining the bandwagon to create the profit-driven and non-creative focus seen in large film companies today. Even if they didn’t address this directly, the industry could tell.
So, what about the independent films?
Let me introduce to you A24…
Obviously, there are many different up-coming independent film companies but A24 is a beauty to investigate. It was founded in 2012 by film veterans Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges. A24 is known for their authenticity and love for cinema, their films are original and are generally different styles to the large companies.
A24 searches for up-and-coming and independent filmmakers and allows them to show their work and ideas on some sort of platform. These films rank so highly because of their originality and deeper understanding which resonates with audiences on many levels.
With the A24 company on the rise films like the horror “MIDSOMMAR” Starring Florence Pugh, “Talk to Me” written and directed by Australian brothers, Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou or “Euphoria” starring Zendaya are good examples of the different stylistic and creative visions A24 aims to put into your local cinema.
So the rise of A24 and independent film companies on an ongoing upward strike towards large popularity and not franchising every film they have created. The war against franchise films has started and will likely never stop. A24 gives a voice to new and upcoming independent filmmakers whilst larger studios such as Disney and Warner Bros continue to make the same films with the same styles, leaving the audience wanting more.
