Harry Potter and the evolving Film Franchise Model

In today's digital (information) economy, even the movie business model has been changing

The Economist observes,

WHEN the final instalment in the saga of Harry Potter's education is released in cinemas on July 15th the franchise is likely to become the second biggest ever, measured by box-office revenue. Hollywood has fallen for the franchise model which, like the child or spouse of a famous politician, starts with the advantage of name recognition. It has also become keen on what the studios call "pre-sold" films—stories based on a book (like Harry Potter) or a toy (like Transformers). People familiar with these things can often be persuaded to sit in a dark room and eat popcorn for 90 minutes while they are brought to life on screen. This has helped to solve an old problem in the industry: how to prevent a franchise from fizzling out after the first couple of films.

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My guess is that audiences today prefer sequels to box office hits which is probably why Film Franchising seems to be a blossoming model. Maybe the film industry got a clue from telenovelas or serial dramatic programming.

This only demonstrates how the marketplace has been in a constantly evolving process.