A multimedia franchise (or a transmedia franchise) is a media franchise for which installments exist in multiple forms of media, such as books, comics, films, television series, animated series and video games. Multimedia franchises usually develop due to the popularization of an original creative work, and then its expansion to other media through licensing agreements, with respect to intellectual property in the franchise's characters and settings,[1] although the trend later developed wherein franchises would be launched in multiple forms of media simultaneously.[2]

In order to qualify for these lists, a franchise must have works in at least three forms of media, and must have two or more separate works in at least two of those forms of media (a television series or comic book series is considered a single work for purposes of this list; multiple spin-off series or reboots of a previously ended series are considered multiple works). For example, a television series that spawned one film and one novelization would not qualify; a television series that had a spin-off series, or was remade as a new series, and which spawned two films and one novelization does qualify. These lists do not include public domain works from which adaptations have been made in multiple media only after the works entered the public domain, which do not involve licensing or other means by which an author or owner controls the franchise. A franchise may be included if it obtained multimedia franchise status prior to works within the collection entering the public domain.

Following are lists of multimedia franchises, divided by media characteristics:

Multimedia franchises originating in print

Main article: List of multimedia franchises originating in print
Franchises originating in literary works
Franchises originating in comics strips, comic books, webcomics, and other printed cartoons

Multimedia franchises originating in television and web series

Main article: List of multimedia franchises originating in television series
Franchises originating in animated television and web series
Franchises originating in live action television and web series

Multimedia franchises originating in films

Main article: List of multimedia franchises originating in films
Franchises originating in animated films
Franchises originating in live-action films

Multimedia franchises originating in games, toys, and merchandise

Main article: List of multimedia franchises originating in games, toys, and merchandise
Franchises originating in video games including film or television works
Franchises originating in video games not including film or television works
Franchises originating in board games, card games, tabletop games and role-playing games
Franchises originating in toys, attractions and other media

See also

References

  1. ^ See, e.g., Barry Langford, Post-classical Hollywood: Film Industry, Style and Ideology Since 1945, p. 207, ISBN 074863858X: "For the studios, a home-run is a film from which a multimedia 'franchise' can be generated; the colossally expensive creation of cross-media conglomerates predicated on synergistic rewards provides an obvious imperative to develop such products".
  2. ^ Harry J. Brown, Videogames and Education (2008), p. 41, ISBN 0765629496:

    In one of the most celebrated ventures in media convergence, Larry and Andy Wachowski, creators of The Matrix trilogy, produced the game Enter the Matrix (2003) simultaneously with the last two films of the trilogy, shooting scenes for the game on the movie's sets with the movie s actors, and releasing the game on the same day as The Matrix: Reloaded. Likewise, on September 21, 2004, Lucasfilm jointly released a new DVD box set of the original Star Wars trilogy with Star Wars: Battlefront, a combat game in which players can reenact battles from all six Star Wars films. In 2005, Peter Jackson likewise produced his blockbuster film King Kong (2005) in tandem with a successful King Kong game designed by Michael Ancel and published by Ubisoft. In the last several years, numerous licensed videogame adaptations of major summer and holiday blockbusters were released a few days before or a few days after their respective films, including: all three Star Wars films (1999–2005); all five Harry Potter films (2001–2008); all three Spider-Man films (2002–2007); Hulk (2002); The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002); The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003); The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005); Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006); Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007); and Transformers (2007). These multimedia franchises have made it more difficult to distinguish the production of films and videogames as separate enterprises.
  3. ^ Not related to the Marvel franchise.
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