Thoughts on some questionable film franchises…
The summer blockbuster season has prompted me to contemplate certain long-running and generally well-liked cinematic franchises – and why they even exist.
The summer blockbuster season has prompted me to contemplate certain long-running and generally well-liked cinematic franchises – and why they even exist.
When I was a kid, comic books would recap Batman’s or Superman’s origin every once in a while. In comic strips, you’d get an annual Sunday page of The Phantom’s origin “for those who came in late”, but the rest of the time, you could count on the Ghost Who Walks fighting evil as usual. On TV, syndicated reruns of shows like Batman and Star Trek would give you a throwaway line at best. But now, origin stories are everywhere.