What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars?

[Captain Craig]

If the OP's stipulation is it has to first be a movie, like Star Wars then there may not be another. I say that cause Potter was dismissed as was LOTR it seems.
I'd say both however don't equal SW in terms of cultural impact. Both are part of the mainstream conscience though along with many others such as Bond, Batman or even Godzilla.
I mean culturally SW has original novels, rereleases, a running cartoon, toys for sale all the time even a yearly Convention. Potter, LOTR and Bond don't have all that. I'm guessing Batman doesn't count most likely?

I wouldn't even apply Avatar frankly. I see a universe with potential but where are the original novels, toys a cartoon at least. Original novels at least would be "easy" but I don't hear of those. I'm not convinced there is a ground swell of interest for more Avatar in the vein of the excitement the first one had. A second will do well, don't get me wrong, but the story was a bland rehash of a Hollywood staple told better in other places.

[Caliburn24]

The entertainment landscape is too cluttered today. Star Wars was alone at the top of the heap back in the day, if you grew up during those years and had any interest in that sort of entertainment you were a fan, and part of a generation that can use Star Wars as sort of a cultural touchstone.

Nowadays you have LotR, Harry Potter, Twilight, various other franchises. All of them have decent sized fan-bases but the end result is each getting just a slice of the pie, whereas Star Wars had the whole pie. Fandom is divided.

Patton Oswalt wrote a fantastic essay a year or two back that touches on this subject. The first couple paragraphs...

I’m not a nerd. I used to be one, back 30 years ago when nerd meant something. I entered the ’80s immersed, variously, in science fiction, Dungeons & Dragons, and Stephen King. Except for the multiple-player aspect of D&D, these pursuits were not “passions from a common spring,” to quote Poe.

I can’t say that I ever abided nerd stereotypes: I was never alone or felt outcast. I had a circle of friends who were similarly drawn to the exotica of pop culture (or, at least, what was considered pop culture at the time in northern Virginia)—Monty Python, post-punk music, comic books, slasher films, and videogames. We were a sizable clique. The terms nerd and geek were convenient shorthand used by other cliques to categorize us. But they were thin descriptors.

In Japan, the word otaku refers to people who have obsessive, minute interests—especially stuff like anime or videogames. It comes from a term for “someone else’s house”—otaku live in their own, enclosed worlds. Or, at least, their lives follow patterns that are well outside the norm. Looking back, we were American otakus. (Of course, now all America is otaku—which I’m going to get into shortly. But in order to do so, we’re going to hang out in the ’80s.)

I was too young to drive or hold a job. I was never going to play sports, and girls were an uncrackable code. So, yeah—I had time to collect every Star Wars action figure, learn the Three Laws of Robotics, memorize Roy Batty’s speech from the end of Blade Runner, and classify each monster’s abilities and weaknesses in TSR Hobbies’ Monster Manual. By 1987, my friends and I were waist-deep in the hot honey of adolescence. Money and cars and, hopefully, girls would follow, but not if we spent our free time learning the names of the bounty hunters’ ships in The Empire Strikes Back. So we each built our own otakuesque thought-palace, which we crammed with facts and nonsense—only now, the thought-palace was nicely appointed, decorated neatly, the information laid out on deep mahogany shelves or framed in gilt. What once set us apart, we hoped, would become a lovable quirk.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/1...kculture/all/1

The full essay is a good read.

[Mr. Adventure]

You could argue this question in a lot of different ways but I think HP has had the closest cultural impact to Star Wars. In terms of public consciousness, interest in each installment and range of merchandising it feels the closest to me of any franchise.

[Lonemagpie]

Definitely Potter- LOTR was a cultural phenomenon before Star Wars, so it doesn't really qualify.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Has to be Harry Potter. Nothing else is close, really.

[Disruptor]

Twilight

No one wants to admit it.

[DarthTom]

jefferiestubes8 wrote:

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What do you guys think as far as franchises and the biggest and cultural impact? No not a list of the top 5 or top 10 but your choice for the biggest.

Unquestionably Harry Potter in both film and print. If James Cameron could crank out squels to Avatar faster that might have a chance.

[wissaboo]

I'd say Harry Potter as well. Almost everyone gets references to it and recognizes the main characters. It's also caught the imagination of people in a way few other things have.

[DarthTom]

Captain Craig wrote:

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I wouldn't even apply Avatar frankly. I see a universe with potential but where are the original novels, toys a cartoon at least. Original novels at least would be "easy" but I don't hear of those. I'm not convinced there is a ground swell of interest for more Avatar in the vein of the excitement the first one had. A second will do well, don't get me wrong, but the story was a bland rehash of a Hollywood staple told better in other places.

You're likely right. I guess it came to mind because Avatar singlehandedly reignited the interest in making 3-D films across many different movie genres - so in that sense it's had impact on the motion picture industry far beyond its own scope.

[Holdfast]

Caliburn24 wrote:

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The entertainment landscape is too cluttered today. Star Wars was alone at the top of the heap back in the day...

Nowadays you have LotR, Harry Potter, Twilight, various other franchises. All of them have decent sized fan-bases but the end result is each getting just a slice of the pie, whereas Star Wars had the whole pie.

My feelings chime in with this. From what I can tell, the big franchises recently are those you've listed, plus the Matrix.

But none of them have had the widespread and enduring impact of Star Wars (or indeed Star Trek). And I do think you're right to assign the reason for that to the decreased mindspace available for any new entry. There's just too much data out there, with too many delivery channels, all capable of individualisation, for any one franchise to really dominate any more.

Blockbusters will still happen, franchises will still bloom, but their impact craters fill in much more rapidly with new materia.

[DarthTom]

Holdfast wrote:

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Blockbusters will still happen, franchises will still bloom, but their impact craters fill in much more rapidly with new materia.

I think your looking at the question through the prism of being a sci-fi fan rather than what is universally popular. Wars is definately one of the most popular franchises of all time - but Potter not only hit box office records but is one of the best selling works of fiction ever.

I think SW is without a doubt in terms of sci-fi one of the biggest impacts to the genre. However, Potter accross all age groups and that its been successful both on screen and in books eclipses Wars in terms of its cultural impact.

The books have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide and have also given rise to the popular film adaptations produced by Warner Bros., all of which have been highly successful in their own right.[4][92] The films have in turn spawned eight video games and have led to the licensing of more than 400 additional Harry Potter products (including an iPod). The Harry Potter brand has been estimated to be worth as much as $15 billion.[12]

[Greg Cox]

Harry Potter, easy. And likely to remain so as an entire generation of kids who grew up on Harry Potter come of age.

(I'm tempted to mention Twilight as well, but that would probably make people's heads explode.)

[MacLeod]

Never read or seen Twilight and I have no desire to do so.

[T'Girl]

MacLeod wrote:

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Never read or seen Twilight and I have no desire to do so.

You might be missing out on something you would enjoy. Putting aside briefly the subject matter, the book are all well written and engaging. Admittedly from the perspective of a young women.

Twilight is definitely a international cultural phenomenon, and has had a impact.



")

[DarthTom]

T'Girl wrote:

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Twilight is definitely a international cultural phenomenon, and has had a impact.



")

I'd agree. More so however with teenagers and women though. Wars and Potter though has larger fan base among both sexes and among children and adults alike.