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

[DarthTom]

Re: What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars

Something more angst with vampires and werewolves as school kids along with the witches, that would hit big. Like it or not.

Just curious. What's stopping Universal from having someone else pen a story about the Hogwarts characters? Rowling my not like prequels but I bet there would be huge audience for how Voldermort went from good to evil.

Or does she only own the rights to the stories?

 

[EnsignRicky]

Re: What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars

They could get Abrams to do a sequel or a prequel or even a reboot; Makes no difference to him.


Lensflaris Ridiculous

 

[DarthTom]

Re: What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars

They could get Abrams to do a sequel or a prequel or even a reboot; Makes no difference to him.


Lensflaris Ridiculous

I vote that JJ takes over every single super successful franchise and reboots all of them.

He should also do a re-make of 2001 A Space Odyssey.

 

[USS Kongo]

Re: What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars

And then Abrams will start rebooting his own stuff, LOST, Super 8, Cloverfield.... They could do with more lens flare, too.

Sean

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Re: What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars

One sign that you've done something with deep impact is if you spawn imitators. Star Wars certainly did that, as did Harry Potter. This usually creates a 2nd tier of successful ripoffs riding on the coat-tails. Galactica (classic) would classify as that for SW, and something like Percy Jackson would be the Harry Potter equivalent.

I'm not sure about this but did HP bring about the resurgence of fantasy and the like? Was the timing such that it could've affected PJ doing LOTR? I think it was around the same time.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Re: What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars

^ I'm not sure how the timeline affected New Line's decision to greenlight three LOTR films. Certainly, though, it can be argued that Potter popularized fantasy to the point where, when FOTR was released, audiences were more willing to embrace it.

What's undeniable, however, is the impact Potter had on literature - particularly children's / Young Adult literature (including the cinematic adaptations). It transformed the landscape of books at least as much as Star Wars transformed the landscape of cinema.

 

[DarthTom]

Re: What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars

^ I'm not sure how the timeline affected New Line's decision to greenlight three LOTR films. Certainly, though, it can be argued that Potter popularized fantasy to the point where, when FOTR was released, audiences were more willing to embrace it.

What's undeniable, however, is the impact Potter had on literature - particularly children's / Young Adult literature (including the cinematic adaptations). It transformed the landscape of books at least as much as Star Wars transformed the landscape of cinema.

The problem with LOTR is I believe it has a very strong cult following and has been popular, but it isn't as universally as popular as Potter is with all age groups and both sexes.

And even Potter is way eclipsed by Wars when it comes to the merchandising of the characters.

Potter IMO is the most close to wars we've seen in a generation.

as an aside: the more I think about it Lucas sold Wars to Disney at the bargain basement price of $4 billion. They will likely reap that much in profit from the first 2 films alone when all is said in done.

 

[Blue_Trek]

Re: What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars

What movie still gets quoted from prolifically after over 30 years ?
What movies still has theme rides ?
What movies still has it's own toys ?
What movie has an unforgettable scene that still surprises people to this day ?

If you can answer those question with one movie you have your answer, I can't think of one.

Although the Star Trek Universe does come to mind, thus why we are all here on this board.
So yeah for me it is Star Trek

 

[EnsignRicky]

Re: What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars

What movie still gets quoted from prolifically after over 30 years ?
What movies still has theme rides ?
What movies still has it's own toys ?
What movie has an unforgettable scene that still surprises people to this day ?

Ahh, Jaws is two years too early.

 

[DarthTom]

Re: What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars

Although the Star Trek Universe does come to mind, thus why we are all here on this board.
So yeah for me it is Star Trek

Trek does not have the universal appeal among all age groups and sexes as Potter and Wars do.

However, JJ is trying to change that to the chagrin of many hardcore Trek fans. Just check out the Trek XI multiple threads on the subject.

 

[Blue_Trek]

Re: What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars

Although the Star Trek Universe does come to mind, thus why we are all here on this board.
So yeah for me it is Star Trek

Trek does not have the universal appeal among all age groups and sexes as Potter and Wars do.

Potter means nothing to me and my peers, anybody who says Potter is next to SW compared to Star Trek for cultural impact must be under 30.
Oh the joy of the generation that got to see both Star Wars and Star Trek in there original run at theaters.

 

[the G-man]

Re: What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars

I don't count Trek because the question was "What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars."

Trek predates Star Wars.

If anything, SW would be the answer to the question "what franchise has had the biggest cultural impact since Star Trek."

 

[Greg Cox]

Re: What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars

Although the Star Trek Universe does come to mind, thus why we are all here on this board.
So yeah for me it is Star Trek

Trek does not have the universal appeal among all age groups and sexes as Potter and Wars do.

Potter means nothing to me and my peers, anybody who says Potter is next to SW compared to Star Trek for cultural impact must be under 30.

But that's the point. Potter is huge with today's young people, who grew up on it the same way us old farts grew up on Trek and Wars.

If you want to predict what's going to have the biggest "cultural impact" in years to come, you don't necessarily look at people over thirty . . . .

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Re: What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars

What's undeniable, however, is the impact Potter had on literature - particularly children's / Young Adult literature (including the cinematic adaptations). It transformed the landscape of books at least as much as Star Wars transformed the landscape of cinema.

In terms of being a prolific merchandising cash cow for 35 years, Star Wars is it and I think will always be IT. It's spun-off in an incredible number of different directions and is still just as popular today as it was back in 1977, if not moreso. I can't imagine any other franchise having quite that level of staying power before or since. (Well, I suppose some of the major superheroes like Batman, Spider-Man, & Superman might come close.)

I don't think Harry Potter's reach is quite as prolific. It hasn't produced the same level of merchandising and I think its movies were somewhat awkward adaptations. I'm not sure Harry Potter as-a-self-sustaining-franchise will have the kind of legs that Star Wars has.

However, as an influence on its medium & genre as a whole, Harry Potter was a game changer. It made reading cool in a way that it really wasn't when I was a kid (which wasn't that long ago. I just turned 30 myself). It's lead to a new succession of very popular young adult fantasy-- Twilight, Percy Jackson & the Olympians, The Hunger Games, Beautiful Creatures, etc.

Now, as a movie franchise, Harry Potter's impact has been negligible so far. Few subsequent fantasy adaptations have enjoyed much success. We got a few Narnia films. And then you've got Twilight & The Hunger Games.

But I'd argue that the most influential movie franchise of the past couple decades has been Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films. Comic book adaptations were a risky, seldom attempted genre prior to 2002. Now, they all get adapted and many have been super successful.

In a way, I think you have to look at 3 main pillars in the comic book movie pantheon: You have the earnest heroics of Raimi's Spider-Man, the epic seriousness of The Dark Knight, and the flippant charisma of Iron Man.

Someone earlier in the thread mentioned Avatar. I think Avatar accelerated the rebirth of 3D, but that was already starting to come back anyway. I don't think it's had much narrative or stylistic influence beyond that. It's certainly lacking in cultural influence. It's a shockingly un-quotable movie considering this is the guy who had previously written Aliens ("Game over, man! Game over!"), The Terminator ("I'll be back."), and Terminator 2 ("Hasta la vista, baby.").

 

[Blue_Trek]

Re: What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars

Trek does not have the universal appeal among all age groups and sexes as Potter and Wars do.

Potter means nothing to me and my peers, anybody who says Potter is next to SW compared to Star Trek for cultural impact must be under 30.

But that's the point. Potter is huge with today's young people, who grew up on it the same way us old farts grew up on Trek and Wars.

If you want to predict what's going to have the biggest "cultural impact" in years to come, you don't necessarily look at people over thirty . . . .

Maybe where you live, but I have worked with lots of young people and they never talked about it, ever, they did talk about Avengers. So again Potter from my perspective does not have the cultural impact, of even the latest Batman trilogy, I heard many young people talking about that too.

Here is question, what is better at selling toys ?

 

[DarthTom]

Re: What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars

Here is question, what is better at selling toys ?

Wars outsells everyone in toys. Shit, I'm sure that Transformers in recent years probably outsells even Wars in toys. But the Transformer toys doesn't IMO translate the films into enormous cultural impact - since most of the films lately have been fairly blah.

BTW, last time I was Universal in Orlando the Harry Potter ride was by far the most favorite, and kids were snapping up wands and the other shit at $20+ a top like candy.

 

[Caligula]

Re: What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars

Harry Potter has his own theme park. Game, set, match.

 

[J.T.B.]

Re: What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars

But that's the point. Potter is huge with today's young people, who grew up on it the same way us old farts grew up on Trek and Wars.

If you want to predict what's going to have the biggest "cultural impact" in years to come, you don't necessarily look at people over thirty . . . .

Quite right, but the cultural impact now is a lot different than it was in 1977, when there were three nation-wide TV networks, no home video, and big-studio movies aimed at adults were still common. Nowadays it's far easier for people -- such as old farts -- to consume entertainment yet also avoid "what's hot." Which might mean that Star Wars was the high water mark and nothing in the future will quite be able to match the breadth of its impact.

But I'd argue that the most influential movie franchise of the past couple decades has been Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films. Comic book adaptations were a risky, seldom attempted genre prior to 2002. Now, they all get adapted and many have been super successful.

It seemed to me like X-Men was the movie that opened that door, but I could be wrong.

 

[tomalak301]

Re: What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars

I'm posting this based on only read the question. I'm assuming it's been brought up but it's the first to come to mind.

Because we had The Avengers, can we say that all the Marvel movies are one big franchise? I mean isn't it because of those movies that people have gone to read comic books? It feels like before Iron Man, Comic books were a niche thing and today they've become a lot more mainstream. I would say that's culturally impactful.

 

[DarthTom]

Re: What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars

[Which might mean that Star Wars was the high water mark and nothing in the future will quite be able to match the breadth of its impact.

I dunno Avatar made $2 billion at the box office world wide besting Cameron's other huge success Titanic.

The only reason I chose Potter over Avatar is because Cameron may have a 1-hit wonder on his hands and because as someone said above Potter even has a theme park and a strong book following behind it.

If Avatar II is as big a success as the first film and Cameron can get some merchandising legs out of it as well - he may best Potter IMO - espeically if Rowling doesn't sel the rights or start writing new books.