Thomas Schatz’s rules for conglomerate-era blockbusters

(from “New Hollywood, New Millennium,” pp. 32-33)

· The film should exploit or expand an established entertainment franchise, which might exist initially in any number of forms—a classic children’s story, a traditional fairy tale, a comic book or graphic novel, a TV series, even a theme park ride or a toy line.

· Regardless of its original form, the narrative source should provide not only a story property but also a piece of intellectual property whose copyright can be owned or controlled by the studio (or its parent company).

· The story should be amenable to continuation, with the film-to-film story line employing serial qualities that center on its principal character(s) rather than some external plot.

· The long-term story line should focus on an individual central protagonist.

· The protagonist should be male.

· The male protagonist should be an adolescent or an utterly naïve manchild.

· The protagonist should be a loner, either by choice or by circumstances, but one who is also forced by circumstances to perform some (preferably heroic) social function.

· The protagonist in the course of each film (and regardless of his heroic credentials) should develop from a relatively weak, ineffectual, or compromised character into one who seizes the initiative and (re)asserts his heroic role.

· The hero should inhabit a Manichean universe of light and dark, good and evil, with the pervasive forces of evil embodied in one or more powerful antagonists.

· The hero should in some way mirror the antagonist(s)—perhaps via an alter-ego or an assumed identity—and thus he should confront both an external struggle against evil and also an internal struggle against his own “darker side.”

· The story should provide dazzling computer graphics and effects-driven action scenes at regular intervals that are carefully calculated in terms of their frequency, intensity, and adaptability to other digital media platforms.

· The action scenes should include violent, even deadly clashes, but the violence should be sufficiently stylized and artificial to ensure a PG or PG-13 rating.

· The film should build to a climactic confrontation and a “happy ending” in which the hero prevails—but not to a degree that eliminates the prospect for sequels.

· The film also should include a “love story” as a secondary plot line, but one that is strictly non-carnal, and one that is not fully resolved at film’s end.

· The story should take place in a world that is internally coherent but highly complex, and that is by design too expansive to be contained within a single film—and thus solicits further elaboration in subsequent films and in other media forms as well.

· This principle of further elaboration pertains to story materials as well, including software and effects, which should be designed for use in other media iterations.

· The monstrous antagonist and various secondary characters should have bizarre and fantastic qualities that can be enhanced via digital effects and readily exploited in subsequent (licensed) incarnations in other media.

· A successful franchise might secure stardom for its principal character(s), but top stars should not be cast in continuing roles in order to control costs, minimize creative interference, and encourage long-term participation.

· This same principle applies to filmmaking talent—particularly directors with indie-film credentials whose stature might be used to market the film.

· Coherent plotting and engaging characterization are important aspects of individual franchise films, but far less so than in “one-off” (self-standing, non-series) films. In franchise filmmaking, the primary concerns are, paradoxically, the integrity of the core narrative and its viability for expansion into an intertextual, transmedia system.