Hollywood’s Holy Grail

“Speed 2” snooze-controlled. “Batman & Robin” froze at just over $100 million. And with a 62% drop in its second week, “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” lost many viewers fast.

Welcome to the most lucrative age in the history of movie franchises.

If that sounds about as logical as the plot of “Face/Off,” the explanation is simple. Individual sequels may have underwhelmed in the United States--but that hasn’t stopped studios from investing heavily in franchises, thanks to overseas markets, licensing tie-ins, enduring hit series and fresh blockbusters like “Men in Black” rife with spinoff potential.

“Entertainment merchandising grosses about three times a year what the box office did--$18 billion versus $6 billion,” calculates producer Larry Kasanoff, who says his “Mortal Kombat” franchise has topped $3 billion in earnings. (A second film, “Mortal Kombat Annihilation,” opens this November.)

Franchises also offer the insurance of a familiar property, appealing to risk-averse Hollywood.

“There’s the audience comfort of returning to a character you really enjoyed,” says New Line production chief Mike DeLuca. “It’s like hanging out with your best friend, which is cooler than making a new friend.”

And while we’re on the subject, Kasanoff points out, the concepts of “sequels” and “franchises” don’t always overlap.

“A franchise is an intellectual property salable in all forms of entertainment. ‘Speed 2’ was never a franchise--it was a misjudged sequel. ‘Batman’ is a franchise, and don’t let any petulant movie weasels tell you it’s having a huge problem because it’s only gonna make $300 million around the world.”

Indeed, despite critics’ disdain and a series-low take in the U.S., “Batman & Robin” is outperforming its predecessor overseas, where co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger remains a huge draw.

As for the series’ future, “I think we’ll take a break for a year and assess it,” says producer Peter Macgregor-Scott, who with director Joel Schumacher lightened “Batman’s” tone after Tim Burton’s departure.

Working in “Batman’s” favor is studio sponsor Warner Bros., widely considered the master of franchise maintenance. And while “Batman” takes a breather, Warner Bros. is suiting up another comics legend: Nicolas Cage and Tim Burton’s postmodern spin on “Superman.”

“They’ll bring a unique twist to a familiar property,” says Gerry Rich, worldwide marketing president of MGM/UA. “Nic appeals to both the intelligentsia and wide audiences. He can take it to incredible heights, no pun intended.”

Such creative rethinking is one of two points often cited as key to a franchise’s survival. The other: long-term studio support through hits and misses.

Three years ago, Paramount Pictures and producer Rick Berman steered “Star Trek’s” film series from its retirement-ready original cast to a new generation; today it’s a multibillion-dollar enterprise. Last year’s “First Contact” was the top-grossing “Trek” film (even overseas, where the series has been soft) while interactive games, books and other licensing deals mint money at warp factor 10. Coming soon: a “Trek” motion-simulator ride at Las Vegas’ Hilton Hotel, and a possible 3-D Imax film.

“Could we ever over-exploit this franchise? Absolutely,” Berman admits. “We came close a couple of years ago, with the ‘Next Generation’ TV series ending, ‘Voyager’ beginning, ‘Deep Space Nine’ in its third season, and “Star Trek: Generations’ all in five or six months. A lot of the competition is ourselves.”

The return of another ‘60s favorite--James Bond--is another model for struggling franchises. Timothy Dalton’s aptly named “Licence to Kill” nearly shot down the MGM/UA series, grossing just $33 million in the U.S. After a creative hiatus, producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson jettisoned their veteran writers and director, cast Pierce Brosnan as 007, and commissioned a hipper script clashing ‘90s attitude against Bond’s unrepentant sexism and brutality.

“Bond had gotten a little creaky going against Joel Silver [action films] in the 1980s, and the character was just sitting there, waiting to be loved again,” New Line’s DeLuca says. “A secret agent is cool forever.”

Apparently so: Brosnan’s first outing as Bond, last year’s “GoldenEye,” grossed $106 million domestically and was one of the biggest films of the year. “Tomorrow Never Dies” opens in December and is geared even more to a ‘90s sensibility, says MGM/UA’s Rich.

“The female characters are stronger than ever--Judi Dench’s M can hold her own with the toughest politician, and [Hong Kong star] Michelle Yeoh kicks butt, quite literally.”

Strong female characters are at the core of another franchise whose future is at a make-or-break stage: Fox’s “Alien” series, which seemed as dead as Sigourney Weaver’s signature character by the end of the panned “Alien3.”

Fox film production president Tom Rothman says: “I don’t think anyone was content with it creatively--but it’s an enduring, pioneering franchise. The issue this time was to be on firm footing with the story.”

A timely plot about cloning and a reported $11 million snagged Weaver’s return for November’s “Alien Resurrection”; fresh elements include the action-movie debut of Winona Ryder and the risky hiring of French surrealist director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (“Delicatessen”).

“What’s unique about the ‘Alien’ franchise is . . . that it’s a female-driven franchise,” Rothman says, “one that deals with deep themes, like the line between humanity and science in the new film.”

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Another line is increasingly blurred in Hollywood franchises: the one between storytelling and product merchandising.

“You have to service the franchise,” says “Batman’s” Macgregor-Scott. “Designs flow out, and Kenner [toy designers] work in the art department with our people for about three months. They’ve taken their own crack on the Batmobile, having seen our early work.”

Some franchise managers are more leery of sharing creative decisions with outside licensees.

“ ‘Star Trek’s’ never played that game,” Berman says. “It’s been around for 31 years; I’m not interested in having toy companies help us do what we do.”

“Species” producer Frank Mancuso Jr. was approached by a top toy company after his film’s success: “They said, ‘We know you’re thinking about a sequel--here’s what we’d like. We’d like it to be PG-13 instead of R.’ . . . They kept using buzzwords about merchandising . . . and finally I said, ‘With no disrespect intended, this isn’t how I think what the next movie should be. I can’t work backwards.’ ” (Now shooting, “Species 2” will hit screens in 1998.)

The most blunt admission of Hollywood’s tie-in hunger came last year, when Time Warner Chairman Gerald Levin described his company’s “Space Jam” as not a movie, but “a marketing event.”

But most studio executives say they feel the film itself should come first. “In an increasingly competitive environment, movies work best when they’re movie experiences,” says Tom Rothman of Fox. “ ‘Independence Day’ was a great experience. It sold toys because of that--not the other way around.”

So which coming franchise wannabes may prove his point? Potential hits include the sci-fi “Starship Troopers” (R-rated, but arriving with a toy line nonetheless), Eddie Murphy as a ‘90s “Doctor Dolittle” and New Line’s expensive “Lost in Space.”

John Hughes returns this fall with “Home Alone 3” (minus Macaulay Culkin); producer Mace Neufeld hopes to land Harrison Ford for Tom Clancy’s “Cardinal of the Kremlin”; and “The Mask 2” is set to face off, though minus Jim Carrey.

In fact, we may yet see return bouts from Rocky and Rambo--although Sylvester Stallone says don’t hold your breath.

“I’ll never put away Rocky in my mind, but [another film] could never happen till three or four interesting projects that meet with success could be done,” he says. “Miramax bought the rights to Rambo and said, ‘Would you be interested?’ [I would] if he was a more instructive personality [now], not just Rambo in a headband doing 25-year-old things.”

And then there’s Fox’s “Star Wars”: “the emperor of franchises,” says “Mortal Kombat’s” Kasanoff, who--like all those polled--expects George Lucas’ 1999 return of the Jedi to be a religious event for filmgoers.

“Lucas knows what makes his movies work--his story’s relation to myth,” DeLuca agrees. “If you asked him what made them work, I guarantee he’d talk about the ‘eye candy’ last.”

But despite the infinite rewards of hit franchises, not every producer is a fan of the concept. “Creatively, I think it can create laziness,” says Steve Tisch (“Forrest Gump”). “I think it makes executives and filmmakers sometimes not work as hard, be as original, because there’s a pre-sold element.

“Ultimately what’s going to happen is, the movie won’t be what it needs to be. But the great equalizer is, the audience knows that. The one thing you can’t buy--that I hope will never have a price tag--is word of mouth. That’s still mercury.”

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The Franchise Pantheon

For years, James Bond, “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” movies have been among the studios’ biggest cash cows. Their total box-office takes to date:

James Bond: $2.5 Billion

Star Wars: $1.8 Billion

Star Trek: $883 Million

Source: Exhibitor Relations

The Big Contenders

“The Lost World: Jurassic Park” and “Batman & Robin” didn’t live up to domestic box-office expectations set by their predecessors, but foreign performance and merchandising helped maintain franchise viability.