Amultimedia franchise (or atransmedia franchise) is amedia franchise for which installments exist in multiple forms ofmedia, such asbooks,comics,films,television series,animated series andvideo games. Multimedia franchises usually develop due to the popularization of an original creative work, and then its expansion to other media throughlicensing agreements, with respect tointellectual property in the franchise's characters and settings,[1] although the trend later developed wherein franchises would be launched in multiple forms of media simultaneously.[2]
In order to qualify for these lists, a franchise must have works in at leastthree forms of media, and must have two or more separate works in at leasttwo of those forms of media (a television series or comic book series is considered a single work for purposes of this list; multiple spin-off series orreboots of a previously ended series are considered multiple works). For example, a television series that spawned one film and one novelization would not qualify; a television series that had a spin-off series, or was remade as a new series, and which spawned two films and one novelization does qualify. These lists do not includepublic domain works from which adaptations have been made in multiple media only after the works entered the public domain, which do not involve licensing or other means by which an author or owner controls the franchise. A franchise may be included if it obtained multimedia franchise status prior to works within the collection entering the public domain.
Following are lists of multimedia franchises, divided by media characteristics:
In one of the most celebrated ventures in media convergence, Larry and Andy Wachowski, creators ofThe Matrix trilogy, produced the gameEnter the Matrix (2003) simultaneously with the last two films of the trilogy, shooting scenes for the game on the movie's sets with the movie s actors, and releasing the game on the same day asThe Matrix: Reloaded. Likewise, on September 21, 2004, Lucasfilm jointly released a new DVD box set of the originalStar Wars trilogy withStar Wars: Battlefront, a combat game in which players can reenact battles from all sixStar Wars films. In 2005, Peter Jackson likewise produced his blockbuster filmKing Kong (2005) in tandem with a successfulKing Kong game designed by Michael Ancel and published by Ubisoft. In the last several years, numerous licensed videogame adaptations of major summer and holiday blockbusters were released a few days before or a few days after their respective films, including: all threeStar Wars films (1999–2005); all fiveHarry Potter films (2001–2008); all threeSpider-Man films (2002–2007);Hulk (2002);The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002);The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003);The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005);Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006);Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007); andTransformers (2007). These multimedia franchises have made it more difficult to distinguish the production of films and videogames as separate enterprises.
| Media series | |
|---|---|
| Media lists | |
| Highest-grossing | |
| Best-selling | |
