It's a crucial meeting, all the more so because director Sam Raimi will be there. And Raimi, who has sent contradictory messages about his future plans, might at last indicate whether he'll helm the next installment.
"It would be great to have everybody back," Ziskin says. "But no one is going to sign on the dotted line until we have a script. These are the questions being discussed now. The one thing we have answered definitively is: There will be more 'Spider-Man' movies. We just haven't answered what shape they will come in and (Sony) hasn't given us a release date."
The upcoming meeting "will be the first step in a process," Ziskin adds. "'Spider-Man' will continue; I can't tell you every person who will be involved."
It goes without saying just how critical the "Spider-Man" franchise is to the studio's bottom line; at press time, the franchise had netted upwards of $2 billion in boxoffice receipts, not to mention home video revenue and other income from ancillary ventures. But it is hardly unique in today's Hollywood.
As the fifth film in Warner Bros. Pictures' "Harry Potter" series, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," opens tomorrow in an estimated 4,100 theaters across the country -- the series will conclude after two additional features -- the major studios are more than aware that the franchises on which they have rested their fortunes are at a turning point. Many of the series are financially top-heavy or their stars haven't committed to another installment or there's an expiration date written on them.
After May's wildly successful "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" -- which had grossed upwards of $300 million in domestic boxoffice at press time -- the Walt Disney Co. is uncertain whether Johnny Depp will agree to star in a fourth "Pirates" adventure. However, Depp has indicated that he might be open to the idea if the right factors are in place.
At Warner Bros. Pictures, "Ocean's Thirteen" appears to be the last in the Vegas-based caper series. While studio president and CEO Alan Horn says of the most recent film, which had grossed roughly $109 million at press time, "The (financial) performance is comparable to 'Twelve' and may exceed it," there are "no plans" for an "Ocean's Fourteen."
At Universal, the third installment in the studio's spy-fi franchise, "The Bourne Ultimatum," opens Aug. 3. The movie was meant to cost $130 million, but sources say there were considerable reshoots and the budget may have topped out far higher than that. So far, star Matt Damon has made no commitment to any future features. Meanwhile, Universal is in preproduction on the planned 2008 release "The Mummy 3," with the film set to follow young star Luke Ford -- who could become the lead character in future "Mummy" adventures -- and a new iteration of "The Incredible Hulk," also set for a 2008 release, starring Edward Norton.
At Fox, 2006's "X-Men: The Last Stand" appears to have concluded the franchise -- at least in its present form. Instead, the studio is developing two possible spin-offs: "Wolverine," starring Hugh Jackman, and "Magneto," which would follow the character portrayed by Ian McKellen as a much younger man.
Also at Fox, the future of "Fantastic Four" is unclear after the second installment, "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," dropped 66% in its second weekend, following an exceptional $58.1 million opening. Fox is developing a "Silver Surfer" follow-up and is considering another "Fantastic Four" sequel, but no script is in development, sources say. (Fox's surprise success "Live Free or Die Hard," showed the long-term value of the best franchises.)
At this point, most studios are adopting one of two strategies: either trying to keep their popular franchises alive or looking to launch new series. DreamWorks Animation is under way with a fourth film in its "Shrek" series for distributor Paramount, and Paramount is reaching even further back with a new installment in its landmark "Indiana Jones" franchise set for release next year. The studio also is embarking on a new "Star Trek" film with J.J. Abrams directing, and there is plenty of speculation that "Transformers" might become a vibrant new franchise for the studio based on its boxoffice take this past week.
Meanwhile, Universal is optimistic about its planned 2008 Benicio del Toro-starrer, "The Wolf Man," and that year's "Hellboy 2: The Golden Army," and Disney currently is shooting "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," a sequel to 2004's Nicolas Cage-starrer, "National Treasure," with an eye toward that becoming an ongoing franchise.
Replacing the existing franchises, though, is a herculean task.
"(Franchises) are critically important, more so now than ever," says Hutch Parker, vice chairman of 20th Century Fox Film Group. "In a market that is getting increasingly cluttered with third-party productions -- often financed by hedge funds and other sources of financing -- franchise pictures cut through the clutter, courtesy of their unique relationship to the audience, and have a currency around the world that very few other kinds of pictures do."
That currency means much more than just boxoffice. According to a recent report from the MPA, theatrical boxoffice now accounts for only 19% of a movie's total revenue stream. In other words, for every $100 million that a movie makes at the boxoffice, it makes almost $400 million more from other media. With big franchises like "Spider-Man" and "Harry Potter," that can mean billions in revenue.
"Even if you have to spend a lot of money, the return on your investment, if you hit, is huge," Ziskin says. "You don't get that anywhere else."
Part of the challenge, executives say, is finding material that will connect with the broadest possible audience in a meaningful way. "You need to define how you are going to seek out the underlying material," explains David Linde, co-chairman of Universal Pictures. "You have to look everywhere, but with a strong perspective on your own business strengths."
To read more details on the risks involved on THE GOLDEN COMPASS, SUPERMAN sequels, and getting THE HOBBIT made, click right here.
