Those of you who have been movie wonks in the early/mid 2000s, did you expect US cinema today to be this franchise heavy?
Define franchise as you mean it here for me, please? I see some replies responding to reboots, others to sequel-based arcing story lines, or do you mean marketing toy lines, fashion, and overpopulated merchandising?
If you mean sequels and continuations, then yeah I think it was predictable. Maybe not from
just the perspective of a movie buff, but if you think about business in general as the idea to produce a product, sell that product, then streamline that product with the intent to increase profit, then it was only a matter of time before studios figured that nut out for cracking.
Look at the old cheap horror franchises. They were easy to write as plots and characters were fairly one-dimensional and predictable, relatively cheap to produce, and had a built-in target audience of teenagers forever. Why not take advantage and exploit that product? As long as the consumer is willing to buy, then keep pushing it. Once the market reached a point where special effects were no longer cheesy and obvious, and our over-indulgent consumerism became a staple of economic growth, it just makes sense to continue slopping out anything anyone is willing to gobble up.
I hope I'm at least in the ballpark here of what you're OP was for! I'm at work and typing randomly as I get a few minutes here or there. bleh....
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, but even the "epic" storylines like that are being handled well.