When Is It Time To Reboot A Franchise?
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It is inevitable that franchises with fans will be rebooted at some point. While some are rebooted right on time others are unfortunately rebooted long before anyone actually wants it. So, when is it time for a franchise to be rebooted? What are the necessary pieces that must fall into place for a reboot to be well done and well received? Those are questions that have begun popping up since Ryan Coogler announced that he was officially working on reboot of The X-Files.
Let’s break down some of the pieces that have to be in place before a franchise should be rebooted.
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The Difference Between a Reboot and a Remake
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The first thing we need to do is break down the difference between a remake and a reboot. A remake is when a film is taken and literally remade with different actors and while it may have a few things that are added or removed the overall film is the same as the original. A few examples of a remake are The Mummy with Brendan Fraiser which was a remake of the original Universal monster film, and 2020’s Invisible Man which was also a remake of a Universal monster film. A reboot is when a franchise has new content made in hopes of reviving it. Even if the content that is released is similar to the original it will have clear differences which is what makes it a reboot instead of a remake. A few examples of reboots are Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Batman, and Ghostbusters.
“Dead” Franchise
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One of the most important things that needs to be taken into consideration when deciding whether or not to reboot a franchise is if the franchise is “dead”. By “dead” I mean that the franchise either is not doing well with fans or that it has been a significant period of time since any content was released. The Batman is a great example of a film that was released to reboot the darker side of the DC Universe. While the DCU is far from dead, the darker side that focused on characters such as Batman had been taking a backseat to content that focused mostly on villains or lesser known characters. 2009’s Friday the 13th is the perfect example of the textbook reboot. The franchise was not only dead, it had seen fans lose interest in the franchise after the last few films had bombed. By doing a new film that featured actors that were in their prime it opened the franchise to a new generation of fans and renewed interest in the overall franchise.
Fan Interest
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The second most important thing that must be taken into consideration is whether or not there is any fan interest in a reboot. Two franchises that suffered because this was not taken into consideration were 2018’s Charmed and 2021’s Gossip Girl. While the reboots were not unwelcome by fans they weren’t something that fans wanted and because of this the franchise saw very little viewership when compared to the numbers that original series brought in. 2022’s Scream is an example of a reboot that was done when the franchise was not dead, but fans were begging for new content. Since Scream 4 was released in 2011 fans had been begging for additional films. Since there was already fan interest Scream (2022) saw massive success at the box office even though it was released during the pandemic.
At Least One Original Cast Member on Board
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While this isn’t the most important thing to take into consideration, a reboot is going to be more well received if at least one of the original cast members is attached to the project. Reboots can be successful without this, but it is always going to help the project garner attention if there is a bit of nostalgia attached. 2018’s Halloween reboot is a great example of this. There wasn’t much fan interest in new content and the franchise wasn’t necessarily dead, but when it was announced that Jamie Lee Curtis was returning as Laurie Strode fans were immediately interested. And Just Like That is another example of a reboot that wasn't necessarily wanted by fans, but garnered attention thanks to the fact that more than half of the original cast were attached to the project. If you have original cast members returning for a reboot, then you can sometimes get away without the other two things I mentioned earlier.
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