Abstract
This chapter describes how the commercial development of sf film franchises from the late 1970s onward helped establish a media-industrial practice focused primarily on franchising and transmedia world-building. Following the commercial and cultural impact of Star Wars (Lucas 1977), the film’s production company pioneered the expansion of cross-media world-building or ‘transmedia storytelling’ as a cultural and industrial practice that distributed narrative content across multiple media platforms. Following the increasing deregulation of media industries in the 1990s and the gradual emergence of a ‘convergence culture industry’, the chapter analyses how the Marvel Cinematic Universe established a new set of production practices and reflects on how competing media companies developed similar branded franchising initiatives for their entertainment properties.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | The New Routledge Companion to Science Fiction |
| Editors | Mark Bould, Andrew M. Butler, Sherryl Vint |
| Place of Publication | London |
| Publisher | Routledge |
| Chapter | 25 |
| Pages | 212-221 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978-1-003-14026-9 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-0-367-69053-3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jun 2024 |