Spin-offs are the new sequels. Case in point, instead of continuing his overarching story with a How to Train Your Dragon 4 after the series’ third installment, Collider reports director Dean DeBlois is keener on spinning off the How to Train Your Dragon franchise to include other tales. DeBlois gave no indication what those tales might, er, entail, but let’s step back for a moment and examine the trend Hollywood is forging here.
In an effort to expand the worlds created within their most popular blockbusters, studios aren’t simply using the same characters to tell new stories, they are producing films and television shows to broaden those worlds’ scopes and increase the amount of the stories that can be told within them. Aside from storytelling, and more importantly I’d argue, this is done to benefit the bottom line, because Hollywood is a business, first and foremost.
Just look at Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, which produced its myriad superhero movies and a massively successful team-up picture before setting up an “Agents of Shield” TV show at ABC. And lest we forget, the studio also has a deal in place at Netflix to develop four individual television series and a miniseries that will feature other lesser-known Marvel characters. Further, Disney’s Lucasfilm division has a couple of Star Wars spinoffs in the pipeline, intended to build upon its upcoming trilogy of movies and dive deeper into the franchise’s mythos.
Alongside about a million upcoming DC Comics films, Warner Bros. announced earlier this week it would produce a trilogy of Harry Potter spin-offs set within an extension of J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world, starting with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. In addition, the studio also has two Lego Movie spin-offs in the works, Ninjago and The Lego Batman Movie, to be released in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
And even though Sony seems to have no idea what exactly it is doing with its rebooted Amazing Spider-Man franchise, it, too, has spin-offs set to expand on that universe, including The Sinister Six and Venom, which will shift the focus to Spidey’s foes. What’s more, Sony also intends to release a female-centric Spidey spin-off, though it’s not yet clear who will be the featured heroine.
The examples above are by no means an exhaustive list, but they give an idea just how prominent the spin-off trend has become in the entertainment industry, not to mention how lucrative it can be for these major studios. These films are an extension of the worlds/characters/stories audiences have enjoyed in the past, so people are almost assuredly going to see them. Plus, more is always better, or so the thinking goes.
So when DeBlois told Collider his story for the How to Train Your Dragon franchise ends after three chapters, insisting he was able to talk DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg out of trying to make a fourth movie, it was really no surprise he started his statement with the following caveat: “There may be spin-offs to come…”
Well of course there might be, Dean. Would we expect any less? After all, it’s not like DreamWorks is new to the spin-off game. The animation house released the Shrek-related Puss in Boots in 2011, has Penguins of Madagascar set to hit theaters next month, and is currently developing another Puss in Boots installment. It also has several television series running right now, including “Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness” and “DreamWorks Dragons“, which the studio used to bridge the gap between How to Train Your Dragon and this year’s How to Train Your Dragon 2.
Given the onslaught of spin-offs coming from major studios in the next half-dozen years, it would be silly for DreamWorks not to pursue the same route for its How to Train Your Dragon franchise. DeBlois’ first two installments grossed just under $495 million and $615 million worldwide, respectively. If DreamWorks can continue making films within this world for about $150 million or less, it’s hard to see them not making money. Spin-offs practically print greenbacks these days, and in the case of massive cinematic universes they serve as additional marketing for upcoming related installments.
So yes, of course DreamWorks would be looking to pursue the spin-off route for its How to Train Your Dragon franchise. It only makes sense, financially speaking. Who knows what the story will be for any related spin-offs. These days, the cinematic universe matters more than anything else, not so much the stories these franchises aim to tell, but rather the sheer amount of stories they can tell. The more stories a studio can tell, the more money it can bring in, and the more stories it can tell in the future. It’s a virtuous cycle, and I don’t think we’ll see it end any time soon.
