With lots of iconic personalities and fans attending the recent Comic Convention at San Diego, big studio heads in the entertainment industry gave their own two cents regarding to the film development process.
Warner Bros. Senior Vice President Drew Crevello, 20th Century Fox Senior Vice President Daria Cercek, and Lionsgate Executive Vice President Jim Miller talked about how they choose the intellectual property to begin with, directors, and actors, along with the steps on how films start, the balance between the production team's creativity and loyalty to the source material, and the fans' opinion.
While financial success is one of the metrics of the films overall triumph, emotional equity is still what defines the success of a franchise, according to Cercek. She said that films with high emotional equity, such as "X-Men: First Class" and "The Maze Runner," usually are the ones that have sequels.
Warner Bros.' Crevello revealed that even studio heads pay close attention to social media posts, such as leaks in the story or script, revelations of cast, and expectations of a film's success. The studio vice president also mentioned that doing it can be risky, as it can be misleading.
Crevello also explained that a five-year plan is the modern trend for studios when they choose primary intellectual properties (IP), according to Awards Circuit. This idea is evident in Marvel and DC as they have given a number of film titles that they will release within the next five years.
Another point that was noted from the three executives is the importance of choosing a respected intellectual property, according to Cinema Blend. Crevello emphasized that a "valuable" intellectual property is the foundation of the quantity of stories a studio can tell and adapt as movies. Cercek added sequels should rise based on the characters and should not merely "squeezed" out of success.
The studio executives also noted that attracting the audiences to theaters stands also the main conversation in many franchises. While selecting the filmmakers and cast and giving the title to the movie could be simple, plotting strategies on how the studio and the production team can engage people to the big screen is a major part of their big daily plans.