In the midst of restructuring and cost-cutting processes, the platforms of ‘streaming’ they seem to have decided to lean more than ever on popular brands, on franchises already known or to be developed. It is his answer to the uncertainty about the recession of the US economy; Also, a way to seek loyalty, although not even having brands like Star Wars and Marvel prevented Disney+ from its first loss of subscribers (2.4 million) in the last three months of 2022; something that will try to correct with sequels to ‘Toy Story’, ‘Frozen’ and ‘Zootropolis’.
For a time, it was believed that ‘streaming’ was going to be a paradise of plurality: a new horizon whose breadth would allow unusual voices to be heard and creators who had had a hard time consolidating themselves in cable channels, not to mention generalists, to take off. However, recent news begin to draw a more limited landscape.
Universes of ‘Billions’ and ‘Dexter’
At the end of January, Bob Bakish, executive director of the Paramount conglomerate, announced that the Showtime cable network and the premium mode of the Paramount+ platform would be renamed Paramount+ With Showtime, in a merger that will surely mean layoffs and that has already claimed victims in terms of content. Showtime has begun to release interesting, but not massive, series from its platform, such as ‘Kidding’ or ‘Becoming a God in Florida’. AND has preferred not to release the adaptation of ‘Three Women’, the celebrated book by Lisa Taddeo on female sexuality, with Shailene Woodley as the protagonist; finally it will be the rival chain Starz that makes it known.
After turning the neo-western ‘Yellowstone’ into a successful franchise, Chris McCarthythe Paramount executive who has overseen Showtime since last year, now leads a plan to convert other well-known brands into long-lived franchises. have already been announced four ‘spin-offs’ of the financial drama ‘Billions’: We’ll have, no kidding, ‘Millions’ (about 30-something aspiring moguls in Manhattan) and ‘Trillions’ (fictionalized stories of the world’s richest people), plus Miami and London-based variations; the latter sounds redundant in a world where ‘Industry’ exists.
On the other hand, the more or less surprise success of ‘Dexter: New Blood’, the (in principle) limited series that continued late and a (in principle) more satisfactory end to the adventures of the murderous coroner, has led to two new projects, a prequel about the character called (of course) ‘Dexter: Origins’ and a second ‘Dexter: New Blood’ more focused on her son Harrison. All this guided by Clyde Phillips, the ‘showrunner’ of the original series between its first and fourth seasons, the best received.
Movistar Plus+ is currently the Spanish platform where Showtime titles can be seen, but that will partly change with the upcoming arrival of SkyShowtime, a streaming service that includes material from, that’s right, Sky Studios and Showtime, as well as Paramount+ , Peacock, Universal or DreamWorks. According to Movistar sources, “customers will be able to continue enjoying the Showtime series currently available on the platform, as well as the new seasons that arrive from them.” [por ejemplo, la segunda de ‘Yellowjackets’, desde el 24 de marzo]But it is to be anticipated that future new Showtime series will arrive via SkyShowtime.
All ‘spin-offs’ everywhere
It is rare the platform that is not looking for brands to extend and curl over time. In addition to the universe around ‘Yellowstone’ (or rather, its creator, Taylor Sheridan, who never sleeps and has also given them ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ and ‘Tulsa King’), Paramount+ has everything ‘Star Trek’ after having reached an agreement with Amazon Prime Video to have ‘Picard’ and ‘Lower Decks’ co-exclusively.
After the good audience results of ‘The Lord of the Rings’, Amazon will bet on universes of ‘Tomb Raider’ and ‘The final list‘, the first of them with a series that will be written by the very Phoebe Waller-Bridge (‘Fleabag’), according to sources from ‘The Hollywood Reporter’. In addition, it will be on Prime Video where the first series of the ‘John Wick’ saga can be seen internationally (except for the United States, the Middle East and Israel): ‘The Continental’about the famous hotel for assassins where you can’t kill anyone.
On the other hand, in Netflix (which just changed its account sharing policy) are not about to let the phenomenon ‘Stranger Things’ ends in 2024 with the fifth season: a first ‘spin-off’ in an ‘anime’ code was revealed in December. This same year will arrive ramifications of ‘La casa de papel’ (‘Berlin’scheduled for December) and ‘Los Bridgertons’ (‘Queen Charlotte’, no release date). In addition, Netflix films in the United Kingdom one (dangerous, according to the British tabloids) ‘reality’ version of ‘The Squid Game’.
Don’t go away yet, there are still more variations on familiar themes: AMC+ will be the place to watch future series of ‘The Walking Dead’ as ‘Dead City’ (ie Maggie and Negan in New York), ‘Daryl Dixon’ (the aforementioned in France) and one per headline on Rick and Michonne. The same ‘streaming’ service hosts Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe, based on two series of novels, ‘Interview with the Vampire’ and ‘The Mayfair Witches’, which ended up being interconnected.
The most optimistic creators and cultural critics think of this maze of franchises as that hedge that will actually make it possible to invest in risk. The most realistic are embarrassed seeing how writers with their own world have to settle for using franchises as Trojan horses for their best ideas. Uncertain times for the imagination.