6. Simultaneous Movie Productions And Bigger Story Commitments
"It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered... Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you." For this one, I do have to split the credit with the Harry Potter series just a bit, but prior to the advent of Lord of the Rings, very few unproven franchises were signed on for multiple movies right from the start, and even fewer still were shot back to back. As trilogies productions go, it's far more common for a single movie to be released and, if it's successful, a second and third movie will be shot together, as was the case with Back to the Future (fun fact: the "To Be Continued..." at the end of the first film was a joke and the crew never expected sequels). Prior to Lord of the Rings, one of the very few series' to attempt this model was the Three Colors Trilogy, made in Poland. Even since then, not many production companies are willing to bank so heavily on a property that they're willing to sign cast and crew for three whole movies, but Peter Jackson's saga was certainly one of the biggest risks taken by a studio to date. The bigger trend, though, is movie studios looking to sign multi-movie deals out of the gate. While they may not be produced simultaneously, more and more, the production companies behind huge blockbuster franchises aren't content with a one-hit wonder. The usual reservation is and probably always will be present, but it's pretty clear where the trend has been heading: huge, expensive, epic movies, with as many installments as possible (even going so far as to split the last movies in twain, as with Harry Potter and Twilight).