Profits Rising From Ashes And Different Bodies
It’s now Wednesday and I now know if Harry survived.
But regardless – what could J.K. Rowling do to make even more money now that her boy wizard’s adventures have been systematically put to rest in her last book in the series? (She’s worth over $1 billion right now, which will soon increase.)
Well, there are still 2 more movies to go – ending with “Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows” in a few years from now (probably in 4 years’ time).
She earns royalties from them and the other 5 movies made so far.
The movies in the series are reproduced on DVDs after they’ve finished their run in the cinemas and another serious round of money-making takes place.
Her books will continue to sell during that time and beyond.
All in all, expect to see a few hundred million dollars more to be added to her bank account by the time it’s all over.
And then, in terms of milking things for all they’re worth – what else could she do?
Have a “comeback” book/movie of sorts, of course.
And why not?
The British Band, “Take That” came back after having broken up in the 1990s.
The Spice Girls are planning a “Reunion Tour”.
Bruce Willis came back with “Die Hard 4.0″.
Arnold Schwarzenegger came back in “Terminator 3″ after having been melted down in Terminator 2.
And some top Hong Kong singers retired for 10 years or so and then made a comeback with their respective “Comeback Tour”.
(Some would say they actually planned the “Comeback Tour” before they retired.)
When you make a comeback, there’s another round of money-making right there because you’ll have a hungry base of fans who were looking for more of you when you retired but couldn’t get any – until now.
The key is to ensure that you come back before your fan base grow too old to remember who you were. (And you must have been a hit before you retired, of course.)
In the case of a fictional character like Harry Potter – if he is dead now – he could be resurrected somehow (like Sigourney Weaver was in “Aliens 4″) which isn’t that big a deal considering that he’s a wizard.
Alternatively you could always do a “Prequel” like the “Batman Begins“, “Superman Returns” and the first 3 episodes of the “Star Wars” series…
There are many possibilities, and they’re all very logical…
It’s good to know that sometimes “The End” isn’t really the end, especially when the potential for profit is still very much in existence.
However, “The End” can be used to make a whole bunch of money this time (because there’s an end to it all – there’s no more to come), and set up the “Comeback” many years later (hey – there’s more to come after all!) for another whole bunch of money.
The very disappointing “Star Wars” prequels could do with another “Comeback” by virtue of how disappointing those 3 episodes were.
One possibility is to present 3 ALTERNATIVE episodes for the Prequels with the same core characters but totally different story lines, but ending with Darth Vader becoming Darth Vader anyhow.
And I’ll bet the 3 Alternative Episodes would break box office records since there are so many Star Wars fans out there.
Think this isn’t possible?
It has been done before on the hit TV series, “Dallas” in the early 1980s where one very disappointing season (story-wise) was aired (about 22 episodes) and then explained away in the next season as nothing more than one main character’s “bad dream” – leaving the production team to continue from the season before that dream with an alternative (and better) storyline for the new season, as if that bad dream season never existed!
But this would mean having George Lucas admit that his current 3 Prequel episodes are bad – which he wouldn’t do.
Swallow your pride, George – and remake them with better scripts and better actors. Then hear your cash register ringing all the way from the planet Tatooine…
Not only will you get richer from the experience, it’s the right thing to do…
Plus the fans want to pay you for a better experience – so give it to them!
(I’m not a fan, by the way – even of the original Star Wars.)
And then you have the comics kingdom where a main character can exist in many different universes SIMULTANEOUSLY, with different characters surrounding the main character and storylines that don’t cross each universe.
The “Spiderman” series of comic books are done this way. There’s “The Amazing Spider-Man” title, and “The Sensational Spider-Man” title, “The Spectacular Spider-Man” title, “Web Of Spider-Man” title, “Ultimate Spider-Man” title and other titles involving this character, all appearing at the same time at one time or another – as if the stories on the other series don’t exist!
What’s more…
You can also create one single universe for one concept but with different characters in different backgrounds!
After all, we have CSI:Vegas, CSI:Miami and CSI:New York all being shown at the same time, don’t we?
Not only that – you may run into broadcasts where one episode from each CSI series is shown back to back! You get a total of 6 murders in 3 hours, solved by 3 different CSI Teams!
Best of all, Horatio of CSI:Miami sometimes makes an appearance in CSI:New York to talk to Mac Taylor on a case that involves their “mutual” victims…
Whether it’s the world of fiction or otherwise – you can print money again and again if only you want them badly enough.
All that is required is your own desire and plenty of creativity.
Both of which human beings have in abundance – as you can see above.
Right?
Talk soon.
Sen Ze
P.S. You can link to this post with the following URL:
http://www.SenZe.com/business-blog/business-profitability/profits-rising-from-ashes-and-different-bodies.htm
Technorati Tags: Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Spiderman, Spider-man, CSI:Miami, CSI:New York, CSI, CSI:Vegas, Star Wars, Die Hard 4.0, Spice Girls, Take That, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sigourney Weaver, Aliens 4, George Lucas, Business Profitability, Authors, Entertainers
