Spin-Offs Keep Expanding

As regards Universal's animation franchise, Deadline noted yesterday:

... In devoting a full feature to The Minions [of Despicable Me], Universal and Illumination are taking on a challenge. Fox Animation has reserved its signature sidekick character Scrat for duty in small doses in the Ice Age films and DreamWorks Animation has done the same with its commando penguin team from Madagascar, though the latter did get an animated TV series. And The Minions don’t exactly speak English, but rather a dialogue understandable mostly to their goggle-eyed cohorts. I understand that Universal and Illumination feel they found a way around this with a story that Meledandri hatched with Coffin, Balda and Renaud. ...

Let's not be coy. In Hollywood land, sequels and spin-offs are the coin of the realm, producing heavy coin in the process.

The Batman trilogy is part of, what? Seven or eight movies since Tim Burton revitalized the franchise that already had a previous incarnation as a campy, mid-sixties television show? Sequelitis on steroids.

Then there are multiple Superman movies and t.v. episodes. And Marvel has opened its own mint with Iron Man, Spiderman, The Avengers and all the rest of its comic book menagerie.

While Scrat stays on his cartoon reservation and DreamWorks Animation sees fit to put the penguins in their own hit television series, Puss in Boots, supporting player in Shrek movies, gets his own big-budget platform and rakes in a half billion in grosses.

There's a lot of rea$on$ Hollywood makes spin-offs, sequels and television shows. And they all have pictures of Presidents on them.