Cracking the Hollywood Formula: The Secret Powers of the Superhero Franchise

There are many perceived advantages of developing a film from a comic book series such as its preexisting built-in audiences, easy marketability, licensing opportunities of comic book characters, and easily adaptable stories. All these qualities make the comic book conducive to film adaptation and profitable franchises. Studios have also taken notice and have been producing comic book inspired films in record numbers in the past decade. This thesis will investigate the comic book-to-film phenomena and will attempt to quantify whether it is in fact as lucrative as it appears. In order to quantify the effect of the comic book variable on film\u27s success, this study will utilize the ordinary least squares method. By regressing the comic variable along with all other control variables, we hope to determine if the effect of the comic variable varies between two different measures of success