Writing in the New York Times on Wednesday in an article called Summer of the Spinoff, Rick Lyman takes a look at the impending movie season, which, even moreso than those in recent memory, is chock-full of what some call the inevitable result of more than a decade of growing influence for studio marketing departments and corporate risk-aversion strategies. In spite of my growing excitement over next week’s release of Spider-Man, it’s alarming to realize that, according to Lyman, at least sixteen films this summer will fall into the category of sequels, prequels, spinoffs, remakes and franchise films based on comic books, television series or video games.
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