Barre has spiked in popularity in the last several years, with Pure Barre and Barre3 franchise studios popping up all over the country.
Of course, Star Trek is far from the only franchise studios and networks are ruining by playing it safe, though arguably it suffers the most from the treatment, having once been a radical outlier.
And yet, instead of experimenting and rewriting the universal laws of their franchises, studios treat prequels like fertilizer for the films we've already experienced, and this strategy doesn't translate to cool movies.
To bring new creative juice to ongoing franchises, studios are continuing to recruit filmmakers from independent film backgrounds: Next summer's "Jurassic World," for example, is being directed by Colin Trevorrow, whose last film was the low-budget comedy "Safety Not Guaranteed," while "Looper" director Rian Johnson has been tapped to helm "Star Wars Episode VIII".
But the highest hurdle for women continues to be franchise studio films.
For Rothman, who was trying to mount a turnaround for Sony by establishing much-needed film franchises, Studio 8 was not a priority, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect relationships.
In fiction, this means falling back on franchises: Marvel Studios have set out their slate of superhero films until 2028, a fifth Pirates of the Caribbean sequel shoots soon.
With Hollywood in the hunt for the next "Harry Potter"-style franchise, DreamWorks Studios has bought the film rights to the children's book series "Children of the Lamp," by P. B. Kerr.
When superhero franchises falter, studios often reboot them, starting over from a different perspective with a different cast.
Reflecting the industry's intense interest in franchises, Hollywood Studios is building a 14-acre Star Wars land and an 11-acre Toy Story area.
