Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Notre Dame, 2007. / Thesis directed by Margaret Anne Doody for the Department of English. "July 2007." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 178-192).

The increasing globalization of entertainment appears to be having a major impact on the dynamics of the American film industry. The U.S. box office is no longer predominant, meaning that in order to most effectively capitalize on the state of the theatrical market, domestic studios must now more heavily incorporate foreign preferences into production strategy. This study explores the financial nuances of the global box office in relation to sequel-driven film franchises, which have seemingly come to dominate commercial filmmaking as a result of their risk-minimized profitability. We focus on discrepancies between foreign and domestic performance in order to analyze the potential motivations behind the shifts in Hollywood’s output. Using OLS and Probit regression models with a variety of dependent and independent variables, this study finds that sequels tend to perform both relatively and absolutely better overseas, that certain genres are received differently abroad than in the U.S., and that the approval of latter sequels tends to be driven more by foreign revenue generated by previous films within franchises.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center; full text release delayed at author's request until 2008 Aug 3.

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During the period between 1640 and 1700, over forty works were produced by authors identifying themselves as “T. S.” In the field of early modern literary studies, one T. S. has been particularly important to scholars because of this author’s imitative version of John Bunyan’s popular allegory titled The Second Part of the Pilgrim’s Progress (1682). This work by T. S., who has become known as Thomas Sherman, achieves minor success and prompts Bunyan to write his own authentic sequel. My research has uncovered an attribution history that identifies four additional texts—Divine Breathings (circa 1671); Youth’s Tragedy (1671); Youth’s Comedy (1680); Divine Breathings, the Second Part (1680)—and credits all of them to a Thomas Sherman. Of the five works attributed to this author, the most impressive printing history belongs to the earliest offering, Divine Breathings, or a Pious Soul Thirsting after Christ in a Hundred Pathetical Meditations, which appears in over 60 printings from 1671 to 1883 in England, Scotland, and North America. My research scrutinizes this attribution history and raises questions about identifying this T. S. as Thomas Sherman. Based on internal and external evidence, I argue that T. S. is not the author of Divine Breathings but establishes his authorial identity as an imitative writer who actively participates in the genre of Protestant meditational literature by providing sequels (i.e., Divine Breathings …the Second Part and Second Part of the Pilgrim’s Progress).

During the period between 1640 and 1700, over forty works were produced by authors identifying themselves as “T. S.” In the field of early modern literary studies, one T. S. has been particularly important to scholars because of this author’s imitative version of John Bunyan’s popular allegory titled The Second Part of the Pilgrim’s Progress (1682). This work by T. S., who has become known as Thomas Sherman, achieves minor success and prompts Bunyan to write his own authentic sequel. My research has uncovered an attribution history that identifies four additional texts—Divine Breathings (circa 1671); Youth’s Tragedy (1671); Youth’s Comedy (1680); Divine Breathings, the Second Part (1680)—and credits all of them to a Thomas Sherman. Of the five works attributed to this author, the most impressive printing history belongs to the earliest offering, Divine Breathings, or a Pious Soul Thirsting after Christ in a Hundred Pathetical Meditations, which appears in over 60 printings from 1671 to 1883 in England, Scotland, and North America. My research scrutinizes this attribution history and raises questions about identifying this T. S. as Thomas Sherman. Based on internal and external evidence, I argue that T. S. is not the author of Divine Breathings but establishes his authorial identity as an imitative writer who actively participates in the genre of Protestant meditational literature by providing sequels (i.e., Divine Breathings …the Second Part and Second Part of the Pilgrim’s Progress).

Hollywood: The Sequel provides an historical account of film sequelization and its importance to the domestic entertainment industry from a marketing standpoint. Based on an extensive literature revenue, it was conjectured that the ratio of domestic sequel‐generated revenue to overall domestic revenue from the 1950s‐2000s would follow a classic diffusion pattern. Utilizing historical trade data from Variety magazine, Excel and SPSS databases were developed to determine the percentage of sequel‐generated domestic box office revenue from 1954‐2006, relative to overall revenue. The formal hypothesis was that from the 1950s‐2000s the adoption of sequels in the 70‐highest‐performing films follows a diffusion s‐curve. The goodness‐of‐fit of the historical dataset (N=3,710) with the s‐curve estimation‐algorithm was measured against the goodness‐of‐fit of other widely utilized curve estimation‐algorithms and the linear‐regression model— the curve estimation algorithms utilized included logarithmic, inverse, quadratic, cubic, compound, power, growth, exponential, and logistic. Several content‐analysis intensive research questions were asked and explored in the dissertation including the following: Do Epstein‐scores for sequels in the 70‐highest‐performing titles per year increase from the 1950s‐2000s? In the event Epstein‐scores for sequels in the 70‐highestperforming titles per year increase from the 1950s‐2000s, what growth model provides the best fit with the historical data? What is the growth rate associated with minority representation in lead roles in sequels from the 1950s‐2000s? How have sequels with minority leads fared in terms of box office performance, versus sequels overall from the 1950s‐2000s? What is the growth rate associated with female representation in lead roles in sequels from the 1950s‐2000s? And, finally, how have sequels with female leads fared in terms of box office performance, versus sequels overall from the 1950s‐2000s? / text

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In this study I have compared the two movies Blade Runner: The Final Cut (2006) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017) in regards to their visual identity and female representation. The first of these films is the latest version of Blade Runner, a movie which have undergone an unusual amount of editing and therefore exists in multiple iterations. The latter of the two is a direct sequel, released 35 years after the original version of Blade Runner. I have done a thorough account of the respective plot, visual characteristics and of how the women are portrayed whitin each film. Due to a comparison of these I have been able to outline some interesting themes in regards to how both films incoporate themes of commersialisation of the female form, although in varying degrees. This is sometime undermined by the films problematic portrayal of some of these characters. I have also been able to observe a shift in regards to how the films portray a futuristic Los Angeles. Rather than mixing noir-inspired, believable locales with elements typical of science fiction, Blade Runner 2049 portrays the future as more coherent and stylistic. Some scenes in Blade Runner 2049 consists of only a few tones of a single colour, such as blue, grey and orange, a stylistic choice Blade Runner: The Final Cut does not use.