What’s a die-hard fan gotta do to find a spot to camp?

There are no more Star Wars movies, so George Lucas says, although spin-off television series are planned. It isn’t likely there will be any more Lord of the Rings films either, unless Peter Jackson’s planned production of The Hobbit can work out a legal wrangle over adaptation rights.

And there’s certainly no chance of raising Titanic once more. (Come to think of it, is James "King of the World" Cameron ever going to make a movie again?)

At the moment, it seems the only movie series that can get fans excited enough to form lines days before the opening credits start to run is the Harry Potter collection.

So what’s next for the so-called Superfan, the one who’d dress up in "Middle Earth" or "Galaxy Far, Far Away" fashions and trot over to the neighbourhood cineplex to stake a place for the best seats, or any seats, in the house?

Comic-book franchises

Just as there’s more than one way to skin a cat, there are also alternative approaches to building, or indeed reviving, a movie franchise.

Christopher Nolan, Sam Raimi, Bryan Singer and Joss Whedon have all been tasked to establish successful new film series for Spider-Man, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.

As Nolan has said, his approach to the Dark Knight series was always going to veer far away from the vision Tim Burton, and later Joel Schumacher, had for Batman.

Working with Blade writer David S Goyer, he has created a darker, more brutal world for a Batman whose psyche is of much more interest than his gadgets, and in which Batman is not overshadowed by colourful and demented enemies.

Raimi, so far, has stayed true to his vision of the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man through two hugely successful movies, and he will bring us a third instalment in 2007. That’s the same year Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Whedon’s Wonder Woman movie, with the lead role still uncast, will hit cinemas.

Details are sketchy for Singer’s Superman Returns, which will be released next year with newcomer Brandon Routh donning the famous red and blue costume, and Wonder Woman, to which actresses Jennifer Lopez, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mischa Barton, Evangeline Lilly, and Jessica Biel have all been linked.

Both directors are credible choices to helm these potential franchises, but will either of them become massive crowd-pullers that engender enough fanaticism to warrant spending nights out sleeping in public?

One would think not, even though Whedon does have a cult following from his various television series.

Kid-friendly adaptations

One look at the popularity of J K Rowling’s Harry Potter books will give you an idea of how well the Harry Potter movies have done. Even Singapore Post is riding on the wave of screaming, clamouring fans by offering a pre-order service for the latest installment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, to be launched July 16.

Although last year’s movie The Prisoner of Azkaban did not outperform either The Sorcerer’s Stone or The Chamber of Secrets, the series is still going strong and will welcome The Goblet of Fire this November and The Order of the Phoenix in 2007.

Along with the Harry Potter books, it looks as if the next "event" movies will be those based on the seven-volume Chronicles of Narnia series by C S Lewis. The first of the franchise arrives this December, in the form of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, helmed by Shrek director Andrew Adamson.

The epic fantasy features Aslan the Lion, the true ruler of the magical land of Narnia - which is filled with talking animals - who enlists the help of four children to fight the evil White Witch, Jadis.

Judging by the film’s impressive trailer, the strength of the source material, and the wide appeal the initial film appears to have, there’s great potential for the series to unite hordes of eager fans to form queues in front of cinemas so they can secure bragging rights for being first in line.

Super-fandom no more?

In the final analysis, who really knows why people camp out for movies?

Nobody predicted Titanic would have people watching it over and over again at the theatres, with teen girls one-upping their friends by saying: "I’ve watched it twenty-one times; how many times have you seen it?"

And as worldwide movie-going is threatened by the increasingly popular habit of watching DVDs, with piracy still rampant, it seems event movies will be a rarer phenomenon than ever before.

The only films that have hope are those with crossover audiences, one reckons. So what will attract teens and adults alike? Could it be the Batman franchise, if actor Christian Bale has his way with his dual-release proposal (see accompanying story)?

What about the Chronicles of Narnia, with its talking creatures and fantastical adventure?

Perhaps it is The Hobbit that will get superfans enraptured once more - if Peter Jackson gets the chance to work his magic again and take us back to Middle Earth.

That is, unless, Episodes VII, VIII, and IX of Star Wars, originally conceived by Lucas as three trilogies, ever get made.

Holy franchise, Batman!

What could Batman Begins director Christopher Nolan and lead actor Christian Bale dream up for the Dark Knight next?

Well, Batman needs to live a little, you might have heard Bale saying recently.

Bale plays the billionaire protagonist Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, in Memento director Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, a film that re-interprets the comic-book legend of the Dark Knight and focuses more on his origins.

In press reports leading up to the release of the film, Bale suggested that future movies in the series portray Batman in an R-rated context, including delving into his sex life, and further his psychological makeup.

So how will the franchise shape up if more sequels are made and the leading man has his way?

"I think there’s a great deal of room (to explore the Batman character)," Bale told Today from the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles.

"There’s an interesting point that, in his naivete, he thinks this is kind of a finite job he’s got, that he’d clean up Gotham City and, bam, he’s able to move on with his life."

It doesn’t seem that Bale will be able to move on without Batman (nor does he want to) in the next few years of his career, either.

According to various reports, Bale and Gary Oldman are the only stars on contract for a sequel. Even director Nolan and key performer Michael Caine, who was Alfred the butler, are said to be free agents at the moment, although both have expressed an interest in reprising their roles.

"(Wayne) will be stuck with being Batman, as well as all the conflicts and lack of life that would bring," said Bale, who called his character "somebody with serious issues".

"If you knew anyone who spent his evenings running around, beating up thugs, taking down criminals, dressed as a bat, you’d think this is a man with mental problems, wouldn’t you?"

Having said that, however, the actor believes Batman has a good grasp of reality and knows right from wrong.

At some point, Bale would like to see an R-rated Batman movie, or rather the same movie made with two ratings: One for adults and another that’s kid-friendly.

"They (the studio) are probably going to tell me to shut up," he said, smirking.

"And you’ll see how much power I have because it’ll never happen. But I want to have two versions released, one PG, one R-rated, and in theatres at the same time.

"In terms of Batman’s psychology, in terms of his propensity for violence, and having to rein himself in, I think there’s a lot of ground for an R-rated movie," he said.

While kids are excited about Batman returning to the big screen, Bale has found that adults are equally so, with some eager to see a darker version of the hero, as leading comic writer Frank Miller envisioned in his popular Dark Knight graphic novels.

"They say ’With you playing Batman, you’re going to take it to that weird, messed-up place,’" Bale said with a gleam in his eye.

"They’re like ’Oh, you gotta do it!’. I truly believe there’s an audience that’s going to lap this up, who want to see this superhero who’s kind of an anti-hero. He’s right on that borderline. He could easily become a supervillian, and I think that’d be a very interesting movie."

A hero who turns to the dark side? Now that sounds familiar - and promising.

Who’s coming back for the Batman sequel, if there is one?

According to online movie gossip websites Dark Horizons and IGN FilmForce, this is the latest on which key talents are set to reprise their roles:

Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne, aka Batman) - signed for "multiple sequels"

Gary Oldman (Jim Gordon) - signed for one sequel

Christopher Nolan (director, co-writer) and David S Goyer (co-writer) - not signed

Michael Caine (Alfred Pennyworth) - not signed

Katie Holmes (Rachel Dawes) - not signed

Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox) - not signed