Last week it was announced that a Game of Thrones prequel will be coming to London’s West End. When you look at the West End and Broadway over recent years, there definitely seems to be a trend for film and TV IP being translated to the stage, or getting new spin-off stories.
So many IPS, such as Harry Potter, Stranger Things, Bettlejuice, Paddington, The Hunger Games, SpongeBob Squarepants, Mean Girls, Clueless, Elf, Shrek and even Paranormal Activity have made their way to the stage over recent years.
Stage shows allow fans to engage with their favourite IPs in a new way, and this can bring new audiences to live entertainment venues still struggling from the effects of the pandemic and high inflation. And when done well these shows absolutely do this, Harry Potter & the Cursed Child has been running for nearly 10 years in the UK and almost as long onBroadway with productions in several other countries. Based on a completely original story, set nearly two decades after the original narrative ended, the show offered fans something new and exciting in lieu of any new books or films.
Similarly, and as is the plan for Game of Thrones, Stranger Things based their stage production on a story not seen in the TV show but that fits into the narrative and helps explain it in more detail, giving fans a real reason to go.
In the case of Mean Girls, the musical stage show version was so successful that a new movie was made of it, returning the IP to its original medium but in a new form appealing to new audiences. And some stage shows get really creative, the musical based on SpongeBob side stepped the obvious costume character route to have the characters portrayed by regular actors, and bring a whole new dynamic to the IP.
Others though are not so successful, and don’t resonate with existing fans or bring in new audiences. Stage productions such as Pretty Woman and The Devil Wears Prada haven’t translated the IP to the new medium as successfully and despite the addition of new music have often relied too much on nostalgia and affection for the original movies to drive ticket sales rather than offering a fresh take.
The new The Hunger Games stage show in London had a custom theater built for it and although the staging is impressive, so far fans claim it hasn’t been able to recreate the emotional pull of the books or movies.
Other productions such as Shrek and Elf have very much tried to follow in the tradition of British pantomimes, camp and interactive interpretations of well known stories, usually fairytales, that the whole family can enjoy together during the holidays. And they’ve been successful, why shouldn’t Elf or Shrek sit alongside the likes of Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty as festive days out for the whole family?
So yes movie and film IPs have been taking over stages around the world, and many of them absolutely deserve to, not only because they bring new engaged audiences but because they have creatively reinterpreted the IP for a new medium. However when they are done with little regard to bringing something new to the brand and simply a new avenue for generating revenue then they show little respect for the fans and take up space that could be given to new stories and creativity.
As ever, audiences vote with their feet so these less well thought out productions don’t tend to last long, so the lesson here is to absolutely look at how your IP could translate to the stage but make sure you're bringing something new and creative for existing fans as well as something easily accessible for new audiences.