Written by Jon Williams
There are
certain media franchises that become so popular that they transcend just the
world of entertainment and become cultural touchstones. For three such
franchises, 2019 is they year in which they will come to an end—or at least
wind down their current iterations. Let’s take a look at them.
On April 26,
Avengers:
Endgame was released into theaters in North America. It debuted with a
bang, taking in the largest opening-weekend box office gross of all time with
more than $350 million. It has steadily added to that total and now stands as
the second on the list of highest-grossing films of all time. While it seems
unlikely to take over the top spot, it’s still in theaters and will definitely
add to its total, currently over $825 million. Endgame is the culmination of 22 films in the Marvel Cinematic
Universe that started with Iron
Man in 2008. While this movie may have brought the story of the
Avengers to a close, the same certainly can’t be said for the MCU as a whole.
On the immediate horizon is Spider-Man:
Far from Home, the sequel to 2017’s Homecoming,
with Tom Holland starring as the titular webslinger. This will mark the formal
end to “Phase Three” of the MCU, but future plans include a Black Widow movie
featuring Scarlett Johansson’s character, a Black
Panther sequel, a third Guardians
of the Galaxy installment, and plenty more on screens both big and
small. There is definitely plenty to look forward to from Marvel in the future,
although whether it continues to work together toward one cohesive story
remains to be seen.
The eighth
and final season of Game
of Thrones premiered before that, on April 14, and came to its
conclusion on May 19. Before the season began, we
examined the likelihood of broken ratings records, particularly for the
series finale. Those predictions came true, as the season’s sixth episode, the
show’s last, drew more than 19.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched
series finale in history for a show on cable. While the final season drew mixed
reviews from fans and critics, viewership numbers remained strong throughout,
and hunger for related content has kept author George R.R. Martin’s Fire
& Blood, a tale that begins centuries before the events of the
show, on the bestseller list since its publication last November. With the show
in the rearview mirror, fans will have to be content with Fire & Blood to hold them over for now, but there are more
stories to come. For one thing, Martin still has two books left in his Song
of Ice & Fire, the novel series that inspired the show. It has been
eight years since the last, A
Dance with Dragons, was published, and while no date has yet been
announced for the arrival of the next, The
Winds of Winter, recent updates from Martin have fans optimistic that it
will be finished in the not-too-distant future. HBO also has plans for a number
of companion shows, with at least one currently going forward with Naomi Watts
set to star.
Then, later
this year, the Star Wars sequel
trilogy will come to a close when Episode
IX: The Rise of Skywalker comes out on December 20. Of course, this echoes
1983, when Return of the Jedi
concluded the original
trilogy, and 2005, when Revenge of
the Sith did the same for the prequel
trilogy; however, it’s actually a culmination of all three, as The Rise of Skywalker will drop the
curtain on the saga of Anakin Skywalker and his offspring. The current trilogy
began in 2015 with The
Force Awakens, the one film that Avengers:
Endgame trails on the all-time box office list, and continued with The
Last Jedi in 2017. After this film there will be a short hiatus for Star Wars on the big screen, but it
definitely will be back—a new film series, set in a different era from the
Skywalker films, is set to begin in December 2022 with Game of Thrones
showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss at the helm. In the meantime, Pedro
Pascal will star in the upcoming TV show The
Mandalorian, to premiere November 12 of this year, and Diego Luna will
reprise his role from the standalone blockbuster Rogue
One in another, as-yet-unnamed TV series.
So while
these beloved franchises may be coming to a close, each in its own way, fans can
take comfort in the fact that there are still plenty of stories to come in the
respective universes. And patrons will always be eager to revisit these favorites
or immerse themselves for the first time. Use the links above to put these
great movies and TV shows on your shelves, and SmartBrowse on our website for a
plethora of related content.
Written by Jon Williams
This Sunday begins the long-awaited and highly anticipated
eighth season of the hit HBO show Game of Thrones. The abbreviated
final season will consist of just six episodes (although four of those will run
around 80 minutes, 20 more than the typical episode) and will culminate in the
series finale on May 19. Over the course of the show’s seven seasons to date,
its ratings have continued to climb, making it one of the most-watched cable
series. With nearly two years of hype building up since the Season
7 finale that aired on August 27, 2017, plus the anticipation of who—if
anyone—will survive to take the Iron Throne, the eighth season’s viewership
numbers are sure to set new records, and the series finale will likely go down
as one of the most watched of all time.
On network television, of course, those numbers are
untouchable. The series finale of M*A*S*H on February 28, 1983, drew
upwards of 105 million viewers, making it the most-watched television episode
ever. The only other broadcasts that garner that type of viewership are the
Super Bowl each year. The closest any show has come since was ten years later,
with the series finale of the hit sitcom Cheers, which came in at 84 million
on May 20, 1993. Before M*A*S*H, the
record was held by the wrap-up of The Fugitive on August 29, 1967,
watched by 78 million people. Rounding out the top five most-watched series
finales are two more sitcoms: Seinfeld (May 14, 1998) with 76
million and Friends (May 16, 2004) with 52
million. In the realm of science fiction and fantasy, the record is held by Star Trek: The Next Generation,
which came to an end on May 23, 1994, with an audience of 31 million.
Network broadcasts, though, have always had the advantage of
being available to anyone with a television set, without the necessity of
additional equipment or subscription fees. That’s why ratings for shows airing
on cable networks are measured in a category of their own. For cable series,
the top two most-watched series finales belong to HBO, the same network that
airs Game of Thrones. First up is the
mob drama The Sopranos, whose controversial
blackout ending aired June 10, 2007, to 11.9 viewers. Coming in second, and
holding the top spot until The Sopranos
came along, is Sex and the City, which bowed to an
audience of 10.6 million on February 22, 2004. Those numbers are especially
impressive considering HBO is a premium network which has traditionally
required an additional subscription fee on top of a cable package. Then in
third place is the acclaimed AMC drama Breaking
Bad, which, like Game of Thrones,
started off to relatively modest ratings and then steadily built over time.
That show finished up on September 29, 2013, with 10.3 million viewers.
So how will the Game
of Thrones finale fare? Obviously it won’t approach the numbers of network
shows like M*A*S*H or even Friends, but it has an excellent chance
of setting a new record for cable shows. Season 7 averaged upwards of 10
million viewers, and the season finale drew over 12 million. With anticipation
at an all-time high, the numbers for Season 8 should leave those behind easily.
And with two more novels to come in George R.R. Martin’s novel
series and a spinoff series in production from HBO, the fever is sure to
last for years to come.
Written by Jon Williams
For the past
two weeks, a new book from George R.R. Martin has been at or near the top of
the bestseller lists. No, it’s not the one that fans have been so eagerly
anticipating: The Winds of Winter,
the long-awaited sixth installment in his Song of Ice and Fire series. It is
set in the same world, however. While the books of the series itself concern
themselves with the aftermath of the rebellion that toppled the reign of the
Targaryen dynasty in the fictional realm of Westeros, Fire
and Blood tells the earliest history of those Targaryen kings.
A Song of
Ice and Fire is probably more popularly known by the title of its first volume,
A
Game of Thrones. Published in 1996, it was the first book of what was
originally planned as a trilogy. The next two installments, 1998’s A
Clash of Kings and 2000’s A
Storm of Swords, did not come close to finishing the story, as Martin’s
expansive style and an increasingly involved plot necessitated expanding the
series to seven books. Those plot complications have also slowed down the
writing. The fourth book, A
Feast for Crows, came in 2005, and the fifth, A
Dance with Dragons, in 2011.
And that’s
where the series stands at the moment. A vocal segment of fans has grown
increasingly dismayed at the long wait for the next book, with some even
speculating that Martin wouldn’t even finish the series. On a recent blog post,
however, he assured fans that The Winds
of Winter is still forthcoming, and that he would indeed finish the series.
In the meantime, there has been plenty to keep everyone occupied. The HBO
series Game
of Thrones debuted its first season in 2011 and has gone on to
establish itself as a television phenomenon. It surpassed the source material
from the novels with its sixth season, and the eighth and final season will
premiere in April of 2019. Those who are really into the books and show can
learn the Dothraki
language used by the fierce horse lords (including Khal Drogo, played by Aquaman's Jason
Mamoa). And readers/listeners looking for more Westeros backstory will enjoy A
Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, detailing the adventures of hedge knight
Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire, the future king Aegon V Targaryen.
In a related
but (at least supposedly) not connected vein, Martin also offers The
Ice Dragon, a tale aimed at children and young adults, a sharp contrast
with the gritty and bloodthirsty mode of A Song of Ice and Fire. These fantasy
worlds are what Martin is most known for, but he’s equally at home in other
settings. The Wild
Cards series he edits and compiles is a sci-fi alternate history of the
post-WWII U.S. that has been infected with an alien virus. And while it’s
currently unavailable on audiobook, his novella Nightflyers is the basis for a ten-episode TV
series currently airing on Syfy.
So for your
patrons who are watching Nightflyers
or gearing up for the final season of Game
of Thrones, or even just patiently waiting for The Winds of Winter (not to mention A Dream of Spring, the final volume), there is plenty of material
from George R.R. Martin to keep them entertained. Check out the titles listed
above, and be sure to visit our website to find music from Game of Thrones as well as other related materials.
Written by Jon Williams
I can hear
the shrieks of frustration over this headline, as News and Views readers look
at their calendars. “Wasn’t yesterday the equinox?” I hear you asking. “Isn’t
winter finally over?”
In one
sense, yes, that’s absolutely true. In another sense, however, the harshest
days of winter are still on the horizon. “Winter is coming” are the words of
the Starks of Winterfell, one of seven families locked in a war that has swept
through the kingdom of Westeros in HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones. The show’s
fourth season premieres on Sunday, April 6, at 9:00 p.m.
The first
season of Game of Thrones made
its HBO debut on April 17, 2011. It quickly won acclaim from viewers and
critics alike. The first episode (itself titled “Winter Is Coming”) scored 2.2
million viewers, and that number grew to over three million before the season
was over. It was nominated for thirteen Emmy Awards, winning two of them,
including Best Supporting Actor for Peter Dinklage, who plays Tyrion Lannister,
better known as “The Imp.”
Upon seeing
the numbers for the first season’s premiere episode, HBO executives immediately
renewed Game of Thrones for a second
season, which began on April 1, 2012. That season built upon the critical
and commercial success of the first, growing to over four million viewers for
the season finale and garnering another eleven Emmy nominations and six wins.
The third
season grew to even more notable heights, averaging more than five million
viewers for its ten episodes, plus sixteen Emmy nominations and two wins. The
ninth episode, titled “The Rains of Castamere,” featured the Red Wedding, one
of the most shocking scenes ever shown on television. I won’t give away any
spoilers, but those of you who watch—you know what I mean.
The series,
of course, is based on bestselling author George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy
novels. The first season covers the first book, A
Game of Thrones (originally published in 1996), from which the series
took its name. Likewise, the second season follows the second novel, A
Clash of Kings. The third season, however, only covers roughly half of A
Storm of Swords; the fourth season, reputed to be the darkest yet, will
take on the rest. Two other books in the series have been published: A
Feast for Crows and A
Dance with Dragons. The sixth book will be titled The Winds of Winter; no release date has been announced, but it’s
close enough to completion for Martin to have released excerpts onto the
Internet. The series will conclude with the seventh book, A Dream of Spring.
The Game of Thrones series and Song of Ice and Fire books are extremely
popular right now. Make sure you have them all on your shelves so patrons can
catch up on what’s happening in Westeros in advance of the Season 4 premiere.
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