What is meant by Franchise in this context?

Hi,

Take a look at the following:

Pixar has Toy Story 3 on track for a 2010 release. Details about the third film in the beloved CG-animated franchise are, of course, being kept tightly under wraps.

I could not understand the meaning of franchise in the context .. even though I could find the meaning in the dictionary, I still don't understand its meaning in this context.

When used like this about movies, it refers to a company (eg Pixar) having the right to produce a series of movies on the same theme and usually with the same characters, eg the Batman movies, the Rocky movies, the Shrek movies, the Spiderman movies, the StarWars movies. These can all be termed 'franchises'.

Best wishes, Clive

Hi,

There have been several 'Rocky' movies. Several were rather poor, so many movie-goers lost interest in the franchise. However, the recent one, 'Rocky Balboa', was unexpectedly good.

Clive