Is Transformers worthy of a franchise?

Last week I blogged about the premiere of the long-awaited Transformers movie and how Susan Linn, a psychologist who co-founded the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, said the movie was improperly marketed towards children.

While Ms. Lind's complaint fell on deaf ears, Transformers rocked the box-office this week with $67.6M in the box office in its first weekend and $152.5M worldwide since its opening one-week ago today – beating the original Spider-Man with the biggest first-week revenues for a non-sequel.

The Wall Street Journal believes the Transformers debut, which research firm Merriman Curhan Ford & Co said was nearly twice as strong as the studio's expectations; has a strong chance of hitting $300M in domestic ticket sales.

Could this summer hit become a franchise?

Viacom, Inc. (NYSE: VIA)'s Paramount has been without a new franchise in nearly a decade. With key cast members Shia LaBeouf and others already optioned for another movie, will Transformers be their first? The answer has to be yes: Transformers 2 is slated for 2009, according to IMDB.com. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura is already in talks with director Michael Bay, who kept the movie down to a $150M price-tag, half the cost of Pirates and Spider-Man sequels.

Paramount has gone without a franchise for ten years and now has the opportunity to have three by 2008. The other potentials: The Spiderwick Chronicles, directed by Mark Waters, and a new version of Star Trek directed by J.J. Abrams, although that's already an established brand name. Sadly, neither of these directors compares to Michael Bay and his re-creation of the Transformers, but the potential for a franchise is there.

While Transformers fans will wait in agony over the next two years for a sequel, Viacom's Paramount looks to be sitting pretty with dreams of being in franchise heaven. Keep an eye on the big screen to find out if Paramount's dreams come ever true.