Salkowitz looks at the state of Hollywood movie franchises as the summer tentpole season kicks off.

This week’s home entertainment releases are slim,but there are a few items of real interest including the latest season of the best police procedural on American TV, a gritty medieval historical drama that should appeal to fans of Game of Thrones , new editions of two anime classics that have been selling for big bucks online, plus a reduced price edition of the complete Beauty and Beast live-action TV series.

Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales didn’t measure up to box office analysts' expectations ($80-85 million), but it did earn $62 million from Friday through Sunday, and easily topped a weak Memorial Day weekend that was 15% below the same frame last year.

Bennett considers the role of superheroes in American society, how merchandising is affecting modern moviemaking, and how merchandising can influence entertainment.

IDW Games and Twentieth Century Fox have come together to produce a board game based on the original Planet of the Apes movie.

These are estimates of the sales on comic books by Diamond U.S. to comic specialty stores during March 2017.

These are estimates of the sales on graphic novels by Diamond U.S. to comic specialty stores during March 2017.

Two new Transformers: The Last Knight videos were released this weekend, with reveals of some new footage not previously seen.

IDW and Hasbro are teaming up on a brand new comic series inspired by Hasbro’s classic murder mystery game Clue .

These are estimates of the sales on comic books by Diamond U.S. to comic specialty stores during February 2017.