In a clever piece of marketing speak, Universal’s Craig Kornblau explains that the multitude of home video spin-offs, animated DTV titles and so-called “cheapquells” actually do have a purpose other than creating a way for a studio to make a quick buck. “What this whole DVD business is about is offering consumers more of the franchises that they have fallen in love with,” says Kornblau, who has just issued animated prequels for the Van Helsing and Chronicles Of Riddick features in theaters this summer. The flip-side is, of course, when a franchise loses money: the planned NBC series that was to extend Van Helsing‘s world has been scrapped because of the $160 million movie’s lacklustre box office showings. So much for giving fans more, if a series fails, so perhaps it is a money exercise after all (not that they’d want you to know that)? Thanks to ‘Lemon Swan’ for the link to the original article.