England beat New Zealand in the final of the men’s Cricket World Cup yesterday. It happened in the most dramatic fashion imaginable and, unlike the rest of the tournament, millions were able to view the final on free TV. So, does this herald a bright new era of interest in cricket in the country where it began?

I read last week that if you were to watch all 22 of the Marvel “Infinity Saga” film franchise, it would take you 59 hours, which would take a huge amount of endurance and even more popcorn (neuroscientists: surely this is a study waiting to happen?) But it hasn’t gone unnoticed in recent years that Hollywood seems to have become addicted to franchise movies: prequels, sequels, midquels and paraquels abound (those last two, by the way, mean – respectively – movies that come in the middle of a series and movies where the action is taking place simultaneously to another film, which boggles my mind just to consider it).

Of the 100 most successful films since 2001, only six are standalone movies. All the rest are either part of a series or soon will be, as soon as the sequels to movies such as Avatar and Frozen are completed. Could this reflect unstable economic times, forcing nervous Hollywood bean counters to rely on proven success stories? Or is it we, the audience, who take refuge from an uncertain world in familiar characters and storylines?

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