@inbook{1c466bcb33964a8180a57bae2bca8fe5,
title = "No shot in the dark: developing the Pink Panther franchise",
abstract = "This essay examines the origins and development of the Pink Panther franchise. A film series, an animated character, a host of related merchandise, an iconic soundtrack, a household name – it might have begun as little more than the concept for a crime caper, but within a few years it had transcended generic and filmic boundaries to become a multimedia, pop-culture juggernaut. Drawing on a range of trade and mainstream press reports – as well as draft scripts and associated visual texts – I explore various contributors{\textquoteright} roles in shaping and reshaping the meanings associated with both Peter Sellers{\textquoteright} iconic detective role, Inspector Jacques Clouseau, and the animated Panther whose likeness would appear across so many different media. Situating the franchise within a broader socio-cultural context, and within debates on 1960s and 1970s cinema in general and United Artists in particular, I offer analysis of the executive and creative decisions that underpinned its success in the US and globally. ",
author = "Oliver Gruner",
year = "2020",
month = feb,
day = "12",
language = "English",
isbn = "9780367179007",
series = "The Routledge Hollywood Centenary Series",
publisher = "Routledge",
pages = "151--168",
editor = "Peter Kramer and Gary Needham and Yannis Tzioumakis and Tino Balio",
booktitle = "United Artists",
address = "United States",
}