Unless you’ve been living under a giant rock, you probably know at least one movie sequel/franchise revitalization that has come out in the past couple of years. Beetlejuice 2 and Kung Fu Panda 4 came out in theaters for 2024. Now corporations are creating double combos, such as the live action sequel to the Lion King (2019) announced by Disney to be in development. During the 2010s and 2020s, there have been numerous franchise sequels of our childhood favorites, with corporations showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. If it’s not a sequel, it’s a prequel. If it’s not a prequel, it’s a remake. And if it’s not a remake, it’s an adaptation off an existing IP. Ever wonder why these types of movies happen to the be the ones corporations in Hollywood greenlight for release? Has Hollywood run out of ideas?
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The answer is simple: Money.
Just kidding. There are a lot of more factors that come into play.
The original existing versions have already established an audience, which allows assessing the demographics of profit to be more viable. There isn’t as much of a risk to create it in the first place compared to a completely new movie from scratch because of that. In fact, they’ve been shown to make the most money. In a table created by business analyst Shannon Cuthrell in the article “Entertainment’s Nostalgia Addiction,” the top 10 highest grossing films of 2022 were Top Gun: Maverick, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Avatar: The Way of Water, Jurassic World Dominion, Minions: The Rise of Gru, The Batman, Thor: Love and Thunder, Spiderman: No Way Home, and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The only movie listed to not be a sequel is The Batman, which is already based off a very popular IP. Granted, most of these movies aren’t generally considered to be the most critically acclaimed movies of that year. Thor: Love and Thunder, for example, was heavily criticized for its prioritization of humor over substance, poor writing and CGI, as well as general character assassination. However, they did make the most profit. And that’s what matters most to these companies.
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Nostalgia is also a very significant factor. Visual media including movies and tv shows are easily able to trigger these nostalgic feelings and past experiences, which results in the person feeling sentimental and therapeutic with their current circumstances. The average human being is often discontent with the state of present. They then have two options: Yearn for the past or for the future. Obviously, the past is much easier to profit off of as it’s already happened. Due to a film’s connection to an already established franchise, the sequel/prequel/reboot/remake has already gotten half the work done in terms of marketing. This business model capitalizes off repetition. If something worked the first time, why wouldn’t you do it again?
Film itself was originally intended to be a medium for adaptation of pre-existing properties. It’s just that right now, they’re noticeably more prominent than ever before. When handled well, they can not only tell a good story, but elevate the franchise as a whole. Films such as The Godfather Part II (1974) and more recent ones such as Spiderman: Across the SpiderVerse (2023), have received a lot of praise from critics and general audiences alike.
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