In early August 2024, during Disney’s D23 expo, the media giant announced a number of movies coming out in the next few years. All these movies had a common denominator; they were either sequels or remakes of originals. This continues a trend that Hollywood has followed for the past decade or so. Sequels have been prominent in the film industry for a while, yet have risen in popularity over the past few years. In fact, the top 10 performing movies in 2024 have all been sequels. With this in mind, the top-performing movie in 2024, so far, has been Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2”, grossing $1.6 billion dollars when it was released in mid-June. The original was released nine years prior, in 2015 making $858.8 million dollars.
Though this seems like a large gap in time, nine years isn’t even the largest gap between a first and a second movie. As a matter of fact, the “Top Gun” movies are one of the biggest culprits of distance in time between films. “Top Gun: Maverick” was released 36 years after the first one in 1986, and was the second-highest box office movie of that year, racking in $1.4 billion dollars, and being called the “movie of the summer.” Just two years after “Maverick” was released in theaters, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”, the second installment of Tim Burton’s, “Beetlejuice”, was also released 36 years later. Most of the cast, including its leading stars Micheal Keaton and Winona Ryder, returned almost four decades later for the sequel, which currently is seated in seventh for most money grossed in 2024. A difference of 36 years separates both franchises’ first and second movies, which some think is very purposeful.
Hollywood studios are banking on nostalgia from fans in order to attract them, which movie watchers don’t always want. Yes, these movies give fans nostalgia for seeing their favorite characters return, but at a certain point, it gets out of hand. It appears that once a major studio realizes that a movie did well, they will order another one, knowing perfectly well the possibility of an enormous profit. Executives know that fans will flock to the theaters to watch the new installment based on past history
Studios banking on nostalgia has been prominent in the past year with Illumination’s “Despicable Me 4.” The animated film franchise that was released back in 2010, has had a total of six movies, including the popular spin-off “Minions.” The spin-off franchise spawned a huge internet fandom after the release of “Minions: Rise of Gru,” in 2022. “Rise of Gru” was the sequel to the 2015 movie, “Minions.” In 2022, hundreds of people dressed up like the famous yellow characters and descended into the theaters. This is exactly what Illumination was banking on when “Despicable Me 4” came out. Though the internet hype that “Rise of Gru” brought did not transition to the film, “Despicable Me 4,” the movie still made $968 million dollars and is sitting at third in the box office.
Even as the year winds down, multiple studios are still dropping sequels. After 20 years, the Oscar’s Best Picture-winning movie, “Gladiator” is getting a sequel that for many leaves questions as to why another one. Ridley Scott, who directed the first “Gladiator,” returns to follow the story of Lucius, the son of Maximus, who must go to the Colosseum after the Romans conquered his home. Lucius looks to the past in order to bring glory to the people of Rome like his father once did. Scott, and the star of the film, Paul Mescal, told Yahoo News.UK, that a third movie is already in the works after “Gladiator II” did well in theaters. Currently, “Gladiator II” has raked in $368 million so far during its showings.
With the releases of “Moana 2,” and “Wicked”, the top 15 movies of the year are all spin-offs or sequels. Arden Addeo ‘25, who runs BHS’ Film and Theater Club says, “I feel like the motivation to make sequels is often purely financial rather than actually expanding the narrative.” Legendary director, Francis Ford Coppola, told the Washington Post, “[I]’m the jerk that started numbers on movies,” when talking about making “The Godfather Part II.” Coppola said Paramount Pictures pressured him to make a sequel to the famed movie, “The Godfather.” Coppola admitting that Paramount pressed him, shows that the studio saw an opportunity to make more money, which correlates with what Addeo said.
As mentioned before at their bi-annual expo, D23, Disney announced new movies that were mostly sequels. Eye-popping ones were fan favorites such as “Toy Story 5,” “Frozen 3,” “Incredibles 3,” and “Zoopotia 2,” just to name a few. The company also announced that movies that are part of larger franchises such as “The Mandalorian and Grogu” movie, which is a continuation of the hit Disney Plus show, “The Mandalorian.”
There is no doubt that audiences are drawn to theaters to watch the next installment of thier beloved films. Research has proven that sequels make just as much money, if not more, than the first movie and original movie ideas. With this known idea, people will continue to flock to theaters, which will help profit the studios, who will then make more sequels and spin-offs for years to come.
