The Problem with Sequels as They Rule the Box-Office Despite Plenty of Better Movies Out There
Sequels Take Over the Box-Office Leaving Original Movies in the Dust
With the exception of Wicked, an adaptation of a Broadway musical, the majority of the top 10 movies of 2024 at the box-office will be sequels but they’re not necessarily better than the original films coming out.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was huge, Deadpool & Wolverine was even bigger. OK the second Joker fizzled and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga under-performed. But, still. Those two aforementioned disappointments from Warner Bros. could have been boosted at the box-office with more test screenings and tweaking. The average big-budget sequel these days is making out pretty well, financially speaking. Even Bad Boys: Ride or Die did excellent business at the box-office, earning $404 million worldwide and $193 million domestically. While it’s not certain that the mediocre Bad Boys: Ride or Die will be one of the biggest movies of 2024 when all the box-office receipts for all the year’s films are tabulated, it proved to have nice legs for a movie that opened against an interesting original movie of about the same quality, The Watchers, which ultimately bombed.
There’s a certain familiarity that audiences seek nowadays to get them through the difficult times and it’s not always a good thing. People seem to be afraid of the new and exciting pictures out there like Young Woman and the Sea and Anora. The critics may like them and even audiences may enjoy them (Young Woman and the Sea was one of Disney’s highest testing films from an audience standpoint) but they won’t pay to see them because they’re not sure what they’re getting into. Audiences are afraid to take risks and the box-office numbers prove that. In the 1990’s, Conclave would have made The Crying Game-type grosses at the box-office thanks to its surprise ending. Not today, though. Conclave only made half of what The Crying Game made over 30 years ago!
Inside Out 2 was a perfectly good time at the movies. Ditto Deadpool & Wolverine but are these the movies that define us as movie audiences? They may represent that we’re not taking the risks with our money to see different types of films. That’s not necessarily the American way or the way of cinema in the past. People would always go out and try the latest films with stars or big name directors. At least for one weekend. These days, the new non-sequel movies rarely even get an opening in the double digits of millions unless it’s a Broadway musical adaptation like Wicked or a The Silence of the Lambs-ripoff like Longlegs. Blake Lively’s It Ends with Us was one time the viewer broke the sequel trend this year and tried something different. Rare but nice. In the mid-2000’s a movie like Sing Sing would have probably broken out much more than it has this year.
While sequels are always welcomed, we need to take more risks as movie-goers. Dune: Part Two is one of the best films of the year and deserves its high grosses. Despicable Me 4 was certainly funny enough. But, Twisters and Moana 2, while good films, aren’t necessarily the best of what Hollywood has to offer. Even if the original movies coming out aren’t as good to general audiences, mainstream viewers need to start taking chances again and putting their money on some original product rather than tired or manipulative sequels. Just to test the waters. Try something new for a change. You may just like it.
Leave your thoughts on the way sequels have been dominating the box-office below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. Readers seeking more movie news can visit our Movie News Page, our Movie News Twitter Page, and our Movie News Facebook Page. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Mobile App, Google News, Feedly, Twitter, Faceboo
Related Articles
