Recently throughout the years, movie studios, even though there have been movies like Barbie and Oppenheimer that have scaled the box office compared to the trend, have been developing more and more sequels for previous works. Sequels are movies that ride upon the lore already built in its previous successor and dive deeper into that creation to get the audience more invested; otherwise, it could unfortunately be used as a trick for more profit because of the popularity of the original film. However, because of the recent chunk of sequels and the money making ability, could this be the new trend?
In 2023, over 300 movies were released to the public, 90 being specifically for streaming services. 32 of those movies may have been sequels, but 13 of those movies made it to the top 20 highest grossing 2023 movies, despite the popular “Barb-enheimer” duo being top three.
Some of these movies that have scaled the box office include:
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ($845.6 million)
- Fast X ($704.9 million)
- Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse ($690.6 million)
- Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 ($567.5 million)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantamania ($476.1 million)
- John Wick: Chapter 4 ($440.2 million)
Other sequels for previous movies were also released the same year like The Nun II, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and Creed III that were also top notch sellers. Meanwhile, movies like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and The Marvels and Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget weren’t received very well, yet still made a profit.
But the sequel train doesn’t end there. We were already given more than 10 sequels for 2024, some already being given trailers.
- Kung Fu Panda 4
- Inside Out 2
- Deadpool and Wolverine
- Despicable Me 4
- Kong x Godzilla: The New Empire
- Moana 2
- Dune Part 2
Meanwhile, there have been sequels coming out in 2024 that are announced, but no trailer has been released. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey II was announced in 2022, despite the horrifically terrible reviews on release the previous year and only a year after said “original”, and Gladiator 2 was announced in 2018, the announcement being 18 years after the first installment and the release being 22 years.
There hasn’t been any other sequel announced at this point, but judging by the pattern of 2023, it is likely this year will be jam packed with brand new installments of fan-favorite films. Is it going to be an ongoing trend, especially with the new invention of Requels? In years prior, yes, it is very likely original movies will be a struggle to find, and soon will be the rise of sequels, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. Anyone else still waiting for Jumanji 4?
