Why sequels and remakes have overtaken theaters

Hollywood keeps churning out movies that, similar to marathon runners, have a colon and/or number attached. The latest example being Despicable Me 4, which hit theaters this past five-day weekend and led the US box office with $123 million in ticket sales.

A familiar… scene: Since 2020, 16 of the 20 highest-grossing releases have been sequels, prequels, or reboots.

• This doesn’t include Inside Out 2, which came out three weeks ago – and at $1.2 billion would already place just outside the top-five highest-grossing films of the past three-and-a-half years.

Why does Hollywood greenlight so many remakes? ROI is a major focus when movie budgets routinely surpass $200 million before marketing, and the moneybags behind the flicks showing on big screens view franchises as a more solid investment given there’s already a pre-built audience attached (they’re mostly right).

Not everyone is stoked about this filmmaking approach. According to a March 2024 survey from freemium streamer Tubi and The Harris Poll, 74% of Gen Z and millennials – the most-frequent moviegoers – prefer original films to remakes. This mismatch could be contributing to why the US box office has struggled to match its pre-pandemic numbers.

🔁 Still to come: A reboot of Twisters with Glen Powell (later this month), a new Alien (August), a new Beetlejuice (September), another Joker (October), and another Gladiator (November).