A life-size mannequin of the brand new Marvel Universe film “Deadpool & Wolverine” licensed by Disney is seen in Shanghai, China, on July 26, 2024.
Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Photos
Hollywood’s franchise frenzy is just simply starting.
The 2024 field workplace has been inundated with sequels, prequels and remakes, with the highest 10 titles of the 12 months all coming from current mental property. That pattern will proceed, and develop, in 2025.
The trade’s high studios are returning to acquainted characters and settings to drive film ticket gross sales, a method that’s hardly new, however appears to be rising exponentially.
Trying on the present 2025 calendar, between 50% and 70% of the films from the six main studios — Common, Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount, Sony and Lionsgate — might be associated to current IP. In fact, the 2025 slate shouldn’t be completely set in stone and studios might add extra non-franchise titles within the coming months and into subsequent 12 months.
“There’s been a recognition by studios that the identified commodities are what most audiences gravitate towards,” mentioned Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
Prime 10 home movie releases of 2024 (up to now)
- “Inside Out 2” — $652.9 million
- “Deadpool & Wolverine” — $631.3 million
- “Despicable Me 4” — $360.7 million
- “Dune: Half Two” — $282.1 million
- “Twisters” — $267.5 million
- “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” — $250.3 million
- “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” — $196.3 million
- “Kung Fu Panda 4” — $193.59 million
- “Dangerous Boys: Trip or Die” — $193.57 million
- “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” — $171.1 million
Of the highest 20 highest-grossing home releases of 2024, solely two are thought-about authentic content material — Paramount’s “IF” and Neon’s “Longlegs.”
The remaining are predominately sequels to main blockbuster options, new and outdated, or tied to a well-liked e book (Sony’s “It Ends With Us”), tv present (Common’s “The Fall Man”) or primarily based on a well-liked historic determine (Paramount’s “Bob Marley: One Love”).
A “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” billboard is seen at night time in Occasions Sq. on September 04, 2024 in New York Metropolis.
Craig T Fruchtman | Getty Photos Leisure | Getty Photos
Even earlier than Hollywood was disrupted by the pandemic and the meteoric rise of streaming content material, the home field workplace was closely reliant on franchise titles. For Common, Warner Bros., Sony, Lionsgate, Paramount and twentieth Century Fox (which had not but merged with Disney), franchise movies accounted for between 33% and 62% of complete releases in 2019. Disney was the one outlier, with 9 of its 10 movies coming from established IP.
Nevertheless, as customers have gotten much more discerning about the place and what they’re spending their disposable earnings, studios have invested in flashy sequels, prequels and remakes.
This has turn into significantly obvious within the animation area, with 2024 entrants like Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” in addition to Common’s “Despicable Me 4” and “Kung Fu Panda 4.”
“Household audiences who make the most of a budget-driven calculus when selecting whether or not or to not purchase a film ticket need the comfortability of the acquainted on their aspect,” Dergarabedian mentioned. “Notably, this pattern appears to be creeping into all age demographics as grownup audiences are additionally utilizing this rationale.”
Simply take a look at the final quarter of the 12 months:
Remaining blockbuster franchise releases of 2024
October
- “Joker: Folie à Deux” (Oct. 4)
- “Smile 2” (Oct. 18)
- “Venom: The Final Dance” (Oct. 25)
November
- “Gladiator 2” (Nov. 22)
- “Depraved: Half One” (Nov. 22)
- “Moana 2” (Nov. 27)
December
- “Kraven the Hunter” (Dec. 13)
- “The Lord of the Rings: The Warfare of the Rohirrim” (Dec. 13)
- “Mufasa: The Lion King” (Dec. 20)
- “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” (Dec. 20)
These sorts of titles have pushed the home field workplace to $6.3 billion by way of the primary 9 months of the 12 months, in keeping with Comscore, as “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Inside Out 2” and “Despicable Me 4” — plus some breakout hits — have helped buoy the field workplace.
Whereas that is a 11.3% drop from final 12 months and lags 25% behind pre-pandemic ranges, the haul is best than field workplace analysts had anticipated. The writers and actors strikes of 2023 stalled manufacturing and pushed a lot of titles to later dates on the calendar, a lot of them to 2025, leaving the 2024 slate sparse.
“2025 will once more be emblematic of the IP-and-nostalgia-driven establishment for Hollywood, however these aren’t essentially soiled phrases,” mentioned Shawn Robbins, founder and proprietor of Field Workplace Principle. “A few of the most well-received field workplace hits in latest reminiscence have been sequels or movies primarily based on current manufacturers and there may be nonetheless a wide range of authentic content material on the market.”
Franchise and IP-based movies in 2025 (up to now)
Common
- “Wolf Man” (Jan. 17)
- “Canine Man” (Jan. 31)
- “Bridget Jones: Mad Concerning the Boy” (Feb. 14)
- “The right way to Practice Your Dragon” (June 13)
- “MEGAN 2.0” (June 27)
- “Jurassic World: Rebirth” (July 2)
- “The Dangerous Guys 2” (Aug. 1)
- “No person 2” (Aug. 15)
- “Downton Abbey” sequel (Sept. 12)
- “Gabby’s Dollhouse” (Sept. 26)
- “The Black Telephone 2” (Oct. 17)
- “Depraved: Half II” (Nov. 21)
- “5 Nights at Freddy’s 2” (Dec. 5)
Disney
- “Captain America: Courageous New World” (Feb. 11)
- “Snow White” (March 21)
- “Thunderbolts*” (Could 2)
- “Improbable 4: First Steps” (July 25)
- “Tron: Ares” (Oct. 10)
- “Zootopia 2” (Nov. 26)
- “Avatar: Hearth and Ash” (Dec. 19)
Sony
- “Paddington in Peru” (Jan. 17)
- “Karate Child” (Could 30)
- “28 Years Later” (June 20)
- Untitled Spider-Man Universe movie (June 27)
- “I Know What You Did Final Summer season” sequel (July 18)
- “Insidious” sequel (Aug. 29)
Lionsgate
- “Den of Thieves: Pantera” (Jan. 10)
- “Michael” (April 18)
- “Ballerina” (John Wick) (June 6)
- “Soiled Dancing” sequel (Summer season 2025)
- “Noticed XI” (Sept. 26)
- “Now You See Me 3” (Nov. 14)
Warner Bros.*
- “Minecraft” (April 4)
- “Superman: Legacy” (July 11)
- “The Conjuring: Final Rites” (Sept. 5)
- “Mortal Kombat 2” (Oct. 24)
- “The Bride!”
Paramount
- “The Smurfs Film” (Feb. 14)
- “Mission Unattainable 8” (Could 23)
- “Bare Gun” film (July 18)
- “SpongeBob Film: Seek for SquarePants” (Dec. 19)
* Warner Bros. has six untitled “occasion” movies on its calendar. It’s unclear if these are tied to franchises or IP right now.
Whereas 2024 and 2025 boast franchise-rich film slates, Wall Road would not anticipate ticket gross sales to high $10 billion domestically till 2026. The home field workplace has not hit that benchmark since 2019, earlier than the Covid pandemic. Final 12 months, it raked in simply over $9 billion.
The 2025 film calendar wraps up with a 3rd Avatar movie in mid-December, which means ticket gross sales will bleed into 2026. Then that summer season begins with an Avengers team-up movie, adopted by a “Mandalorian” Star Wars film over Memorial Day weekend. One other Star Wars movie will spherical out Disney’s large 12 months in December 2026.
Add in a second “Tremendous Mario Bros. Film,” a fifth “Toy Story,” a fifth “Shrek,” one other Starvation Video games movie, a Supergirl flick, one other Batman movie from Matt Reeves and the possible launch of a 3rd “Dune” movie and 2026 is on observe for a staggering field workplace haul.
And, whilst Hollywood’s greatest studios lean on acquainted titles to entice audiences again into theaters, a lot of non-franchise options have been standouts on the field workplace lately.
“Subsequent 12 months affords up new authentic movies from filmmakers like Jordan Peele, Paul Thomas Anderson, J.J. Abrams’ Dangerous Robotic manufacturing firm, and Ryan Coogler, which might stand out in between a wide range of franchise movies,” Robbins mentioned.
Disclosure: Comcast is the dad or mum firm of NBCUniversal and CNBC.
