Franchises are both the lifeblood and the bane of the Hollywood industry. When everything works, a series can hold audiences’ interest for years, if not decades: James Bond, Batman, Star Wars, Mission: Impossible, Superman. But eventually, fatigue sets in and the complaints begin (like, where’s the originality?).
The summer box office of 2024 was a rare exception. For the first time in recent memory, the word “franchise” was no longer considered a negative, says a studio executive. These major brands helped boost domestic grosses to more than $5.4 billion through the weekend of Sept. 6-8, still down 13% from the same period a year earlier but beating expectations for this point in 2024.
The recovery began after a difficult month of May, when The Fall Guya potential new franchise, struggled at the box office, followed by the huge success of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga ($172 million globally), which followed the series’ triumphant relaunch with Mad Max: Fury Road ($380 million) in 2015. Another May hit was Kingdom of the Planet of the Apesone of the many franchises inherited by Disney after its acquisition of Fox in 2019.
Apes has stood the test of the post-merger with Disney, grossing nearly $400 million globally, enough to realize director Wes Ball’s dream of a new trilogy. Even Alien: Romulusreleased in August, was a success, grossing over $300 million globally.
The real recovery began in June with the success of Bad Boys: Ride or Die of Sony, and in mid-June Inside Out 2 put Pixar back on top with a record-breaking opening, becoming the highest-grossing animated film ever.
Franchises dominated the summer of 2024, proving that, if managed well, they can still attract and amaze audiences.
“Nearly every studio has seen multiple summer releases exceed box office expectations across multiple genres and age groups,” says Comscore box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian, “Disney is leading the way with Inside Out 2, Deadpool & Wolverine e Alien Romulus. Universal has had success with Despicable Me 4 e Twisters. Paramount has achieved great results with A Quiet Place: Day One and recovered from an uncertain opening weekend with IFwhich has surpassed $100 million. Sony closed the summer with hits such as Bad Boys Ride or Diewhich nearly hit $200 million domestically, and the late summer hit It Ends with Us”.
Speaking of Deadpool & Wolverine from Marvel Studios, has been a boon for Kevin Feige’s studio. The film is the second-biggest of the year with over $1.287 billion in grosses and the best of the saga in terms of performance. In just a few months, Disney, the Hollywood studio most designed to live on franchises, has regained its dominance over its rivals after losing the top spot to Universal last year. Its films accounted for $1.5 billion at the summer domestic box office, or 42% of the revenue. Disney insiders are particularly pleased with titles like Apes e Aliensas they are inherited properties from 20th Century Fox and have been difficult to relaunch compared to brands like Deadpool.
Warner Bros. has launched a rare September blockbuster with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice by Tim Burton, which grossed $147 million globally after its September 6 release. The next test for the studio will be Joker: Madness for Twoout October 4 and projected to open at $70 million. It has big shoes to fill, as the Joker Todd Phillips’ film grossed $1.07 billion globally in 2019.
An analysis of franchises that are underused, overexposed or ready to return to theaters:
1. Star Trek
Since 2016 with Star Trek Beyond ($343.5 million globally), Paramount has developed at least four new ideas but none have come to fruition. Why not mitigate the risk and focus on the drama, like the Wrath of Khan from 1982?
Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Terminator”. @Courtesy Everett Collection
2. Terminator
Not even the return of James Cameron and Linda Hamilton saved Dark Fate in 2019. However, the new anime on Netflix suggests that a new movie could work, if something new is introduced.
3. Reign of Fire
The 2002 film starring Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey was a flop, but created a cult following. Bring back the actors and it will be The Last of Us that meets Game of Thrones in this post-apocalyptic tale with dragons.
4. Pirates of the Caribbean
The franchise was already in decline before Dead Men Tell No Tales in 2017. This should be remade from scratch, but audiences like sea adventures.
5. Conan the Barbarian
Arnold Schwarzenegger has long talked about making a movie with an older Conan. It could be the Logan of the saga?”
6. Spawn
Expiring your sins and fighting through hell to get to your loved one are ever-present concepts. The “R”-rated Blumhouse film has been in development since 2017. What’s holding it all back?!
7. Lethal Weapon
Man, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are really, as Roger Murtaugh says, “too old for this bullshit.” Don’t let them have kids and don’t recast them. Instead, create a new action cop franchise, OK?
‘Halloween’ Franchise
8. Halloween
An unstoppable, masked killer is a primeval modern fear. Kudos to the director of the recent trilogy, David Gordon Green, for making Michael Myers scary again. But after nearly 50 years (the first film came out in 1978), isn’t it time for something new?
“Matrix”. @Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection
9. The Matrix
The original film was one of the most influential blockbusters of all time. It has since had diminishing returns, and even the 2021 sequel, Resurrectionswhich reunited the original cast, did not resonate. Please do not retcon this franchise again.
10. The Crow
Listen up, copyright holders. The Crow. You’ve tried and tried for years with sequels and direct-to-home movies and this new version. It’s time to clip the wings of this project.
This content was entirely crafted by Human Nature. THR Roma