A life-size model of Disney’s official new Marvel Universe movie Deadpool & Wolverine will be seen in Shanghai, China on July 26, 2024.
Photo | Future Publishing | Getty Images
Hollywood’s franchise craze is just beginning.
The 2024 box office will be flooded with sequels, prequels, and remakes, with this year’s top 10 titles all coming from existing intellectual properties. This trend will continue and grow in 2025.
The industry’s top studios are returning to familiar characters and settings to drive movie ticket sales, and while this strategy isn’t new, it appears to be growing by leaps and bounds.
Looking at the current 2025 calendar, 50% to 70% of the films from the six major studios – universal, disney, warner bros, paramount, sony and lions gate — Relates to existing IP. Of course, the 2025 schedule isn’t completely set in stone, and the studio could add more non-franchise titles over the coming months and next year.
“There’s a sense in the studios that it’s the known products that will attract most viewers,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
Top 10 domestic movie releases in 2024 (currently)
Only two of the top 20 domestic box office hits in 2024 are considered original content: Paramount’s “IF” and Neon’s “Longlegs.”
The rest are primarily sequels to blockbusters, new or old, or related to popular books (Sony’s “It Ends With Us”) or TV shows (Universal’s “The Fall Guy”) things, or based on popular historical figures (Paramount’s “”). Bob Marley: One Love”).
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” sign in Times Square at night on September 4, 2024 in New York City.
Craig T. Fruchtman | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Even before Hollywood was disrupted by the pandemic and the meteoric rise of streaming content, the domestic box office relied heavily on franchise titles. For Universal, Warner Bros., Sony, Lionsgate, Paramount, and 20th Century Fox (which had not yet merged with Disney), franchise films accounted for 33% to 62% of total releases in 2019. Disney was the only outlier, with nine films. Of the 10 movies, they are from established IPs.
But as consumers become more discerning about where and what they spend their disposable income on, studios are investing in splashy sequels, prequels and remakes.
This is particularly noticeable in the animation field, with Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Head 2” and Universal’s “Despicable Me 4” and “Kung Fu Panda 4” entering the market in 2024.
Dergarabedian said, “Family audiences who use budget-minded calculations when choosing whether to purchase a movie ticket want to have the comfort of a familiar movie on their side.” said. “This trend seems to be permeating across all age groups, especially since adult viewers are also tapping into this rationale.”
Let’s look at the last quarter of this year.
Remaining blockbuster series releases in 2024
October
“Joker: Folie à Deux” (October 4), “Smile 2” (October 18), “Venom: The Last Dance” (October 25)
november
“Gladiator 2” (11/22) “Wicked: Part 1” (11/22) “Moana 2” (11/27)
december
“Kraven the Hunter” (12/13) “The Lord of the Rings: Rohirrim War” (12/13) “Mufasa: The Lion King” (12/20) “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” (12/20) )
“Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Inside Head 2” and “Despicable Me 4,” along with some blockbuster hits, according to comScore. Domestic box office revenue reached $6.3 billion in the first nine months. This contributed to an increase in box office revenue.
That’s down 11.3% from a year ago and 25% behind pre-pandemic levels, but box office revenue still beat analysts’ expectations. The 2023 writers’ and actors’ strike stalled production, with many titles postponed to later dates on the calendar, many to 2025, and a sparse schedule for 2024.
“2025 will once again be a banner year for the IP and nostalgia-driven state of Hollywood, but that’s not necessarily a dirty word,” said Sean Robbins, founder and owner of Box Office Theory. “Some of the most well-received box office hits in recent memory have had sequels and films based on existing brands, and there is still a wide variety of original content.”
Franchise and IP-based movies in 2025 (so far)
universal
“The Wolfman” (January 17th) “Dogman” (January 31st) “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” (February 14th) “How to Train Your Dragon” (June 13th) “ “Megan 2.0” (June 27) “Jurassic World: Rebirth” (July 2) “Bad Guys 2” (August 1) “Nobody 2” (August 15) “Downton Abbey” sequel ( September 12) “Gabby’s Dollhouse” (September 26) “Black Telephone 2” (October 17) “Wicked: Part II” (November 21) “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” (12 5th of the month)
disney
“Captain America: Brave New World” (February 11th) “Snow White” (March 21st) “Thunderbolts” (May 2nd) “Fantastic Four: First Steps” (July 25th) Sun) “Tron: Ares” (October 10) “Zootopia 2” (11/26) “Avatar: Fire and Ash” (12/19)
sony
“Paddington in Peru” (January 17) “The Best Kid” (May 30) “28 Years Later” (June 20) Untitled Spider-Man Universe Movie (June 27) “Last Summer “I Know What You Did” Sequel (July 18th) ) “Insidious” Sequel (8/29)
lions gate
“Den of Thieves: Pantera” (January 10) “Michael” (April 18) “Ballerina” (John Wick) (June 6) “Dirty Dancing” sequel (Summer 2025) “Saw XI” ” (September 26) “Now” You See Me 3” (November 14)
Warner Brothers*
“Minecraft” (April 4) “Superman: Legacy” (July 11) “The Conjuring: The Last Rites” (September 5) “Mortal Kombat 2” (October 24) “The Bride” !
paramount
“The Smurfs” (February 14), “Mission Impossible 8” (May 23), “The Naked Gun” (July 18), “Spongebob Squarepants” (December 19)
* Warner Bros. has six untitled “event” movies on its calendar. It is unclear at this time whether they are tied to a franchise or IP.
Wall Street doesn’t expect domestic ticket sales to exceed $10 billion until 2026, although there will be a full movie slate in 2024 and 2025. The domestic box office hasn’t reached that mark since 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, it raised just over $9 billion.
The 2025 movie calendar concludes with the third Avatar movie in mid-December, meaning ticket sales will continue into 2026. The summer will then kick off with an Avengers team-up movie, followed by the Star Wars movie “The Mandalorian” on Memorial Day weekend. In December 2026, another Star Wars movie is scheduled to cap off a big year for Disney.
This includes a second Super Mario Bros. movie, a fifth Toy Story, a fifth Shrek, another Hunger Games movie, a Supergirl movie, another Matt Reeves Batman movie, and Possibly adding a third “Dune” release. And 2026 is on track for an incredible box office hit.
And even though Hollywood’s biggest studios rely on familiar titles to bring audiences back to theaters, many non-franchise titles have figured prominently at the box office in recent years.
“Next year will bring new original movies from filmmakers like Jordan Peele, Paul Thomas Anderson, J.J. It could stand out in the movie,” Robbins said.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.