“The studios have grown their slates into a diet of pure tentpoles, with almost nothing in between . . . So the question is, with all these tentpoles, franchises, reboots and sequels, is there still room for movies in the movie business?” – Producer Lynda Obst, “Sleepless in Hollywood”

The top 10 domestic releases in 2024, according to boxofficemojo, are sequels, remakes and reboots. With a built-in fan base, familiar characters, and the expansion of existing merchandising rights to make up for the loss of DVDs – what’s to lose? In his book “You Are What You Watch,” author Walt Hickey says, “66% of sequels make back their budgets and 29% double them domestically, with 92% of the sequel films earning their budget back globally. So, betting on a sequel has three times the odds of making back the budget Stateside.”

Creative risk-taking by the studios is at a nadir after the writers’ and actors’ strike of last year. Hollywood is a “vanity industry in structural decline” according to Scott Galloway, professor of marketing at NYU on the podcast On the Town. The strikes (which got marginal contract gains for labor) were an excuse to drastically cut production by the studios which, in an uncertain economic and political climate, are more risk-averse than ever. Last year’s original blockbusters Barbie and Oppenheimer caught lightning in a bottle, unlikely to be replicated any time soon.

“I think Hollywood is in love with sequels. If it’s successful once, just jazz it up and shoot it out there again. I think that’s unfortunate.” – Paul Newman

The top film on the domestic 2024 charts is Inside Out 2 which made $687 million domestically ($1.7 billion worldwide). Deadpool and Wolverine, bucking the Marvel slump, appealed to moviegoers to the tune of $636 million ($1.3 billion worldwide), no doubt helped by the pairing of two hugely popular stars in Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, who did untiring publicity for their movie.

Following these on the domestic chart’s top 10 are, in order: Despicable Me 4, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Dune Part Two, Twisters, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Kung Fu Panda 4, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes — all sequels or remakes.

And there were more. Other sequels released this year include A Quiet Place: Day One, Venom: The Last Dance, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Alien: Romulus, Smile 2, and Terrifier 3.  But  sometimes sequels fail. The ones that crashed and burned the loudest were Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga; Joker: Folie a Deux, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

“Sequels are not done for the audience or cinema or the filmmakers. It’s for the distributor. The film becomes a brand.” – Francis Ford Coppola

This year also saw The Fall Guy (not strictly a remake, but based on established material) which underperformed; Mean Girls, a musical that was not marketed as one, and Road House, released on Prime Video.

There are more sequels to come in the last six weeks of the year: Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2, with Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington, opens on Nov. 22. Moana 2 launches Nov. 27. Mufasa: The Lion King, directed by Barry Jenkins, releases Dec. 20, and Nosferatu from director Robert Eggers on Dec. 25.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has been offered a role in a sequel to The Terminator. In this one, he travels back in time and kills the person who suggested he run for Governor. – Conan O’Brien