Every of the ten highest-grossing movies of 2024 within the U.S. had been sequels—effectively, aside from Depraved, an adaptation of a Broadway hit based mostly on a guide that takes place in The Wizard of Oz universe. However these had been virtually only a heat up for what’s across the nook.
If familiarity breeds contempt, put together to be indignant on the sheer quantity of sequels in 2025.
Whereas it’s not precisely uncommon for the highest-grossing movies of the 12 months to have numbers of their titles—or colons, adopted by subtitles—final 12 months felt completely different. Barbie and Oppenheimer added some aptitude among the many typical superhero fare, and love or hate left-field hit Sound of Freedom, at the least it wasn’t a sequel. Past the top-grossers, there have been loads of unique comedies with theatrical releases in 2023 like Bottoms, Dicks: The Musical, Pleasure Journey, and No Laborious Emotions. As an alternative of going additional in that route in 2024, the franchise machine appeared to ramp up and steal the highlight from almost every part round it. That development is about to proceed subsequent 12 months.
The 12 months of the sequel—once more
Trying again at the major U.S. releases of 2024, 26 sequels or prequels hit theaters. In accordance with an IMDB list of upcoming releases, there will probably be 34 sequels or prequels in 2025. Meaning extra robotic shenanigans from M3GAN, extra diary-scribbling from Bridget Jones, and extra defying of gravity from all the great people at Wicked. There’s even a sequel to The Ardour of the Christ reportedly on the best way, which is sensible given the supply materials form of counts as maybe the unique reboot.
It’s not that Hollywood sequels are essentially a web adverse. Lots of those who premiered in 2024 had been each crucial hits and business successes. Twisters and the cleverly titled Beetlejuice Beetlejuice pulled off the High Gun: Maverick trick of revisiting long-dormant, one-and-done IP with out making it really feel like a pure money seize. Furiosa, The First Omen, and A Quiet Place: Day One all used the prequel format to breathe new life into their franchises. Smile 2 brilliantly constructed out the world of the unique’s lore, whereas making use of some timely social commentary. And no matter Alien: Romulus was—prequel, sequel, what-have-you—it rocked.
The issue is that we’ve lengthy been headed for an period the place the one movies getting theatrical releases are big-budget franchise-extenders, and extra sequels means fewer counter-examples. It’s tougher to show unique motion pictures can nonetheless become profitable, in any case, when not sufficient of them have the chance to take action. The primary Smile film, as an example, was initially meant to stream on Paramount+ in 2022, till optimistic check screenings satisfied some executives to place it in theaters–the place it grew to become profitable sufficient to get a sequel this 12 months.
Sequels to observe
If the lineup for 2025 have to be crowded with Hollywood sequels, although, at the least there are many promising examples within the bunch. 28 Years Later reunites the unique movie’s inventive staff—director Danny Boyle, author Alex Garland, and star Cillian Murphy—for the primary time in over 20 years. Sizzling off the Hulu hit, Prey—which gave the Predator franchise its greatest story in a long time—director Dan Trachtenberg is returning for Predator: Badlands. The spinoff sequel Ballerina might be simply the inventive shot within the arm the John Wick sequence wants, whereas the next Mission: Impossible gives Tom Cruise the prospect to end this franchise on a excessive word, if he chooses to simply accept it. And Freakier Friday and Sister Act 3 could be extra than simply millennial nostalgia-bait.
These motion pictures, nonetheless, will probably be sharing screens with the likes of Jurassic World: Rebirth, Captain America: Courageous New World, Noticed 11, and loads of different motion pictures that sound as in the event that they had been generated by algorithm in the midst of a board assembly.
There’s no apparent cause why theatrical releases in 2024 grossed several hundred million dollars fewer than these in 2023. If extra sequels in 2025 don’t find yourself righting the ship, nonetheless, maybe it’s time to attempt a very unique concept for Hollywood: see if much less is extra.
