Extending The Universe: The Economics of Sequels

Everyone has seen a sequel that wasn’t worth watching, let alone making. So why do sequels pop up so frequently in modern culture? Well, the creators are obviously banking on the success of the first movie to provide enough interest for people to go out and basically see it again. It takes a lot less money to expand on an already thriving franchise as opposed to trying to start completely by scratch.

Movie companies have been spending more and more money trying to keep audiences coming back to see their favorite characters on the big screen. Less and less people are going to the movies, so creators are getting more and more desperate trying to get them to make the effort to go out and see a movie when there are much easier options at home. Services like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and other streaming services have made going out to see a movie a lot less appealing. Why get out of your pajamas, leave your house, and pay for overpriced popcorn to see a very small list of movies when you have the option to watch any number of shows or movies on your laptop?
So in order to get people to the theater, a lot of companies strive to reach the level of social impact that movies like The Avengers, Star Wars, and even The Incredibles have reached. No one wants to be out of the loop, so seeing the movies that will be talked about a lot, especially on the internet, as close to opening day as possible is important. If you don’t go out and see a movie as soon as it comes out, you run the risk of seeing spoilers and not understanding what the internet is screaming about for a little while.


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