If 2024 was the year of anything, it was the year of sequels.

The past 12 months saw a staggering amount of sequels dominate the box office.

Nine out of the top 10 highest-grossing films of the year were continuations of existing franchises, according to Box Office Mojo.

The top 10 highest-grossing films of 2024 were:

  1. “Inside Out 2″ ($1.6 billion worldwide)
  2. “Deadpool & Wolverine” ($1.3 billion worldwide)
  3. “Despicable Me 4″ ($969 million worldwide)
  4. “Moana 2″ ($724 million worldwide)
  5. “Dune: Part Two” ($714 million worldwide)
  6. “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” ($571 million worldwide)
  7. “Kung Fu Panda 4″ ($547 million worldwide)
  8. “Wicked” ($534 million worldwide)
  9. “Venom: The Last Dance” ($475 million worldwide)
  10. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” ($451 million worldwide)

In November — before “Wicked” was released in theaters — all of the year’s top 10 movies were sequels. It was, as Games Radar reported at the time, “the first time that’s happened in at least 50 years.”

How are viewers responding to this sequel surge? There have been multiple public demands for more original ideas in Hollywood, but the numbers don’t lie: Audiences love sequels.

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Why were there so many sequels in 2024?

Shawn Robbins, founder of Box Office Theory and director of analytics at Fandango, told the Deseret News that sequels perform well for a reason.

“It speaks to, I think, the audience in general ... (and their) desire to follow ongoing storylines, ongoing character developments,” Robbins said.

According to Robbins, there are a couple of other reasons why sequels dominated the box office in 2024.

  • For one thing, Hollywood studios are “risk-averse,” and often aren’t willing to take big swings on original ideas, he said.
  • Plus, original films can be “more challenging” to turn into “profit generators” — but, for the record, Robbins thinks “it’s still possible to do it.”
  • He also noted that the year’s movie release schedule showed the lingering effects of the strikes in Hollywood in 2023.

Robbins also highlighted the quality of the sequels that came out over the past 12 months.

Gone are the days of poorly-made, straight-to-VCR Disney sequels. Robbins said that many of this year’s sequels, such as “Dune: Part Two” and “Inside Out 2,″ were “able to meet or exceed audience expectations in terms of the quality of the movies.”

Is Hollywood done with original ideas?

If 2025′s roster of films indicates anything, it’s that sequels aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

But according to Robbins, the task of making successful sequels is going to get more and more challenging. There’s “a lot of pressure on the existing franchises and the studios that are shepherding them,” he said.

He continued, “But I think it also creates a reckoning, because we see franchises burn out, and we see them lose popularity, whether it’s because of quality or just pure passage of time and the changing tastes of audiences.”

Take Marvel, for example. Once a guaranteed box-office winner — 2019′s “Avengers: Endgame” made $2.8 billion, according to Variety — the studio has been floundering, with 2023 being an especially rough year, according to Variety.

This year’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” is the biggest hit the studio has seen in years.

“There will have to be new franchises,” Robbins said. “So in a sense, these franchises have to be original themselves at some point. And that’s kind of what we’re seeing.”

Robbins specifically cited 2022′s “The Batman” — a fresh, noir-esque take on the classic superhero, starring Robert Pattinson — which will see a sequel in 2026. He also mentioned the third film in the “28 Days Later” series, “28 Years Later,” which is “supposed to start a new trilogy of horror films.”

“So it’s reinventing the wheel,” he added.

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Studios will have to breathe new life into existing franchises — as the minds behind the new DC Universe, starting with 2025′s “Superman,” are trying to do, as the Deseret News previously reported — or they’ll have to create completely new franchises.

As for how new ideas perform in Hollywood? Well, it’s not all bad news, says Robbins. He specifically pointed to indie studios A24, Neon and Focus Features — all studios that turn out unique, original ideas that performed well at the box office, despite not reaching stratospheric numbers.

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“Look at something like ‘Longlegs,’ from Neon this summer,” Robbins said. “(It) just came out of nowhere, totally original film, indie distributor, and it’s one of the biggest box office success stories of the year.”

Plus, as Robbins pointed out, studios are cooking up some “big budget” films from big directors. Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, Jordan Peele, Ryan Coogler and more have exciting projects, featuring original ideas, coming up.

As for the many complaints that original ideas are dying in Hollywood?

“I do not think that’s true,” Robbins said. “I think original ideas will always be there. If anything, I think facing adversity increases the passion of the people who have those original ideas and their desire to get them out there.”

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