A life-size model of the new Disney-approved Marvel Universe movie “Deadpool & Wolverine” is seen in Shanghai, China, on July 26, 2024.
Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images
Hollywood’s franchise frenzy is just beginning.
The 2024 box office has been flooded with sequels, prequels and remakes, with the top 10 titles of the year all coming from existing intellectual property. This trend will continue and expand in 2025.
Industry-leading studios are returning to familiar characters and settings to boost movie ticket sales, a strategy that’s hardly new, but one that seems to be growing exponentially.
Looking at the current 2025 calendar, between 50% and 70% of films from the big six studios — Global, Disney, Warner Bros., Sovereign, Sony and Lionsgate — will be associated with the existing IP. Of course, the 2025 slate isn’t completely built, and studios could add more non-franchise titles in the coming months and next year.
“There’s been a recognition by the studios that familiar merchandise is what most audiences gravitate toward,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
Top 10 Domestic Movies of 2024 (So Far)
- “Inside Out 2” — $652.9 million
- “Deadpool & Wolverine” — $631.3 million
- “Despicable Me 4” — $360.7 million
- “Dune: Part Two” – $282.1 million
- “Twisters” — $267.5 million
- “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” — $250.3 million
- “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” – $196.3 million
- “Kung Fu Panda 4” — $193.59 million
- “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” – $193.57 million
- “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” — $171.1 million
Of the top 20 highest-grossing domestic releases of 2024, only two are considered original content — Paramount’s “IF” and Neon’s “Longlegs.”
The rest are mostly sequels to major hits, new and old, or tied to a popular book (Sony’s “It Ends With Us”), TV show (“Universal’s The Fall Guy”), or based on a popular historical figure. (Paramount’s “Bob Marley: One Love”).
A “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” billboard is seen at night in Times Square 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 (not yet merged with Disney), franchise films accounted for between 33% and 62% of total releases in 2019. Disney was the only outlier , with nine of its 10 films coming from established IP.
However, as consumers become even more discerning about where and what they spend their disposable income, studios have invested in impressive sequels, prequels and remakes.
This has been particularly evident in the animation space, with 2024 entrants including Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” as well as Universal’s “Despicable Me 4” and “Kung Fu Panda 4.”
“The family audience that uses a budget-based calculation when choosing whether or not to buy a movie ticket wants the comfort of the familiar by their side,” Dergarabedian said. “In particular, this trend seems to be penetrating all age demographics, as the adult audience also uses this logic.”
See only the last quarter of the year:
Remaining blockbuster franchise releases of 2024
October
- “Joker: Folie à Deux” (October 4)
- “Smile 2” (October 18)
- “Venom: The Last Dance” (October 25)
November
- “Gladiator 2” (November 22)
- “Wicked: Part One” (Nov. 22)
- “Moana 2” (November 27)
December
- “Kraven the Hunter” (December 13)
- “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” (December 13)
- “Mufasa: The Lion King” (December 20)
- “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” (Dec. 20)
Such titles have pushed the domestic box office to $6.3 billion in the first nine months of the year, according to Comscore, as “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Inside Out 2” and “Despicable Me 4” — plus a few hits — helped boost the box office.
Although this is down 11.3% from last year and 25% behind pre-pandemic levels, the development is better than box office analysts expected. The 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes halted production and pushed a number of titles to later dates on the calendar, many through 2025, leaving 2024 sparse.
“2025 will once again be emblematic of the IP-driven status quo and nostalgia for Hollywood, but those aren’t necessarily dirty words,” said Shawn Robbins, founder and owner of Box Office Theory. “Some of the most well-received box office hits in recent memory have been sequels or films based on existing brands, and there’s still a variety of original content out there.”
Film franchises and IPs in 2025 (so far)
Global
- “Wolf Man” (January 17)
- “Dog Man” (January 31)
- “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” (February 14)
- “How to Train Your Dragon” (June 13)
- “MEGAN 2.0” (June 27)
- “Jurassic World: Rebirth” (July 2)
- “The Bad Guys 2” (August 1)
- “Nobody 2” (August 15)
- Sequel to “Downton Abbey” (Sept. 12)
- “Gabby’s Dollhouse” (September 26)
- “The Black Phone 2” (October 17)
- “Wicked: Part II” (Nov. 21)
- “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” (December 5)
Disney
- “Captain America: Brave New World” (Feb. 11)
- “Snow White” (March 21)
- “Thunderbolts*” (May 2)
- “Fantastic Four: First Steps” (July 25)
- “Tron: Ares” (October 10)
- “Zootopia 2” (Nov. 26)
- “Avatar: Fire and Ash” (Dec. 19)
Sony
- “Paddington in Peru” (January 17)
- “Karate Kid” (May 30)
- “28 Years Later” (June 20)
- Untitled Spider-Man Universe Movie (June 27)
- Sequel to “I Know What You Did Last Summer” (July 18)
- Sequel to “Insidious” (August 29)
Lionsgate
- “Den of Thieves: Pantera” (January 10)
- “Michael” (April 18)
- “Ballerina” (John Wick) (June 6)
- Sequel to “Dirty Dancing” (Summer 2025)
- “Saw XI” (September 26)
- “Now You See Me 3” (November 14)
Warner Bros.*
- “Minecraft” (April 4)
- “Superman: Legacy” (July 11)
- “The Conjuring: Last Rites” (September 5)
- “Mortal Kombat 2” (October 24)
- “The bride!”
Sovereign
- “The Smurfs Movie” (February 14)
- “Mission Impossible 8” (May 23)
- Movie “Naked Gun” (July 18)
- “The SpongeBob Movie: The Search for Square Pants” (December 19)
* Warner Bros. has six untitled “event” films on its calendar. It is unclear if these are tied to franchises or IPs at this time.
While 2024 and 2025 boast franchise-rich films, Wall Street doesn’t expect ticket sales to top $10 billion domestically until 2026. The domestic box office hasn’t reached that benchmark since 2019 , before the Covid pandemic. Last year, it raised just over $9 billion.
The 2025 film calendar wraps up with a third Avatar film in mid-December, meaning ticket sales will taper off until 2026. Then that summer kicks off with an Avengers team-up film, followed by a “Mandalorian” Star Wars film on Memorial Day weekend. Another Star Wars movie will wrap up Disney’s big year in December 2026.
Add a second “Super Mario Bros.” movie, a fifth “Toy Story,” a fifth “Shrek,” another Hunger Games movie, a Supergirl movie, another Batman movie from Matt Reeves and the possible release of a third “Dune ” film and 2026 is well on its way to a phenomenal rise at the box office.
And, even as Hollywood’s biggest studios rely on established titles to draw audiences back to theaters, a number of non-franchise features have stood out at the box office in recent years.
“Next year offers new original films from directors like Jordan Peele, Paul Thomas Anderson, JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot production company and Ryan Coogler that could stand out among a variety of franchise films,” Robbins said.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.