Hollywood makes 2013 the year of the sequel

[HS Cult Leader]

Hollywood makes 2013 the year of the sequel

Cinema audiences will be hit with a battery of sequels, prequels, remakes and reboots in 2013, as Hollywood, stung by a series of recent box office flops, banks on safe follow-ups to successful blockbusters.


Iron Man 3, starring Robert Downey Jr, will be among the glut of sequels and reboots expected next year Photo: Film Stills


By Nick Allen

8:06PM GMT 28 Dec 2012


By one count, a record 31 sequels and 17 reboots are expected to hit screens next year as executives steer clear of original and potentially costly ideas.

The long list of tried and tested concepts will include instalments of franchises that have gone well beyond the usual two or three films.

Audiences will be given a sixth helping of X-Men plus Fast and Furious 6, Die Hard 5, Scary Movie 5 and Paranormal Activity 5. There will also be Iron Man 3, The Hangover 3, and second outings for The Muppets, The Smurfs, GI Joe and Bad Santa.



Reboots include the Superman film Man of Steel, plus a new version of The Evil Dead, a new Mad Max, and a second film in the latest reincarnation of Star Trek.


The reluctance of studios to take risks on original concepts follows a series of disastrous results this year. The most notorious was the epic flop John Carter, based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs book A Princess of Mars, which saw Disney taking a $200 million (£123 million) write down, and Rich Ross, the chairman of the studio, resigning soon after.



Universal Pictures' $220 million budget science fiction film Battleship, starring the singer Rihanna, also bombed.
Another ambitious $100 million science fiction film Cloud Atlas, starring Tom Hanks and Halle Berry, flopped making just $62 million worldwide.
And 2012 also saw an unwanted record achieved for the weakest opening weekend ever for a widely released film: The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure, a children's film based on original characters, eventually recouped just $1 million of its $20 million budget.


Keith Simanton, managing editor of Internet Movie Database, said the number of sequels did not necessarily mean Hollywood was running out of original ideas, but that "sequels tend to make money". He said: "At the end of the day you go with what you know because the audience seems to go with what they know. There were a lot of big gambles this year that didn't come off. It was almost like the public is making them pay the price for that. It's not a new lesson but it's a more costly lesson."
Studios have noted that the most successful movie at the box office in 2012 was The Avengers, which brought together characters like Iron Man, Captain America and Thor, who had already been played by the same actors in separate movies.


The ability of sequels to make money regardless of quality was demonstrated by Taken 2, an action thriller starring Liam Neeson that was called "ham-handed and laughable" by one critic, yet still made $365 million on a budget of $45 million. The Hangover 2 was lambasted for lack of originality but still made $580 million, more than the acclaimed original. A third instalment will be out in 2013.


International audiences proved even more receptive to sequels than American ones with several follow-ups performing spectacularly abroad. Ice Age 4 brought in only $160 million in the US but $710 million internationally, making it the second most popular film of the year.
The biggest prize for Hollywood in 2013 will be the success of big budget reboots, two of which are starring British actors, and which could kick off whole new series of films. Henry Cavill will play Superman in Man of Steel and Tom Hardy will take on the role made famous by Mel Gibson in Mad Max: Fury Road.
Mr Simanton said: "People have a very difficult time when you don't know what a property is. It's hard to blaze a new trail and rise above the din.
"With reboots they have a prebuilt world and they have recognition."

[Chimney Portions]

People need to stop blaming Hollywood and start blaming the people who go see this shit.

[MyLazyHand]

When is World War Z coming out? I need a zombie fix.

[Beth143nacho]

Hollywood takes rip from Howard stern, reruns! Goes bankrupt and irrelevant.

[isabella]

People need to stop blaming Hollywood and start blaming the people who go see this shit.

i can't remember the last time i sat in a movie theater with the masses. i'd rather wait a few months and catch it on cable. plus the product put out by hollywood is dismal.

[Spazzmatazz]

People need to stop blaming Hollywood and start blaming the people who go see this shit.

Let's not forget the lazy ass writers and cheap assed producers.
Let's be honest in this. The world has been clamoring for The Flintstones Part Deux...

[fccstandards]

The Hangover 3? Let me guess, night of partying, lose track of them. Search city.

[Shithead]

Why don't they try 3D hardcore porn with smellovision on the big screen?

[Robert Higgins]

"I'm still on the air, I've got my kids and I've got Allison..."

Private Parts, Part Two. The Curse of the Horse Faced Woman.

[itpdude]

Television is in another golden-era right now so it makes sense the movies are suffering.

When you have Dexter, Sons, Breaking Bad, Hell on Wheels, Game of Thrones and other great shows out there, the impetus to go out to watch a movie with a bunch of people texting and talking on their fucking phones is greatly lessened.

[fccstandards]

I go to about 2 movies a year. Always a Monday matinee after it's been out awhile. Saw the avengers with 4 other people in the theater.

[Chimney Portions]

Let's not forget the lazy ass writers and cheap assed producers.
Let's be honest in this. The world has been clamoring for The Flintstones Part Deux...

Lazy writers and producers wouldn't be employed if folks weren't sinking their fat asses into seats to see Saw 7, Fie Hard 4 (PG13, no less,) Spider-Man remakes and Terminator fucking 4.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Let the Right One In were fantastic, but dumbasses couldn't bother to read subtitles and both films were remade. And both films bombed because Will Smith wasn't in 'em. The American film audience gets exactly what it deserves.

[Chimney Portions]

i can't remember the last time i sat in a movie theater with the masses. i'd rather wait a few months and catch it on cable. plus the product put out by hollywood is dismal.

Same here. I'll be damned if I plunk down 30 bucks so that I can bring a girl I like to see asshole teenagers texting and hear li'l Sh'Booboo crying because her fat-ass corn-rowed mom thought it was a good idea to take a 32 year old to see Kill Bill 2.

[harlock]

Lazy writers and producers wouldn't be employed if folks weren't sinking their fat asses into seats to see Saw 7, Fie Hard 4 (PG13, no less,) Spider-Man remakes and Terminator fucking 4.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Let the Right One In were fantastic, but dumbasses couldn't bother to read subtitles and both films were remade. And both films bombed because Will Smith wasn't in 'em. The American film audience gets exactly what it deserves.

People who refuse to see subtitled movies miss out on some really good movies.

[Murcielago]

Fast and Furious 6, Die Hard 5, Scary Movie 5 and Paranormal Activity 5



Sounds about right for a public that likes shitty talent shows on TV and auto-tuned vocals in their songs.

[Mr Doodle]

Lazy writers and producers wouldn't be employed if folks weren't sinking their fat asses into seats to see Saw 7, Fie Hard 4 (PG13, no less,) Spider-Man remakes and Terminator fucking 4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Let the Right One In were fantastic, but dumbasses couldn't bother to read subtitles and both films were remade. And both films bombed because Will Smith wasn't in 'em. The American film audience gets exactly what it deserves.

Not sure why its the year of the sequels, Hollywood was milking franchises the same way when I was a baby like Star Wars, Jaws, Rocky, Rambo, James Bond, Death Wish, Nightmare on Elm St etc Those foreign remakes really are a worse thing than sequels since they can actually be good and continue a story like Lord of the Rings and Batman. I hate those dumbed down American remakes that take artistry out of foreign movies and turn them into mainstream crap. Let the Right one In is a good example and also if anyone remembers that great German movie Wings of Desire about an angel who lands in Berlin Wall-era Berlin; they remade that into the shitty Nicolas Cage-Meg Ryan vehicle City of Angels. Even worse is remaking British shows like Coupling, Skins and Inbetweeners for people too fucking stupid to understand a British accent.

[Herc]

The only movies which I'm dying to see that I know of in 2013. Are Star Trek: Into The Darkness & Man Of Steel. Bad Santa depending on the reviews. The first Bad Santa was great. I hope they don't diminish it by making a horrible sequel . . .

- - -

P.S. Every other movie I judge using an expert analysis basis before I go see it. Which include sequels . . .

[Obi Drunkenobe]

People need to stop blaming Hollywood and start blaming the people who go see this shit.

Not going to lie, most of these movies sound good to me.

[NotMyBro]

So much shit I won't watch. Fuck Hollywood and the shitty garbage they're making these days. I still miss the years when movies had a plot and character development. Now it's all about mindless CGI shit.

[username]

Years ago I went to the movies each year. Then the blaeks took over my country.
How fun is it to be at the movies with a bunch of muslim kids screaming and acting like shit during the movie. Fuck it. I just stay home and wait 6 month for the digital version.

If a movie theatre had an upscaled place without idiots, then I would watch again.

And Hollywood are retards if they believe that movies like Battleship will be hits. Who the F wants to see a movie with bad aliens that are fought of by one single old battleship? Only full frontal nudity of a 18 year old Rihanna could have saved the movie. Or at least real sex with her....