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Hollywood Finds New Ways To Say Sequel
“Say ‘sequel’ one more time.” // Illustration by Kate Walker
Hollywood is looking for new ways to market franchise installments without using the words “sequel,” “reboot, or “remake.”
The Big Picture: A lot of young moviegoers don’t have franchise fatigue — they’re just tired of films feeling like IP retreads, even when they gladly show up for movies like The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Scream 7. Figuring out how to market new franchise installments in a way that promises something fresh, rather than the same story reheated for a new generation, could be crucial to a project’s success.
Behind The Scenes: Studios and streamers are doing everything they can to avoid simply shouting “Another one!” like DJ Khaled.
Sony is billing The Social Reckoning as a “companion piece” to The Social Network, while Universal called 2024’s Twisters a “new chapter.”
Disney calls its live-action remakes “reimaginings” — which, hilariously, is also what A24 is calling Curry Barker’s upcoming adaptation of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Amazon MGM is having some fun with its Spaceballs sequel, titling it Spaceballs: The New One.
Paramount is essentially pretending no one will notice it’s starting over, calling 2022’s Scream 5 simply Scream and this year’s Scary Movie 6 just Scary Movie — while also, hilariously, describing it as a “rebootquel.”
Final Credits: Storied movie marketing exec Marc Weinstock, who worked on both Backrooms and Scary Movie, told Variety that “audiences have been trained to think ‘sequel’ means homework. People want something new, so when you put a ‘2,’ ‘3,’ or ‘4’ in the title, it gets a groan.” That tracks with a 2024 NRG study that found “75% of Gen Z audiences prefer watching original content over remakes or franchise fare.”
With Gen Z now the most active moviegoing generation, the biggest hits of the future may be the ones that feel the freshest.
Coming Soon: It’s possible Hollywood execs will make deeper changes to their sequels than just the titles — we could be in for a slate of new franchise installments that radically reinvent their originals’ formulas, a bit like last year’s excellent Predator: Badlands.
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.