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Consider that four of the top 10 films at the box office over the all-important July Fourth weekend were movie sequels or remakes. (Some 40% of all U.S movie tickets are sold during the roughly three-month period stretching from Memorial Day to Labor Day.) Battling it out to be number one were Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, the third installment in the animated Paleolithic comedy series, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the mechanical (in multiple senses of word) $200 million sequel to 2007’s Transformers. Each film grossed more than $42 million during the July 4 holiday weekend. Also in the top 10: The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, a remake of a 1974 action drama, and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, a sequel to the popular 2006 film, which was still drawing business seven weeks after its theatrical release. All this, of course, was merely the prelude to what was expected to be the movie event of the summer: The July 15 release of the sixth installment in the Harry Potter franchise, Harry Potter and the Half–Blood Prince. The film, which cost $250 million to produce, grossed $255.5 million in its first three weeks at the box office.
Why is Hollywood in love with tried-and-true sequels and established franchises rather than producing original scripts? According to Wharton faculty, the industry’s embrace of the sequel is an attempt to minimize its risk during an uncertain time, when the motion picture business finds its usual sources of funding and revenues under pressure from the recession. So studio executives are playing it safe, by avoiding too much risk and giving movie audiences what they’re already familiar with.
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