Another summer, another round of sequels underperforming at the box office while executives blame everything except the obvious: audiences are bored because franchises stopped meaning something.
Another summer, another round of sequels underperforming at the box office while executives blame everything except the obvious: audiences are bored because franchises stopped meaning something.
I have been thinking about this through a brand lens all week. Because franchise fatigue is not really about too many movies. It is about brand extension without brand evolution. And if you work in CPG or retail or tech, you should be paying very close attention to what Hollywood is learning the hard way.
Trader Joe's generates more revenue per square foot ($1,750) than Whole Foods ($930) with zero advertising budget. The constraint isn't the limitation. The constraint IS the strategy.
Here is the pattern. A franchise starts with a clear point of view. The original film has a reason to exist. It says something, even if that something is just "wouldn't it be cool if dinosaurs came back." The brand promise is specific and emotionally resonant.
Then success happens. And success demands repetition. And repetition demands scale. And scale demands safety. And safety means filing down every edge that made the original distinctive until you are left with content that is technically competent and emotionally null.
Sound like any brands you know?
I see this constantly with clients who built their business on a sharp point of view and then diluted it through growth. The original product was weird and specific and people loved it. Then they expanded into adjacent categories. Then they chased new demographics. Then they softened the tone to avoid alienating anyone. And suddenly they are a franchise nobody is excited about anymore.
The fix is not fewer extensions. It is sharper ones.
Look at what A24 does versus what the major studios do. A24 is a brand that means something. Every film is different, but the curatorial point of view is consistent. You know what you are getting emotionally even when you do not know what you are getting narratively. That is brand management at its finest.
The major studios are portfolio companies pretending to be brands. They own IP. They exploit IP. But they do not stand for anything beyond "we made money on this before and we would like to again."
If your brand roadmap looks like a studio franchise slate, full of sequels and spinoffs and extensions that exist because the last one worked, you are one bad quarter away from your own franchise fatigue moment. The audience will not tell you they are bored. They will just stop showing up.
The antidote is the same in Hollywood and in brand strategy: earn the next one. Do not assume you have permission to continue. Make every extension justify its existence independently. Have a point of view that evolves.
Or keep making sequels. But do not be surprised when the theater is empty.