We're seeing the (relative) failure of franchise installments (Flash, Transformers 7, Fast X, etc.) driven by studio/shareholder demand vs audience interest. Meanwhile, "because folks loved the last one" sequels like Creed 3, John Wick 4, GotG3 and Spider-Verse 2 are flourishing.
So if I'm bearish on Indiana Jones 5, very bullish on Mission Impossible 7 and kinda bullish on The Meg 2, that's why.
@ScottMendelson Creed at least is story driven in that Coogler still had story to tell. That's also true of Spiderverse. A lot of sequels have a loose desperateness them because they ran out of story.
@ScottMendelson I'm gonna see Transformers and Flash this weekend and tell you if this holds water.
@ScottMendelson Does "Transformers" really belong in the first cluster when it was a 3x improvement on last one boxoffice-wise and the highest that franchise has opened since Part 4?
@ScottMendelson You might wanna add scream 6 to the “because folks loved the last one “ pile
@ScottMendelson Did the Flash flop? People are loving it. Not fake love, like really liking the movie