39 Marvel films, 5 Toy Story movies, and a fourth Jumanji movie?!? When do the franchises end and what should tell a movie studio to stop production? More than 20 movie sequels will be released by the end of 2026. At the current point of the film industry it may feel like sequels are the easy way out for movie studios and an easy cash grab. Although it may feel this way, sequels for movie studios are a safer way to ensure the studio still makes money through the preexisting audience. It’s not impossible for a studio to make an original film, although it is seen as “taking a risk.” Franchises can and should keep making sequel films only if there is more story to be told, but studios should understand that not all movies need sequels. 

A question many people these days are asking is, “What keeps these studios continuing franchises?” For movie studios everything is about money and audience reaction. Movie sequels of successful films are an easy cash grab for studios because of the movies’ preexisting audiences. This guarantees them a certain amount of money and true fans are guaranteed to like them. For studios considering making an original film, or a brand new movie is seen as starting from scratch, betting on their advertising to do enough marketing to see a gain in revenue. Two movies that fit this are Mortal Kombat 2 and The Bride. Mortal Kombat 2 was rated 64% by Rotten Tomatoes and The Bride rated 57%. Giving the sequel and original film a 7% shows the difference in audience reaction to each film. Studios caught up on focusing only on making money are the studios that will never take risks and aren’t able to make a quality original film.

While many people nowadays are accustomed to movies getting a second or even third sequel, not everyone always enjoys all of them. Studios need to realize, movies don’t need sequels unless there is more story to be continued that the audience wants. Jurassic World: Rebirth and Black Phone 2 were both not greatly accepted at the box office and seen as disappointing. If the first movie isn’t accepted well, studios don’t need to keep making another one hoping it will do better at the box office. Movie studios like Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, and Paramount Pictures have an addiction to making sequels as it is an easy way to confirm sales at the box office without having to worry about making a mediocre film. If a sequel doesn’t sell well opening weekend, the studio doesn’t have as much to worry about because they know fans will come back for the next one. On the other hand, studios making an original film don’t have that extra precaution to fall back on. One example of this is War of the Worlds that came out in 2025, being rated a 4% by the Rotten Tomatoes, this original film was not taken well by the audience, this can be a reason why it gives original films a bad look in Hollywood. Hence why we have seen a decline in originality in Hollywood due to the greed of money. 

Creating sequels years later leaves gaps of perspective and ways of interpretation of the films. Sequels can oftentimes feel disconnected and too far off from the original. A big example of this is Happy Gilmore and Happy Gilmore 2, this creates a 29 year gap between the movies, a whole generation. People might perceive the sequel differently than someone who has seen both the original and sequel. This gives people completely different opinions because of the generation gap and how much people’s perspective has changed. Modern film sequels need to learn how the world has changed and how to adapt to a new audience if there is a large gap between the sequels. This allows fans of the original to enjoy while also appealing to a new generation of audience.

For future movies, studios need to learn how to be original while also trying to produce a well crafted film that is unique. Natalie Pitluck of the Loyola Phoenix said, “Originality can’t cease to exist in film because films are watched to create unique experiences.”