State of the Movie Franchises: 5 Lessons Hollywood Learned in 2019

At the start of 2019, there was only one guarantee when it came to the year’s batch of franchise movies: Disney was going to clean up. While that has certainly come true, the rest of Hollywood trotted out a mix of sequels and potential franchise launchers with decidedly mixed results. On one hand, Warner Bros.’ plan to give the Joker his own mid-budget movie paid off beyond all expectations; “Joker” became the first superhero Golden Lion winner at the Venice Film Festival and the first R-rated billion-dollar hit. “Jumanji: The Next Level” is proving to be a strong Christmas alternative to “Star Wars,” and “John Wick: Chapter 3” gave Lionsgate its biggest hit since “La La Land.” On the other, audiences were not at all interested in seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton reunite for another “Terminator” movie. Combined with the poor results from “The Shining” sequel “Doctor Sleep” and “Charlie’s Angels,” “Terminator: Dark Fate” caused a chain reaction that led the entire November box office to fall below projections. “Hellboy” and “Men in Black: International” also stood as examples of failed attempts to bring a dormant IP back to life. So what can we learn from Hollywood’s attempts to...

Read original story State of the Movie Franchises: 5 Lessons Hollywood Learned in 2019 At TheWrap