Hollywood goes crazy for sequels

‘Ongoing sagas’ tailor-made for sequels
Whether the source material is serialized or not is an important part of the sequel craze. “Harry Potter” came tailor-made for a seven-part franchise, with a film based on each book. The fifth movie, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” has made over $139.7 million since opening last week.

Kevin Feige, president of production at Marvel Studios, believes the recent popularity of sequels is because many are based on “ongoing sagas.” Marvel, which holds the rights to many of the most popular comic book characters, is well situated to draw from its extensive library for franchise sequels.

Feige says another “X-Men” film is possible and that spin-offs for Wolverine and Magneto are in the works. A third “Fantastic Four” following this summer’s “Rise of the Silver Surfer” edition is also possible, and Feige says a Silver Surfer stand-alone script has been “moved to the forefront” of discussions.

“There’s always stuff that ends up in our back pocket or that we put to the side in our if-we-should-be-so-lucky-next-time folder,” says Feige of Marvel’s comic book source material. “It’s not difficult finding which storylines or characters we’re going to use in one of our films. It’s difficult deciding which ones not to use.”

In this way, “Spider-Man,” “Harry Potter” and “Batman” (the seventh of which will be released next year) have more in common with a serial like the James Bond films (based on Ian Fleming’s novels) than “Police Academy.”

Peter Bart, editor-in-chief of the daily Hollywood trade paper Variety, credits the studios for improving the quality of their franchise sequels.

“The studios have learned how to win at this business,” says Bart. “They’ve picked the right subjects and understood how to exploit them internationally.”

But as the sequel numbers pile up, Bart says, the studios are moving into “new waters.” Every time they go back to the well, the riskier it gets to depend on the same franchises.

“The big question,” he says,” is how long will they endure?”

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