In todays Hollywood, franchises rule the roost. There seems to be at least one sequel coming out every weekend and the trend sees no end in sight. If a franchise has any history of success, new installments are bound to be greenlit in a hurry. The Hellraiser series for instance continued to get sequels 15 years after it was last successful enough to receive a theatrical release. Every major movie that comes out needs multi-million dollar advertising campaigns. For studio heads it is a no brainer to make as many sequels to popular films as possible; as the previous film (or films) have already done the work of introducing audiences to the characters and hopefully whet the appetite of movie goers to see more. A common refrain is to ask when Hollywood will get any new ideas. If you pay attention to box office receipts it becomes clear, we shouldn't hold our breath on that one. That is what makes it so surprising that these series of films came to an end or were rebooted (when a straight up sequel was in the plans) when the previous film in comparison to their budget did much better than many others that received the sequel treatment. Factoring in the DVD and rental markets that were very strong during the release of all of these films, continuing them should have been a given.
Growing up in London, Ontario, Canada, my parents & brothers started a love for movies and wrestling in me. Discovering comics in my early teens, I've become a pop culture junkie. I love to write about the all of it and am incredibly happy to be able to have people read it. My entertainment writing for the site news for shoppers can be found here: http://www.newsforshoppers.com/journalist/matthew-thomas/
