8 Reasons Hollywood Will Never Stop Making Sequels

If you think Disney shelled out $4.05 billion on Lucasfilm just so they could make a new Star Wars trilogy, then you're more oblivious than the people who didn't realise Palpatine was Emperor Palptaine. Star Wars: The Force Awakens made $2 billion worldwide, but that's just part of the massive multimedia blitz that they restarted in 2012 and shows no signs of abating - through books, games, merchandising, tie-in deals and other money-making schemes (they're doing a freaking theme park), the money from straight ticket sales is just part of something much bigger.

Star Wars has, of course, been around for almost forty years and is a well-established brand, but that's exactly what studios want; to turn their big names into cross-promotional properties. But while you can have toys and TV shows made about anything if you can put up the money, the real power of a series is new cinema releases, where you can get it in the mainstream eye (this is also why we're seeing non-cinema brands like Angry Birds, Lego and Emojis become movies - it's all about extension). Heck, Ubisoft have just admitted that's their exact plan with Assassin's Creed.

Many are being a bit too brazen about this, talking about trilogies before the first movie's out, seeding a long list of spin-offs in movie number two and treating a franchise like it's iconic well before it's cracked the cultural psyche, but what they're going for is the same thing Star Wars and its ilk has.

And if Disney will never stop making Star Wars, then what else can the rest of Hollywood do?

What're your thoughts on the current sequel epidemic? Share your take down in the comments.