Why Blade Runner 2049 Flopped So Hard

9. It's Been 35 Years

Whether you have a major movie brand or not, letting it sit out to pasture for a long time is not the best way to ensure that anyone still cares about it. We've already seen the cost to other major franchises of belatedly releasing sequels and other than Star Wars, there isn't exactly a huge catalogue of them that were well received.

Waiting for 35 years to release a sequel is asking for trouble - even if you have one of the most compelling questions in movie conundrum history (is Deckard, or isn't he?). That's too long a period for nostalgia to work as well, and while Blade Runner was granted an A- CinemaScore, the result - and indeed the opening weekend haul - is skewed by the fervent fanbase (of predominantly older male viewers) who comprised most of that initial audience.

They might be committed, but they aren't diverse enough or numerous enough to create a proper, sustainable audience, and the sad reality is that younger audience members simply do not have the awareness to commit to something 35 years in the making.