The current trend in sequel box office returns is tied to perception. Gone are the days of diminishing returns as a rule, these are the golden times for franchises. How the general public feels about the franchise is now king, and the thing about feelings are, they can be changed.
Case in point, GI: Joe: Retaliation.
The franchise had a below average first film that left a sour taste in the mouths of cinema-goers. It did have a strong opening weekend and final total gross so a sequel was inevitable, but something had to be done to ensure the public perception didn’t bury the new film before it had a shot.
Warming the hearts of movie executives everywhere, GI: Joe Retaliation proved that franchise perception can be fixed and sequels to poorly received films have a shot to come out as strong as its predecessor without waiting on word of mouth or reviews to set in.
The toy franchise sequel brought in over 41$ Million over the Easter weekend, and over 50$ Million since its midweek debut. Shockingly, this strong debut represents the largest opening ever for a Bruce Willis movie.
Coming into second place is The Croods, which had a great second weekend hold of less than 40%. The hit animated feature brought in 26.5$ Million over its second weekend, cementing the movie as another big hit for Dreamworks animation.
Third place over the weekend went to the most recent Tyler Perry movie Temptation. The next in the seemingly endless parade of Perry films once again grossed north of 20$ Million, making Tyler Perry one of the most prolific box office openers of all time. Ugh. Of course, Temptation did also have one of the most unintentionally hilarious trailers that has ever graced cinemas, so I guess we can call this a win for the marketing department?
Next weekend brings the Evil Dead redo and the 3D re-release of Jurassic Park, which is probably one of the last opportunities for 3D re-releases to prove to be a profitable venture.
