The star of Hollywood’s 2006 box-office recovery: the sequel.
Led by “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” “X-Men: The Last Stand” and “Ice Age: The Meltdown,” grosses in the U.S. and Canada are poised to overtake the $8.9 billion in receipts for all of 2005.
Six of the year’s 12 biggest movies were sequels. Successors to previous hits grossed $2 billion, some 40 percent more than they did last year.
And get ready for more. In 2007, Hollywood will roll out 19 sequels.
“While nothing is a slam-dunk in this business,” said Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook, “at least going in there’s a comfort level knowing that audiences have embraced these characters and the worlds that have been created.”
Although 2006 won’t be a record, the sequel-driven recovery is all but erasing the angst of last year, when Hollywood executives lost sleep over the steepest attendance drop in 20 years and the third down year in a row at the box office.
Many executives argued it was because of bad movies. Ironically, one of the key reasons cited was a series of uninspiring sequels such as “The Legend of Zorro,” “Transporter 2” and “XXX: State of the Union” that failed to lure large crowds. Critics speculated that moviegoers were tiring of seeing recycled characters and ideas.
“When you make a good sequel, people go,” said Sony Pictures movie chief Amy Pascal, who oversees the “Spider-Man” series, which returns next summer. “When you make a sequel that’s not good, it shows.”
This year, audiences found Hollywood’s choice of sequels far more appealing. The second installment of “Pirates” set an all-time opening weekend record this summer.
But not every successful sequel has to have the size and budget of the big-ticket “Pirates.” Some of the biggest returns on investment this year came from lower-budget films like “Jackass: Number Two” and “Saw III.”
But the cost of betting on new installments of established hits often reaches blockbuster proportions. Production and marketing outlays on a single title can total more than $400 million. Costs have soared so much that even some big box-office performers aren’t bottom-line hits for studios.
Even veteran producers behind some of the most lucrative movie series feel the heat.
“There’s a lot of pressure to succeed,” said “Pirates” producer Jerry Bruckheimer. “You spend a lot of money on these sequels, and you have to keep raising the bar.”
WILL SEQUELS RULE IN 2007?
Some of Hollywood’s biggest sequels will open in 2007. Among them:
– “Spider-Man 3” (above) (May 4)
– “Shrek 3” (May 18)
– “Pirates of the Caribbean 3” (May 25)
– “Oceans Thirteen” (June 8)
– “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” (June 15)
– “Evan Almighty” (June 22)
– “Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix” (July 13)
– “National Treasure 2” (Dec. 21)
[SOURCE: L.A. TIMES AND INDUSTRY SOURCES.]
