1) Give The People Sequels They Actually Want
There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with sequels. Last year brought some great ones that both audiences and critics alike absolutely lapped up: Mad Max: Fury Road, The Force Awakens, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Furious 7.
However 2016, in the sequel department at least, has seen absolutely abysmal reception, financially and critically. Ice Age: Collision Course, Independence Day: Resurgence, The Hunstman: Winter’s War, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Zoolander 2, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2…all were critical disasters, and audiences stayed away.
It seems Hollywood was so focused on delivering sequels this year that it never stopped to ask whether people actually wanted the ones they were churning out. Some real quality sequels have come out so far in 2016 – Civil War, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Finding Dory – that happened to land with audiences. For starters, this was probably because they didn’t stink of failure, but also because these were also sequels that viewers were actually looking for.
Simply put, if Hollywood is going to keep sequelizing, and it likely will, it should make more sequels that people really want.