This is how many times in recent years Hollywood’s “Classic Resequence” has been overturned.
If the word-of-mouth of “The Matrix Resurrections” was barely enough before the release, then it was released on online streaming media, and after receiving more audiences’ tasting, it was a complete collapse.
“The Matrix Resurrections” fell below 6 points at IMDb, and its CinemaScore audience rating was B-.
The film’s box office was not satisfactory under the influence of streaming media release, and its first weekend box office was not even as good as the first day box office of the predecessor “The Matrix 3” 18 years ago.
Obviously it is a classic IP in film history, but it has fallen into such a field.
This is actually related to the changes in the film market.
You know, the classics of film history belong to the category of film art, and they are gradually getting away from commercial films.
The “The Matrix” trilogy was phenomenal back then. But no one can guarantee that the audience who walked into the theater will still be passionate about the film nearly 20 years later, and they will be able to walk into the theater with full of feelings.
The younger audiences, the main force of the market, have long been captured by superheroes. If the reputation is particularly good, it is difficult to attract them.
They have not experienced the shocking experience of being in theaters that year, and there will be no reason to buy tickets.
Film art is niche.
This is destined to be difficult for Hollywood’s “classic renewal wave” to succeed.
The so-called classic continuation is different from the general series restart or the prequel series.
It means that there is no sequel after at least 10 years, and the dusty works are then used for development.
The original movie actors return and the original story continues.
This wave started in 2015.
That year, the world’s box office champions and runners-up were all renewed classic works.
“Star Wars 7” and “Jurassic World” defeated the popular IP “Fast and Furious” and “Marvel”, proving the power of feelings.
“Star Wars 7” and the previous film in the series “Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge of the Sith” are exactly 10 years after the filmmaker Lucas Pictures has been acquired by Disney;
“Jurassic World” and “Jurassic Park 3” have passed 14 years, which can be regarded as a model for the continuation of the classic.
When the reputation of the old version of the trilogy has been declining and it is no longer possible to shoot, “Jurassic World” rekindles the dinosaur fever of the 90s with a new story.
The new trilogy plan is therefore put on the agenda.
After that, the number of classic movies continued to increase year by year.
Twentieth Century Fox hurriedly handed over the sequel “Independence Day: Resurgence” after 20 years in 2016.
As a result, the former male protagonist can only appear in the photo, and it eventually becomes a bad movie. At a cost of 1.65, only 390 million box offices were recovered globally. “Independence Day: Resurgence” can be said to be a negative textbook for the continuation of the classic.
The planned third and fourth plans also died immediately.
Two sequels of word-of-mouth models appeared in 2017.
Because of the failure of “Independence Day: Resurgence”, which is also the sequel to the classic science fiction “Blade Runner 2049”, fans didn’t have much hope for it at the beginning.
After all, “Blade Runner” in 1982 was one of the two ceilings of science fiction movies.
Unexpectedly, director Denis Villeneuve co-photographed Roger Deakins and shot a work that is close to a masterpiece.
The British also couldn’t help it, and came up with the sequel to the “Trainspotting” collection in the 1990s.
The director and the original cast all returned to the sequel, which guarantees the quality of the sequel, and the slight decline in the reputation of the sequel is within the acceptance range of movie fans.
If there are more such works, it would be an absolute good thing to continue the classics.
But the ideal is very full, the reality is very skinny, these two classic sequels with good reputation, the box office is not good.
“Trainspotting 2” is okay, because its cost is not high, and the box office of tens of millions is not profitable or loss.
“Blade Runner 2049” is miserable, it cost 150 million US dollars in cost, in exchange for only 260 million box office in the world, it can be regarded as lost.
These two sequels that have a better reputation than “Star Wars 7” and “Jurassic World” have been cold in the market. The reason is that the film types are completely different.
“Star Wars” and “Jurassic” are themselves very successful commercial productions, and their influence is broader.
“Blade Runner” can be regarded as a commercial film, but in 1982, the commercial was a fiasco. It later became a classic because it was passed by word of mouth by movie fans before it was promoted to the altar.
“Trainspotting” is a small-cost movie, which has gradually been divided into the field of film art over time.
The sequels of these two films do not have a strong foundation for commercial success, and are more inclined to the niche culture of the movie fan group.
At the time, their box office was mediocre, let alone expecting more people to watch it in more than ten or twenty years.
Then why does the film company set up a project to shoot?
Because whether “Blade Runner” or “Trainspotting”, their influence in the field of film is still very good.
Perhaps the production companies believe that as long as the quality of the film is good enough, they can bring people who have forgotten the theater back to the theater.
But the real data is in front of us, and the road of classic continuation is really not easy at all.
In 2018, there are 3 of them.
As long as it’s a little bit popular, there will be a sequel that has been released after many years.
The 10th anniversary sequel “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again”, is also singing and dancing, “Mary Poppins Returns” with similar configuration, even Pixar has come up with “The Incredibles 2”.
The reputation of these sequels has not collapsed, and some have even entered the awards season.
Among them, “The Incredibles 2” won over 1.2 billion box office worldwide, and it and “Jurassic World 2” entered the world’s top five annual box office lists.
As long as there is sufficient commercial operation and to cater to market tastes, classic renewal can have a stable box office output.
These three movies in 2018 fit the hot spots of musicals and superhero themes. Feelings are not the only magic weapon to win.
Like those that don’t cater to the market so much, it’s good that the box office can recover the cost.
The continuation of the 2019 classics has become a commonplace.
“Zombieland: Double Tap” barely returned to its original form, and the sequel “Doctor Sleep” of “The Shining” failed miserably.
Produced by Cameron, “Terminator: Dark Fate”, which is said to be the orthodox and direct sequel of “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”, made Paramount lose money.
The failure of the Terminator may be a watershed in the continuation of the classic.
Although there is some difference, there was a “Terminator Genisys” in this series in 2015, but “Terminator: Dark Fate” has always been promoted in conjunction with “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”, and it ignores other sequels.
Paramount is benchmarking “Star Wars 7” and “Jurassic World”. However, a big commercial IP like Terminator still suffers as badly as “Blade Runner 2049”.
Very strange, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” is already a sci-fi classic that surpasses the existence of commercial films, and it is almost after “Alien”.
But the more classic sequel, the harder it is to sell.
According to this rule, “Top Gun: Maverick”, which is postponed to 2022, may have a good box office, and Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator 2” will undoubtedly be difficult.
Facts have proved that whether these classic movies make money or not has much to do with the classic degree of IP.
Whether the subject matter is popular or not, it is true that it caters to market demand.
Those classics have long been far away from this era and no longer suitable for the market of this era. They can be copied intact and have a good reputation, but they are only viewed by a small group of people.
To adapt to the times, word-of-mouth is easy to be bad.
Like “The Matrix Resurrections”, its visual style has been completely changed. It is closer to the director’s high-scoring American drama “Sense8”, but it collapsed.
The same sentimental “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is the popular theme plus the MCU series, it is difficult to sell it.
Major Hollywood studios must make their choice carefully. Don’t just come to a classic and continue, it will only be thankless.
