Thursday, November 10, 2011

Paramount announces two more fourquels and one sequel


By Sarah Sluis

It's no secret that Hollywood has been pursuing more sequels in recent years. Despite all the complaining from those that want more original content, sequels continue to do well. Audiences already have an idea of what they're getting, and with rising ticket prices many people would prefer to bet on a sure thing.



What's surprising is that so many sequels are now reaching the "fourquel" stage. This year, two such Shrek forever aftermovies reached that stage: Shrek Forever After and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. It's not necessarily because studios expected huge grosses domestically, but rather predictable ones: both achieved their greatest success in their second incarnation, with sliding grosses since. Now Paramount has announced three more sequels, including two fourquels: Paranormal Activity 4 and Transformers 4.



Horror movies have more of a precedent for spawning multiple sequels. Scream had its fourquel just this year, and Saw yielded an astonishing seven movies. Final Destination just reached its fifth movie this year. Back in the 1980s, series such as A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and Halloween yielded numerous sequels.



More unusual is that expensive action movies like Transformers can do well enough in their subsequent outings to warrant a fourth movie. Transformers 3 only did 88% of the business of Transformers 2--domestically. Internationally, the franchise earns more and more with each outing: $390 million to $434 million to an astonishing $770 million. Turns out the same holds true for the Shrek and Pirates of the Caribbean series. Even as domestic grosses flounder, the international box office surges. The proliferation of sequels may be less about Hollywood failing to find original product and more about the siren call of the international box office.



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