Everything That’s Old… is New Again
Nostalgia has an uncanny ability of bringing us back to the silver screen. So when it comes to the big Hollywood studio releases, they understand that we, as an audience, enjoy sentiment and familiarity. And this has become a trend over the last 10 years or so, as the majority of successful and dominant films at the domestic box office are continuations of franchises or brands.
According to Box Office Mojo’s yearly box office breakdown between 2017 and 2021, 41 of the Top 50 grossing films were either a sequel, remake or tied to a shared universe. No surprise there as we have all flocked to the theater to see the latest entry in the MCU, DCEU or watch The Fast and the Furious gang get shot into space. But January and February's two big releases are (long awaited?) sequels to staples of the pop culture consciousness from the late 1990’s-early 2000’s.
Last month, Paramount released Scream onto 3,364 theaters over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend and caught industry insiders by surprise when it grossed $33.8 million over the 4 day weekend. It had been 11 years since the last entry of the Scream franchise puttered its way into theaters, and grossed a mere $38.1 million domestically - which is the lowest of the franchise. Yet, there is a renaissance of reboots/sequels OR “requels” (as the characters in this latest Scream call it, with their tongue in cheek dialogue) in the horror genre. A formula that is equalling BIG RETURNS for studios - bring back the legacy characters from the original series, add in some new young blood…..characters I mean, of course - and begin the revamp of the brand. And voila!
Paramount understood that audiences love Ghostface, and whilst sitting on such a spooky and box office ripe brand, they have stabbed their way to $106 million dollars worldwide and counting, as the film continues to have strong word of mouth and small declines weekend to weekend. And once again this coming weekend, Paramount Studios looks to continue their trend as Jackass Forever hits theaters, reuniting us with Johnny Knoxville and the gang for the first time in 12 years.
It has been 20 years since the first Jackass film hit theatres in October 2002, making a surprising $64 million domestically; and every entry since then, has made MORE money than the last. Jackass Number Two ended with a global haul of $85 million while the last entry in 2010, Jackass 3D, earned a whopping $50.3 million on its opening weekend on its way to $171 million globally.
Although the brand may make some people roll their eyes (ladies, I’m looking at you), the film's target audience is male and they come out in a big way anytime a Jackass film is released. Now factor this into it - as the nostalgia for 30-somethings like myself, who grew up watching the original show and films, plus today’s younger generation who see a lot of this Jackass-esque material on social media daily, and that should equal a great opening and a return on the films $10 million budget for Jackass Forever. My guess is a weekend opening of $22 million for the film.
Quality or not, butts are getting back in the seats at the cinemas, and that is a good thing for business. If Scream and Jackass Forever are any indicator, expect studios to continue to go back to the vault to find properties that we all know and love because the return on investment when it comes to nostalgia is a big one.
