“The Secret Life of Pets 2” is the third major animated feature follow-up so far this year to underperform. Pixar’s “Toy Story 4” is less than two weeks away, and it will likely be a juggernaut. But even that studio has fallen into this financial sequel trap before. The attention span of some families is shorter than it used to be. They just don’t want to be waiting that long, even though animated films take years of hard work to produce. And maybe some people just didn’t want to see a sequel or threequel to certain stories. And these stats (courtesy of Box Office Mojo) prove it:
“The Secret Life of Pets 2”
Studio: Illumination
Release Date: June 7, 2019
Since “Pets 1”: 2 years, 11 months
Opening Weekend: $47.1 million
OW Drop from “Pets 1”: 55%
“How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World”
Studio: DreamWorks
Release Date: February 22, 2019
Since “Dragon 2”: 4 years, 8 months
Total: $160.7 million
Drop from “Dragon 2”: 9%
Drop from “Dragon 1” (2010): 26%
“The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part”
Studio: WB Animation Group
Release Date: February 8, 2019
Since “LEGO Movie 1”: 5 years
Total: $105.8 million
Drop from “LEGO Movie 1”: 59%
“Sherlock Gnomes”
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: March 23, 2018
Since “Gnomeo” (Disney): 7 years, 2 months
Total: $43.2 million
Drop from “Gnomeo”: 57%
“Despicable Me 3”
Studio: Illumination
Release Date: June 30, 2017
Since “DM2”: 4 years
Total: $264.6 million
Drop from “DM2”: 28%
“Cars 3”
Studio: Pixar
Release Date: June 16, 2017
Since “Cars 2”: 5 years
Total: $152.9 million
Drop from “Cars 2”: 20%
Drop from “Cars 1” (2006): 37%
“Ice Age: Collision Course”
Studio: Blue Sky
Release Date: July 22, 2016
Since “Ice Age 4”: 4 years
Total: $64.1 million
Drop from “Ice Age 4”: 60%
Drop from “Ice Age 3” (2009): 67%
“Kung Fu Panda 3”
Studio: DreamWorks
Release Date: January 29, 2016
Since “Panda 2”: 4 years, 8 months
Total: $143.5 million
Drop from “Panda 2”: 13%
Drop from “Panda 1” (2008): 33%
“The Smurfs 2”
Studio: Sony Animation
Release Date: July 31, 2013
Since: “Smurfs 1”: 2 years
Total: $71 million
Drop from “Smurfs 1”: 50%
“Planes: Fire & Rescue”
Studio: DisneyToon Studios
Release Date: July 18, 2013
Since “Planes 1”: 1 year
Total: $59.2 million
Drop from “Planes 1”: 34%
“Happy Feet Two”
Studio: Warner Bros.
Release Date: November 18, 2011
Since “Happy Feet 1”: 5 years
Total: $64 million
Drop from “Happy Feet 1”: 68%
“Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil”
Studio: The Weinstein Co.
Release Date: April 29, 2011
Since “Hoodwinked! 1”: 5 years, 3 months
Total: $10.1 million
Drop from “Hoodwinked! 1”: 80%
“Shrek Forever After”
Studio: DreamWorks
Release Date: May 21, 2010
Since “Shrek 3”: 3 years
Total: $238.7 million
Drop from “Shrek 3”: 26%
Drop from “Shrek 2” (2004): 46%
Some Franchises have had either small decreases or increases over the years:
“Ralph Breaks the Internet” vs. “Wreck-It Ralph”: +6%
“Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” vs. “HT2”: -1%
“Rio 2” vs. “Rio”: -8%
“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2” vs. “Cloudy 1”: -4%
“Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” vs. “Madagascar 2”: +20%
Of course, long-awaited follow-up installments, such as “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water” and Pixar’s “Toy Story 3”, “Monsters University”, “Finding Dory” and “Incredibles 2” were all major improvements upon their previous installments (not adjusted for inflation).
It will be interesting to see how “Toy Story 4” (9 years), “The Angry Birds Movie 2” (3 years, 3 months) and “Frozen 2” (6 years) all do during the rest of 2019. Which category will they fall under, and why?
Next year sees “Trolls: World Tour”, three and a half years after the original. SpongeBob’s third movie will come more than five years after the sequel. “Minions 2” is also five years after the original. And “The Croods 2” is a whopping 7 years and 9 months since the first “Croods”.
What does Universal (which distributes DreamWorks and Illumination films) now think about waiting to release 2021’s “The Boss Baby 2” and “Sing 2” four-plus years after their original installments? And Sony’s “Hotel Transylvania 4” on Christmas 2021 will be unveiled four and a half years after “Summer Vacation”… for now.