Sequel making in the film industry

Abstract

The motion picture industry is one of the least explored of all creative industries. Given the mostly unorganized nature of the industry and its state of flux, the extent of formal research on the behavior of this industry is very limited. Through this project, we have tried to explore an interesting and popular concept of sequel making. A comparison of the Hollywood and Bollywood industries shows that the former outperforms the latter when it comes to sequel making by a huge margin. Inspite of the fact that Bollywood churns out the maximum number of movies all over the world, sequel making is almost a dormant phenomena in the industry. To understand the reason for this discrepancy and to come up with a probably prescriptive model for sequel making in Bollywood, we started with an effort towards understanding the process in Hollywood. The two key questions that we have tried to answer through the project are (i) Can we observe some common trends and patterns in sequels? (ii) What influence does the first movie have on the decision of creating extensions? The intention is to find the key drivers that lead to sequel making. A study of some of the existing literature on brand extensions in motion film industry brought forth some interesting factors. The genre of the movie plays an influential role in the decision making process. The decision of the studio executives on whether or not to invest in sequels is also influenced by the polarity of innovation versus differentiation faced by them. Owing to the experiential nature of movies, it is recommended that filmmakers try to reduce the element of perceived similarity of sequel with the parent brand. This helps in reduction of satiation in the audience that develops early on account of the experiential nature of movies. Classification of sequels can be done based on being character driven i.e. having emphasis on the central character of the movie and theme-driven wherein the movies provide an experience of another universe/era. These classes can further be divided into story-driven which are chronological and to some extent pre-decided to be made into a sequel and the second category having centralized character with independent stories. Further, an analysis of the genres of sequel movies indicates that the prominent genres are action, adventure and thriller. The popularity of these genres suggests that they capture the imagination of the audience and transport them to another world, which is the experience that the audience is seeking again and again. Also, the trends of the movie revenues and ratings within a franchise were analyzed. It was seen that not all movies in a sequel were as profitable as the first movie. Further, while some outperformed the earlier movie, logically explaining further sequel movies, some others were continued as a sequel even if the performance was not at par with the first movie. To study the influence of the first movie on subsequent versions, a sample of 50 sequels were selected on a random basis and a hit index was developed based on three parameters – box office performance, audience rating and ratio of revenues to budget. It was found that most of the first movies scored high on the hit index. There were exceptions to the rule too. A qualitative analysis of such movies whose first release was not successful and yet they were converted to sequels led us to discuss the phenomenon of cult film. We propose that three sets of factors form the main drivers behind sequel making and create a favorable opportunity to create the next movie. These are the creative core, resource base and the pattern of coupling. While the first two lead to the creation of optimal distinctiveness, the last factor brings in business commitment. The two together create an opportunity conducive to sequel making. Finally we explore the importance of character as a standalone brand in the movie. If we study the most popular sequels in Hollywood, the strong position held by one or more central characters is hard to miss. On the other hand, such strong characters are difficult to come by in Bollywood. We propose two types of sequels seen in Bollywood – character driven (not so common) and de-facto sequel (where the audience desire to see an actor in similar roles, leads to creating a certain image of the actor, for instance Amitabh Bachchan as the angry young man, or Shahrukh Khan as the romantic, adorable hero).