Think about it: eye-catching high fashion is the norm. The who’s who of star power is so bright that someone has to alert NASA. No, I’m not talking about The latest Academy Awards. I’m talking about May The Devil Wears Prada 2. The most anticipated succession, viz just follow up like a sure hitup to 20 years after the start. But what is more impressive than the attractive ensembles that decorate it the real characters are how the film works as a microcosm of the important practice.
Franchise fatigue is a real threat to Hollywood, but it’s often misconstrued. The Devil Wears Prada 2 it exists because there is still an abiding need for the original despite twenty years without progress. Meanwhile, a significant portion of the audience says they will no longer watch new entries from long-running franchises like Marvel (36 percent), Game of Thrones (49 percent), The Walking Dead (54 percent), according to Hub Entertainment Research. The story of the audience is not with the usual franchises. It’s the franchises they think are overstuffed and out of whack. (With all due respect it’s totally fun Knight of the Seven Kingdoms again Wonder Man).
In a market that has been heavily focused on similar small franchises for years, The Devil Wears Prada 2 it feels more like a breath of nostalgic fresh air than a bloated overexposure.
I asked Parrot Analytics to compare the most in-demand movie/TV concepts that haven’t released a new installment in at least 10 years with the top operating franchises. The gap between the former (20 times more needed than the average title) and the latter (24.6x) was much smaller than expected, suggesting that the inactive IP could compete with existing franchises at the time.
Featured examples are included LOST (the 34th most wanted TV series in the world), A star (Fourth among films), The Truman Show (20) and To begin with (24). The TV side of the equation was dominated by genre storytelling (LOST, Hannibal, Person of Interest, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Stargate)—exactly what tired episodic franchises used to deliver well. (It is important to note that the latter Buffy renewal was canceled by Hulu). On the film side, the aforementioned high-concept and sci-fi titles mixed with historical epics (Troy) and war stories (Black Hawk Down) are among the leaders.
Not that Christopher Nolan is coming back for a sequel anytime soon. But studios can build these worlds with creatively justified continuity. Many of these articles have remained in the cultural consciousness not just for quality, but for being well placed in a media-filled environment.
Studios look down on many fans of older movies and/or legacy TV series. Discussion around the possibility LOST The process has continued for years without concrete movement, while false rumors ignited the Twitter film in 2020, suggesting that The Tenet was placed in the world of To begin with. Why is that?
There are approximately 42 million US consumers age 35-plus who are popular moviegoers of older titles and are likely to attend opening weekend, according to Greenlight. Older millennials and younger Gen Xers are the top demographics with disposable income. But they are aimed more at family entertainment that the studios hope will bring their children to them. Yes, adult dramas have become a box office hit. But that’s because Hollywood is headed in the wrong direction.
Hollywood has made a living spending the last 15 years suppressing every major franchise. Meanwhile, social media platforms such as TikTok and YouTube have served as important tools to discover and innovate ideas that have not yet been over-exposed. There are about 114 million adult sci-fi moviegoers in the US, and many of them are heavy users of YouTube, according to Greenlight, where fan culture naturally supports demand and engagement for titles like A star. A viral TikTok/YouTube video, a news hook, a celebrity mention, a platform push—all of these factors can drive renewed circulation.
Streaming data tells what the audience wants
As the market leader, Netflix is the default broadcaster. Its view serves as an important moral signal and not just empty nostalgia. Licensed titles often rotate in and out of the field at different intervals due to different contractual agreements, but the broadcaster’s biannual engagement reports speak volumes about viewership desires.
Between 2023 and 2025, the first three seasons of LOST has amassed nearly 800 million viewing hours worldwide (tip What’s on Netflix). A star (101 million hours) and The Truman Show (31 million hours) showed strong completion rates (number of hours watched divided by total working time). That speaks to how relevant these stories remain years later.
Every Netflix viewing becomes a potential fan of the next installment. About 65 percent of people rarely (or never) watch a sequel without seeing the original, according to Greenlight Analytics, where I work as Director of Content & Content Strategy. Streamers quietly build new fans to acquire quiet IP while owners collect lucrative licensing fees. It won.
TroyDemand has increased by 58 percent over the previous year’s average, it said The Truman Show (46 percent), according to Parrot. Some of the leading candidates for the continuation of dormant IP include Scrubs again Malcolm in the Middle (both of which received a revival), as well Scarface (the film resumes in the works) and V for Vendetta (a HBO adaptation in development).
These types of topics are waiting to explode again when they are reactivated with the right digital switch. Hollywood has more than enough IP to choose from, but lacks the compass to navigate it effectively. Studios chasing a sixth installment of a tired series are fighting for dwindling pieces of diminishing returns. People looking for a mix of old and new, an audience that only watches movies they’ve seen, and 800 million hours of global viewing time dedicated LOST as if it were telling a consistent story.
