2011 was a record year for sequels, with 33 total, but relatively few survived the saturated market, here is a look at how well each one fared:
The first major sequel for the year, Big Momma's House: Like Father, Like Son, paled in comparison to its' predecessors, earning just north of $40 million domestic. By comparison, the first two films grossed $100 million and $70 million. A little over a month later, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules opened to a higher number than its' predecessor, but was more frontloaded as it finished about $10 million shy of its' predecessor at $53 million. The following month, Scream 4 released eight years after its' predecessor and failed to even come close to its' franchise tracking record, with a $19 million opening and $38 million finish. The Weinstein Company saw another bomb two weeks later with the animated sequel Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil, which failed to even gross over $10 million domestic.
The same weekend Hoodwinked Too! bombed, Fast Five rode above the fumes of its' predecessors, grossing a huge $86 million opening and going on to gross over $200 million domestically and ranking sixth for the year worldwide with over $600 million worldwide. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides followed three weeks later with another strong showing, a $90 million opening weekend and a $240 million finish. While that was short of its' predecessors domestically, it sped ahead of them worldwide, with over $1 billion worldwide. Memorial Day Weekend brought The Hangover: Part II, which improved from its' predecessor strongly on its' opening weekend, with a record-breaking $135 million over five days and would fall a bit behind the original (as it had better legs) in the long run, with about $260 million domestic. But, the sequel would go on to become the highest-grossing R-rated film of all-time worldwide, ranking seventh for the year with $580 million worldwide. Following on its' heels was X-Men: First Class, which leaned closer towards a reboot and was more modest and closer to a disappointment, with a $54 million start and $155 million finish domestic, on its' way to close to $400 million worldwide. But, that was the lowest-grossing X-Men film stateside.
As for animation (we'll get into more of that later...), the two major summer sequels fell signifigantly behind their predecessors and expectations. Kung Fu Panda 2 had a Memorial Day Weekend advantage, and despite a $65+ million five-day start, it was still far behind its' predecessor and would go on to gross just $165 million stateside ($50 million behind the original), but would do gangbusters overseas, ranking fourth for the year with over $660 million worldwide, beating its' predecessor on that front. Cars 2 was similar, opening with $66 million, but would crash to $191 million, and not holding like a typical Pixar film. However, it would beat its' predecessor on the foreign front, ranking ninth for the year with over $550 million worldwide.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon followed close behind and was able to do great business, despite falling behind its' predecessor in the long run. Earning over $170 million in its' first six days, it would go on to gross $350 million stateside, but would go on to gross over $1 billion worldwide and ranked second for the year. The top-grossing pic from the year was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II which largely improved from its' predecessor due to being the final movie, the eighth Potter movie in ten years earned a huge $169 million in its' opening, breaking the record for the biggest-grossing opening ever, and would gross over $380 million domestic and $1.3 billion worldwide, which ranks as the third-biggest film of all-time behind Avatar and Titanic. Its' fellow release Winnie The Pooh on the other hand struggled, being a franchise revival, with a $8 million debut and $27 million finish.
In August, Rise of the Planet of the Apes successfully relaunched its' franchise with a $54 million opening and would go on to gross over $170 million domestic and $300 million worldwide, improving in total gross from the previous films. Final Destination 5 on the other hand, couldn't keep its' franchise alive with just a $18 million start and a finish close to $45 million. Two 80's remakes followed the following weekend, as Conan The Barbarian and Fright Night were unable to improve from their low-attended originals, with grosses of just between $15 and $20 million apiece. Their fellow release, Spy Kids: All The Time in the World suffered from a long lapse of time and only earned nearly $40 million stateside and $75 million worldwide, both far cries from its' predecessors.
Two other remakes, Drive and Straw Dogs, had mixed results. The R-rated action flick did modest business, grossing $35 million domestic, or twice its budget, and successfully hooked itself into the action mainstream. Straw Dogs was a bomb, with just north of $10 million stateside. On the other hand, the remake of Footloose did well for a remake, despite not seeing the originals' attendance, it still grossed over $50 million domestic. The Thing and Johnny English Reborn were different, as one tried reboot the long-dormant British franchise, but struggled with just $10 million domestic, while the other one tried to break the horror movie slump, but was unable to at nearly $20 million. Paranormal Activity 3 on the other hand improved from its' predecessor with a record-breaking $56 million opening with a finish close to $105 million, on par with the first Paranormal Activity.
Puss in Boots tried to continue the Shrek franchise, and while it paled in comparison to those films and was unable to break the DreamWorks Animation slump, it still met expectations with a finish looking at close to $150 million. It also has already grossed over $300 million worldwide with still some foreign markets left to open. The following weekend, A Very Harold & Kumar 3-D Christmas failed to live up to its' predecessor with a $13 million opening, and a $35 million finish. Two weeks later, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part I did slightly slower business than two of its' predecessors, with a $138 million opening, and is currently at $260 million on its' way to just a slightly higher number. But, nevertheless, it still has earned $650 million worldwide, ranking fifth for the year worldwide.
Meanwhile, the other sequel released that weekend, Happy Feet Two, was trapped due to more competition for the family audience, and failed to do even modest business with a $22 million start and is currently set to finish with just over $60 million stateside. The good news is that it has already done over $120 million worldwide with still some markets to open. The Muppets tried also to relaunch a dormant franchise. While it grossed over $40 million over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday and earned the best reviews for a movie this year, it didn't hold well for a crowd pleaser, as it only has picked up $75 million in just over a month. But still, it has met expectations and Disney has successfully rebooted the franchise.
Onto the current releases, New Year's Eve has done a fraction of Valentine's Day's business, while Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Alvin & The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked are falling signifigantly behind their predecessors, despite the fact that they will gain ground over New Year's week. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is doing strong business and may just be one of those few sequels to actually improve from their predecessors (if it holds well enough into January).
Altogether, sequels leaned more towards failures than successes, but one has to take into note that seven out the Top 10 movies this year are sequels. And next year also has another 20+ sequels slated, so its' no telling whether sequels will improve their status from last year or not.
