Cape Town - Movie sequels were again “sure things” at the South African box office in the year to October, with eight of the 10 highest-grossing films sequels, or parts of franchises.
While new films set for release over the lucrative Christmas holiday season may change the leaderboard, current countrywide earnings have five sequels or franchises in the top five.
In first place, with earnings of R27.1 million, is Transformers: Age of Extinction, the fourth film in director Michael Bay’s hit robot science fiction franchise.
The film’s two-and-a-half hours of robots again pummelling one another to save the world may have garnered some middling to poor reviews in the local press, but this didn’t stop almost 500 000 local patrons flocking to see it.
Stefan Rheeder, the South African marketing manager for United International Pictures, which distributed the film, said the group was “extremely excited” with its success.
Franchises such as Transformers – the first Bay film was released in 2007 – created their own momentum, he said.
With each new movie in the franchise, the brand becomes “stronger and stronger”.
“We feel the secret lies in the fact that franchises create their own dedicated target audiences,” said Rheeder. “As the franchises expand, we can start talking to the same people, as well as expand and grow this group of viewers.”
Another Transformers film is planned for 2016, with a new director, however.
Speaking about the draw of sequels, Isabel Rao, chief executive for product distribution at Ster Kinekor Entertainment, said follow-ups could become like “old friends”: cinemagoers wanted to keep revisiting them.
“Audiences have a strong emotional connection to the characters and theme of the film,” she said.
According to Box Office Mojo, a website that tracks global movie earnings, Transformers: Age of Extinction was the highest-grossing film worldwide this year, earning more than R12 billion.
The film was the highest earner in China (where it was partly set), Russia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand, as well as South Africa.
For Ian-Malcolm Rijsdijk, senior lecturer at UCT’s Centre for Film and Media Studies, many factors contribute to the success of sequels and franchises.
Rijsdijk said savvy marketing of big-budget films with spectacular special effects attracted patrons aged from their 20s to their 50s to cinemas, an audience that today has the choice of watching quality TV series at home.
To pry them away from laptops and TVs, films had to offer an experience.
Movies, said Rijsdijk, were staking more money on huge budget films with dazzling effects to provide what television, laptops and tablets couldn’t.
The rise of 3D technology had also helped set films in cinemas apart from what viewers could watch at home. “The presence of 3D television is tiny,” he said.
Cinemas were also attracting audiences by upgrading their facilities, offering luxurious chairs and VIP bars. Cinemagoers would also pay a premium to see new releases at IMAX theatres. Director Christopher Nolan’s science fiction film Interstellar, for example, is available in the IMAX format in Pretoria and Durban.
Warren Holder, editor of Screen Africa, said the current slew of sequels was at least partially attributable to the phenomenal success of the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings films.
“A culture was established wherein audiences were prepared to come back to the cinema – even after a considerable period of time – to see the next instalment in the adventures of their favourite characters. This trend now appears to be at its height,” he said.
Not all franchises were successful, however.
Even big budgets, A-listers and popular source material can leave audiences underwhelmed. If the first film failed to kickstart interest, sequels could be cancelled, said Rijsdijk.
The film The Golden Compass, for example, based on author Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, couldn’t build on the success of the Harry Potter films, he said.
After middling reviews and takings, talk of sequels was put on hold.
Next year already has a number of remakes, sequels and franchise continuations set for release.
Among the biggest will be Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, which was filmed partly in Johannesburg, and Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, the first Star Wars film to be co-produced by Walt Disney Pictures.
Weekend Argus