Disney CEO Bob Iger is aware of the studio’s sequel problem, but this acknowledgment only makes his plans for the future more bewildering. As one of the most famous and prolific production companies on the planet, Disney has no shortage of cinematic success stories. However, as of late, the studio has been following a particularly tedious trend. Despite seeing immense success with both animated and live-action original movies in the past, Disney has been releasing a disproportionate number of additions to existing franchises, instead of offering new ideas.
The head of the company agrees. Bob Iger admitted that Disney has been making too many sequels, though he made no apologies for it. Iger claimed that some Disney sequels have performed well and are genuinely good films. “I don’t want to apologize for making sequels,” he said during a Q&A at the New York Times’ DealBook conference. “Some of them have done extraordinarily well. And they’ve been good films, too. I think there has to be a reason to make it, beyond commerce. You have to have a good story. And we have made too many. That doesn’t mean we’re not going to continue to make them.”
Bob Iger Is Right About Disney Making Too Many Sequels
Remakes, reboots, and live-action adaptations, too
Bob Iger has a point on one front: this past year, Disney releases were overwhelmingly sequels, such as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in February, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in May, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny in June, and The Marvels in November. Before that, 2022 brought several sequels, including Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Avatar: The Way of Water, Hocus Pocus 2, Disenchanted, and Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again.
Not only is Disney making too many sequels, but they’re also leaning heavily on remakes and reboots of existing media. In the summer of 2023, Disney released a live-action remake of The Little Mermaid and a Haunted Mansion reboot, the latter marking the second theatrical film adaptation of the Walt Disney theme park attraction of the same name. The year prior, Disney also released a live-action remake of Pinocchio, a third adaptation of Cheaper by the Dozen, and the Toy Story spinoff movie Lightyear.
Why Disney Is Still Making Sequels (Despite Admitting There’s A Problem)
Sequels offer moviegoers the familiar
While Bob Iger acknowledged that Disney has been making too many sequels, he also says the studio will continue to make them. Disney may still be greenlighting more sequels because, in theory, sequels are a safe bet. They draw on source material that audiences are already familiar with and continue a story they are invested in. Bringing back existing characters and lore to tell a new story — or retelling an existing one in a new way — is an easy way to produce new content while remaining in a comfort zone of sorts. Perhaps the studio is too afraid to roll the dice on original stories and would rather run the well dry.
While not all their sequels have been winners, Disney still seems to believe that sequels are a worthwhile investment. Even if it doesn’t always work, it’s still worth a shot. As Iger pointed out, some sequels to Disney films have done “extraordinarily well” while also being “good films“ in their own right. Maybe Disney is just more willing to take a chance on a sequel or a remake rather than a brand-new idea.
Disney’s Sequel Plans Suggest Its Box Office Problems Will Continue
Disney flopped hard at the box office in 2023
Disney’s sequels are not going anywhere, at least not anytime soon. Disney’s slate of upcoming movie releases is heavy on sequels, including Inside Out 2 in 2024 and Zootopia 2 and Avatar 3 in the years to come. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, the fourth installment in the Planet of the Apes reboot franchise, will also be arriving in 2024, along with Mufasa: The Lion King, a prequel to the live-action version of The Lion King. There are also plans for more sequels to Avatar in the future, as well as Frozen 3, Frozen 4, and Toy Story 5.
Live-action remakes of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Moana will also be arriving in 2025. As for Marvel sequels and new installments to existing franchises, Deadpool 3 is coming in 2024, followed by Captain America: Brave New World, the fourth in its series, in 2025. Two new Avengers movies will follow: Avengers: The Kang Dynasty in 2026 and Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027. With this slate of Disney movies over-saturated with sequels, prequels, remakes, reboots, and live-action adaptations, Disney’s long-term output strategy seems to be to continue to rely on existing IPs.
However, this looks to be major overkill. At this rate, Disney’s poor performance at the box office is bound to continue. Summer 2023 was full of box office flops for Disney, The Little Mermaid only raked in $561 million worldwide on a budget of $250 million, a substantial drop from the success of other live-action remakes. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny bombed with $384 million, and Haunted Mansion, which was released in July, for some reason instead of near Halloween, brought in a measly $117 million. This disappointing turnout proved a huge blow for the studio — Disney’s box office failures cost the company $900 million in losses.
The rest of Disney’s 100th anniversary year continued to see disappointments at the box office. The animated feature Wish had an underwhelming opening weekend, grossing only $32 million over Thanksgiving, while The Marvels debuted with only $46 million domestically. This turned out to be the worst opening weekend of any Marvel Cinematic Universe movie ever. Disney continuing to churn out all these new sequels regardless of how much they bombed at the box office in 2023 is baffling, especially since they already know they’re overdoing it.
Bob Iger’s Sequel Comments Hint At More Disney Originals – And That’s A Good Thing
Fewer sequels equal more originals
While there are plenty of Disney sequels and remakes in the near and far future, Bob Iger’s comments are still somewhat reassuring. Disney may never stop making sequels, but the very fact that Iger acknowledges that Disney has been producing way too many of them at least indicates that the company is aware that there’s a problem. Even if they don’t have plans to solve it just yet, it’s a step in the right direction, at least.
While Iger never made any direct reference to producing more Disney original films, it’s possible to infer from his comments that Disney may start pulling back on sequels if they don’t feel warranted, which would leave more room for new stories. As he said, there should always be a solid reason to make a movie other than the potential profit, which certainly contributed to the motivation behind many of the sequels to come out of Disney in recent years. Iger’s emphasis on the importance of a film having a “good story“ also suggests that quality stories will be favored over money-grab sequels —especially if they’re not grabbing much money anymore.
