Why Hollywood's horror movie sequel addiction is too profitable to ever kick – Quartz

Sequels are the financial lifeblood of Hollywood, launching multi-decade franchises and allowing studios to develop ancillary products and experiences. And horror movie sequels are something like an industry cheat code, often requiring much smaller budgets than other genres and, in some cases, delivering major box office returns. Although sequels have been around since the dawn of the film business, horror sequels didn’t take off until the 1970s, when the 1973 release of The Exorcist led to the release of a series of follow-up films. Similarly, the summer blockbuster Jaws in 1975, led to the release of Jaws 2 several years later, ultimately making it the most profitable horror franchise to date when adjusted for inflation. There’s been some debate as to whether Jaws is a horror film or an adventure film. A simple way to distinguish the two is to compare the ever-present terror the great white shark visits upon every resident of the fictional Amity Island throughout the film, contrasted against the brief skirmish Leonardo DiCaprio has with a bear in The Revenant.One film, Jaws, depends on framing the animal as a preternaturally skilled menace relentlessly hunting all of humanity, while The Revenant places the animal in the same context as…
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