2023 was a huge year for blockbusters; however, not in a good way. The only two films that made it into the billion-dollar club were considered the least likely – Barbie and The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Marvel came out with three films last year, and while Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 made a good (yet slightly disappointing) return by collecting over $800 million at the box office, The Marvels and Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania were straight-fire losses for the MCU brand.
However, that wasn’t it. Big-name blockbusters like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part One shockingly failed to make a dent at the box office. For the most part, franchise films were the biggest bombs of 2023. With a new year set, a different round of blockbusters will try to recapture the magic of 2019 that saw NINE films make it into the billion-dollar club. Here are the fatal mistakes that 2024 blockbusters should avoid.
Political Messages
This has been beaten like a dead horse, but it can’t be ignored. Sure, Barbie is a heavily political film that made its way into the billion-dollar club. However, the key component here is that it properly targeted its demographic. Barbie has always been a feminist icon, so it wasn’t surprising that this film touched on themes aimed to appeal to the female demographic. Plus, Ryan Gosling‘s Ken was a strong male lead. The thing about Barbie is that the film was poking fun at both sides, even though the feminist themes smacked everyone in the face.
The same can’t be said about the other films. Disney trying to insert themselves into the political landscape backfired massively. Now granted, every film has a message or theme. Hell, when you look back at Pixar classics, there’s always an important political theme that clouds the film. The key difference was that old Pixar films focused on entertainment first. Zootopia is a recent prime example of this. That film cleverly tackled racism and discrimination, but it was all subtle because the entertainment factor was first and foremost.
There’s nothing wrong with having political messages within the film, but people go to the movies to escape the drudgery of the real world. Being overly preachy about your message is the ultimate downfall. Barbie got away with it and another political film reaching it may be target audience could as well, but Barbie never forgot to be entertaining first and foremost.
Copy and Paste Stories
Not every blockbuster had political themes. Films like Fast X and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts were relatively straightforward and designed for fun, but these types of movies had a, “been there, done that” feel to them. So did Mission Impossible: dead Reckoning – Part One. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse exploded in theaters massively because it expanded on its predecessor freshly and excitingly. It’s hard to be original and exciting when it’s the tenth entry of a franchise.
Transformers was rather harmless, but it didn’t separate itself much from the stories that came before it. The film just didn’t have the Michael Bay stereotypes that pissed people off. Audiences were tired of franchise films. There are only so many times when a major threat wants to kill Dom and his crew. Or in the case of Ethan Hunt, it’s hard to invest in his dangerous missions when it seems like he escapes all of them relatively unharmed. This also goes for remakes like The Little Mermaid. If franchises or remakes are going to continue, then there still has to be something original that demands to be seen in theaters.
Guardians Vol. 3 and John Wick: Chapter 4 are also examples of films that presented something thrilling and new despite being sequels. Though it likely helped that these were the final chapters. Nevertheless, originality is an important factor because once the audience catches onto your formula, then they’ll get less and less excited about the product with each release.
A Good Film That Demands To Be Seen In Theaters
This one is the most obvious, but too many films in 2023 felt like cash cows, nothing more. Barbenheimer was such a huge event because both movies weren’t just original, but the general consensus is that they’re good. Yes, sometimes good movies slip under the cracks, so this isn’t as black-and-white as it seems. However, a good example is Five Nights at Freddy’s, where it generally felt like an event movie that demanded to be seen in theaters. Granted, Blumhouse shot themselves in the foot by also putting it on Peacock, but FNAF‘s opening weekend numbers were incredible.
Sadly, most people ranged that movie from bad to okay, so the huge horror film plunged down the box office following its massive opening weekend. Given the high prices of tickets these days, it’s simply not enough for a blockbuster to feel big and epic. It has to be good. Making a great movie isn’t easy, but there are times when it’s clear that a film was simply greenlit because the studio believes that it’s a great cash cow.
If executives want audiences to spend money on movie tickets, then they have to give them an unforgettable movie experience. Films like Jaws, Jurassic Park, and the Avengers two-part saga are also great examples of this. Given the current slate of 2024, this year is shaping up to be something special. Hopefully, that ends up being the case.
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