3 2020s Movie Franchises That Will Still Be Getting Sequels a Decade From Now

As much as some film fans don’t want to admit it, Hollywood’s bottom line is built on movie franchises. Though original stories and brand new ideas surely rise to the top and give us fresh films, sequels, remakes, prequels, and reboots of existing properties rule the box office and make sure that those other titles can actually get made. Take last year for example: Only one movie in the Top 10 films at the domestic box office was an original, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, which was flanked by the third attempt at making a Fantastic Four movie and the second Wicked (itself an adaptation of Act 2 of a musical, which was based on a book…which was inspired by The Wizard of Oz).

Based on the current trajectory of movie franchises, some evergreen titles will almost certainly be getting new sequels and reboots until the sun itself extinguishes, like Halloween and Jurassic Park. What about the films that started in this decade, though? What movie franchises that started in the past seven years will still be kicking around in ten years? Though M3GAN once seemed like a guarantee, the second film appeared to obliterate the franchise, and though Sonic the Hedgehog seems poised to literally never stop, like the little blue guy himself, eventually it will run out of gas and prompt a reboot. These three, though, have the makings of something that won’t stop, even well into the 2030s.

3) Backrooms

Kane Parson’s feature film not only took this analog horror motif and made it mainstream, but with it he delivered the highest-grossing movie ever for distributor A24. With over $384 million generated at the global box office, that number alone would be enough to secure Backrooms‘ future as a movie franchise, but also guarantees that A24 can continue to make the movies they’ve largely become known for, all thanks to the checks it’s cashing via the Backrooms.

The good news for Parsons and A24 is that the “Backrooms” concept has a tremendous amount of range and depth, with the movie leaving plenty of open room for future stories, evolutions of the property, and more. The money made was already a guarantee that Backrooms movies will be debuting with regularity for years, but narratively there’s still plenty of material to mine.

If there’s one “Hail Mary” prediction to be made about the influence of Backrooms and its potential for lasting even longer into the years to come, it’s that the proliferation of the idea as being community-driven could see “Backrooms” becoming something of a horror shorthand akin to “Amityville.” To that end, knock-off movies that use the Backrooms motif feel like a certainty, which could cement it as something that will still be alive in the 2030s.

2) The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Once again, the box office receipts of The Super Mario Bros. Movie fully guaranteed that this franchise, despite middling to bad reviews, was going to become a juggernaut for the rest of time. With over $1.3 billion made globally, it’s no surprise that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie arrived three years later, itself climbing to $1.01 billion.

With over forty years of Mario games released by Nintendo, the good news is that there is no shortage of material for new Super Mario movies to bring to life. The bad news is they’ve already used A LOT of it in just two movies; elements of Mario Kart, Luigi’s Mansion, even Donkey Kong’s side of Nintendo lore, all get brought to life. That said, details like the moving paintings of Super Mario 64 and the body-swapping tech of Super Mario Odyssey are still up for grabs.

There’s some great news, though, which is that the Super Mario animated movies have clearly set the stage, even if it wasn’t their intention, to make a Super Smash Bros. movie a reality. If that’s not a billion-dollar-grossing movie, and an ambition to keep this series going for another 10 years, I don’t know what is.

1) Smile

Parker Finn’s 2022 movie Smile made $217 million at the global box office against a reported budget of $17 million. Those are the kind of margins that make the mouth of every producer in Hollywood water. Even accounting for the split between exhibitors and the studio, and the cost of its viral marketing stunts, that’s a hefty amount of profit for a horror film that’s pretty derivative.

As one might expect, that success quickly saw a sequel get pushed out, with 2024’s Smile 2 bringing in $138 million globally on a much bigger budget, one that was reportedly $38 million. The result is clear: There’s a market for the Smile film franchise, but one that needs to keep the cost in control. That said, we’re talking about the film studio that produced and distributed eight Friday the 13th movies in nine years. On top of that, the new owners of that studio are even more keen on franchises than ever.

Perhaps one reason Smile 3 hasn’t already made its way out into the world, though, is that Parker Finn is officially cashing in his “One for them, one for me,” developing a remake of the 1981 classic, Possession, also for Paramount. From the outside perspective, this seems like the studio allowing Finn to make something he’s passionate about, hoping they can squeeze a couple more smiles out of him down the line.

5 Most Visually Stunning Sci-Fi Movies of the Decade (So Far)