DreamWorks is now owned by Universal Pictures, which also owns the animation studio Illumination Entertainment. Now, the sense of the sequel reigning over all in mainstream animation has shifted. Between 20, for example, they released twelve films, six of which were sequels or prequels to prior entries. For a long time, though, DreamWorks was far more laser-focused on its sequels. The film that supplanted it as the top dog? Pixar's Finding Dory, before Pixar's Incredibles 2 topped it in 2018. Shrek 2, the 2004 sequel, was the highest-grossing animated film of all time at the domestic box office for over 15 years.

That is, except their third feature film, which was a sequel.ĭreamWorks, for a long time, was a studio that seemed designed to have two aims at most: either create new films that could become series, or create new entries in a pre-existing series. The studio's addition of so many sequels in the 2010s was so distressing because it felt counterintuitive to what Pixar was known for: unique, distinctive stories. For a long time, it was easy to treat Pixar synonymously with the concept of originality. Drilling down further, though, it's worth pondering the effect of the sequel on one of the company's most unassailable brands, Pixar Animation Studios. Within the Walt Disney Company, any attempt to keep intellectual property going has been largely welcomed. The 2010s have allowed and enabled studios to find new ways to dredge up the past - sequels are now joined by remakes, revivals, re-imaginings, reboots, and more.

Audiences love the original story, so they're given a second story that offers more of the same in the hopes that those same audiences will buy even more tickets. Sequels represent a risk in Hollywood, and they're the kind of risk that the industry just can't get enough of.

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