Why Hollywood loves sequels

Variety story on summer box office 2010, up nearly a billion from just a decade earlier.

But what caught my eye was that divot in 2005.  It made me wonder, what caused that?  Not an economic downturn or some military calamity, and the summer itself was pretty normal.

Then I found a follow-on set of slides that seemed to explain it:  only one fewer major release that summer (36 vice 37), but a huge drop in sequels with their guaranteed audiences (from 15 sequels in 2003 to 9 in 2004 to a mere 3 in 2005.

And that's why Hollywood needs sequels.  In terms of BO, they attract the summer baseload demand.  Track that V from 2003 through 2007 and you see that the reduced flow of sequels certainly seems to have caused it.  Would seem to indicate that, if Hollywood had its druthers, it would always tee up 9-10 sequels every summer.