Make Movies Memeable
Why the internet is responsible for a lack of originality at the box office
On May 4th, 2019, Avengers: Endgame became the second-highest grossing film of all time a mere 11 days after it premiered in theaters around the world. Of course, it actually took more — much more — than just 11 days for Endgame to reach such wild levels of success. In reality, it was the culmination of 22 Marvel Cinematic Universe films released over 11 years.
It’s no surprise that Endgame performed so well. The box office over the past decade has increasingly rewarded franchise films based on notable intellectual property. Disney, of course, was ahead of the curve in spotting the value in existing canonical stories and intellectual property, having acquired Marvel Entertainment in 2009 for a relatively paltry (in hindsight) $4.24 billion and Lucasfilm for a mere $4.05 billion three years later in 2012. These prescient IP acquisitions have powered Disney to take control of the box office, with the studio producing the top grossing film for the past five years straight (2015–2019).
Top films from the previous six years (2009–2014) originated from five different…
