Now that we've gone into detail about casting choices and character development, let's return to our number one rule: Familiarity = Liking. Applying this concept to story choice, we can explain why certain movies make such immense amounts of money. First, take a look at the slideshow below. It contains posters for 2012's most anticipated Summer movies (released from May - August, expected to make at least $100 million domestically; in order of release date). Does this slideshow have you experiencing a little déjà vu?
It just so happens that all but one of these films is a sequel, prequel, remake, reboot, or adaptation of a story, comic book, or novel. Most of them fall into more than one of these categories. Take The Avengers for example, which has become the third highest grossing film of all time. Four of the film's protagonists (Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor, and Captain America) have each had stand alone films over the course of the past five years, all of which hinted at the events to come in The Avengers. Because of this five year marketing campaign, almost every potential movie-goer on the planet was familiar with this film by the time it arrived in theaters. While many of these upcoming movies could be high-quality, it is clear that a lack of popular, original films is a consequence of our natural attraction to familiarity. The only film on this list that is completely original is Brave. However, this is a Pixar production, which all but guarantees that it will make over $200 million and be critically acclaimed. Out of the 12 films Pixer has produced, only one film, Cars 2 (2011), has fallen short of these two benchmarks (adjusted for inflation).
It is important to note that most of these films are yet to be released (as of 17 June 2012), so it may be poor logic to base our formula for box office success off of anticipation. However, looking at the top 15 grossing films of all time (this list is unadjusted for inflation, but most of the films on the "top adjusted for inflation" are either sequels, based on novels, short stories, or books from the Bible), tells a similar story as that of the slideshow above. The five non-sequel, non-adaptation films that have managed to crack the top 15 -- Avatar (2009), Titanic (1997), Star Wars(1977), E.T.:The Extraterrestrial (1982), and The Lion King (1994) -- have all benefitted from rereleases. Without these rereleases, only Avatar and Titanic would make the list.