Don’t Call It a Sequel

With each passing year, Hollywood looks further back for properties to revitalize. And this summer proved the industry has yet to meet a title that’s too washed-up to dust off. “The people who decide what’s going to get made have come of age,” says David Poland, editor-in-chief of Movie City News. “They’re making the kinds of movies they were obsessed with as kids.”

That explains breakout titles like Mad Max: Fury Road, featuring a character last seen in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, which opened 30 years ago. Or Jurassic World, Universal’s critically dismissed dino revamp, which grossed more than $1.6 billion worldwide, making it the year’s biggest hit so far. There’s since been a so-so new Vacation and a solid Mission Impossible, but the real nostalgia trip is yet to come. Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in December. Disney and Lucasfilm are already filming two more with Oscar Isaac and the other new stars.