As sequels and franchises rule the roost across the Indian box office this year, the very format of cinema in the country is undergoing a rapid evolution.

As sequels and franchises rule the roost across the Indian box office this year, the very format of cinema in the country is undergoing a rapid evolution.

As sequels and franchises rule the roost across the Indian box office this year, the very format of cinema in the country is undergoing a rapid evolution.

Familiarity breeds crores, not contempt. That is the new template that Indian cinema seems to have wholeheartedly adopted this year, as sequels and franchises rule the roost across the Indian box office.

In the process, the very format of cinema in the country is undergoing a rapid evolution, right from moviegoers’ tastes and preferences to the production and distribution models.

Just take a look around you—Cocktail 2 is ruling the roost in Bollywood, having grossed something like ₹110 crore or more in just the first week. And mind you, the Shahid Kapoor starrer is not even a proper follow-up film, it is only a ‘spiritual’ sequel to the 2012 original, where it uses the same modern Indian youth vibe and the ‘one boy, two girls’ trope. But then, just the promise of ‘something familiar’ was enough to bring in the crowds.

“Cocktail 2’s performance reinforces the audience’s appetite for engaging Hindi cinema and highlights the importance of compelling content in driving theatrical success. We are encouraged by this strong start and remain optimistic about the robust Bollywood slate ahead,” said Gautam Dutta, CEO (Revenue & Operations) of PVR-Inox, India’s biggest cinema exhibitor chain.

Even the biggest Bollywood hit of the year, Durandhar: The Revenge, which came out in March, was itself a sequel to the original Dhurandhar, which was released last year.

Taking comfort from the sequel successes are a string of movies that are either stories in the same milieu or with the same characters, or, as Indian filmmakers term with flourish, a part of one cinematic universe or the other.

There is the 4th edition of Dhamaal, the raucous comedy series that is coming back complete with its star-studded ensemble the coming fortnight. August brings with it Awarapan 2 as well as Khosla ka Khosla 2, the successor to the award-winning sleeper satire from the turn of the century.

And yes, not a sequel as such, but Mirzapur: The Movie, which premieres September 3 as well, which will hope to rekindle the craze for the cult web series of the same name which ran on Amazon Prime Video a few years ago.

It’s not a Bollywood phenomenon alone. The top four highest-grossing Malayalam films of 2026 are all sequels—from Mohanlal’s Drishyam 3 (fun fact: the Hindi Drishyam 3 is also slated to hit cinemas come October, starring Ajay Devgn) which is nearing ₹250 crore at the box office, to the viral Vaazha 2 (₹235 crore) to Aadu 3, which incidentally grossed more than the first two instalments of Aadu put together.

The trend continues across the regional ‘woods’, from Rajnikanth’s Jailer 2 heading to theatres in July to the concluding third part of the Kamal Hasan-Shankar trilogy Indian, later this year. Telugu has G2 (Goodachari 2) which is presently under production.

As for Hollywood, the OG of the sequel-franchisee overkill, the trend still has legs—Spiderman: Brand New Day is perhaps the most anticipated release of this summer, while Supergirl is already out.

Of course, the reasons are not far to seek.

“It is easy to write a sequel than a standalone movie. When you have most of the important characters fleshed out, your job is half-done already,” wrote former screenwriter Raghul Vasudevan on Quora, adding that “you are guaranteed openings (for sequels) because of nostalgia factor or familiarity factor. Buyers will be more excited for sequels because there is high chances of it being safe venture for them.”

For studios, distributors and filmmakers, rising costs coupled with increasingly unpredictable consumer behaviour and competitors in the attention economy like Instagram reels, IPL-like eyeball-grabbers (the FIFA World Cup is on right now) etc means investing in new original films has become riskier than ever.

Sequels, with their familiar cast and characters (or like in the case of Cocktail 2, thematic assurance of familiarity) being a pull-factor, then sound like a safer bet.

Today’s social media-first environment means a sequel or franchise finds it easier to build up its own momentum online, with ‘event’ viewings, fan posts leading to virality, easter eggs of shared references, inter-connected storylines, and of course, fan merchandising—all taking a life of their own.

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