I heard that sequels dominated the Spring Festival period! Why do movies love to have sequels?

Looking back at the movies during the Spring Festival, each one is wonderful in its own way. Interestingly, almost all of them are "sequels" - "Fengshen 2", "Nezha 2", "Tang Detective" prequel, "Boonie Bears" series of movies, "Operation Jiaolong" is also under the banner of "Operation Red Sea", and the only one that is not a sequel, "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", is also an adaptation of a big IP. Why do filmmakers like to make sequels, and do audiences really prefer to watch sequels?

There is an idiom called "a dog's tail is followed by a sable", which means that the sequel is not as good as the previous one. Indeed, according to the rating statistics of the Rotten Tomatoes website, the ratings of sequels are generally not as good as the first one. However, this is not necessarily true from the box office performance: many sequels have higher box office revenue than the first one. Since the possibility of sequels failing is high, why do people still watch them?

Here we need to introduce a concept in psychology: heuristic decision-making. The so-called heuristic is to use "shortcuts" that reduce the consumption of psychological and cognitive resources to make complex decisions quickly and effortlessly. There are several types of "shortcuts": fewer searches, reduced efforts to obtain clues, simplified clue weighing, less information integration, and fewer options for evaluation. People tend to think that most things are predictable, but in fact uncertainty is difficult to predict correctly and reliably. In the case of low predictability and small sample size, ignoring some information can make more accurate judgments than weighing and summing up all the information. People often face uncertain situations based on limited experience, and there are different standards for choosing "templates". The following are several criteria for choosing "templates".

Representativeness. People tend to judge the probability of such results based on whether the selected experience is generally representative or similar to the new situation. The more representative or closer to the new situation, the more referenceable this experience is. Sequels often use the original story themes, character relationships, and creative teams to "replicate" the original work as much as possible, which makes the original work more useful as a reference for the sequel and influences the audience's decision. For example, the "Fengshen" trilogy was shot in a set format, and "Nezha 2" was created by the original director and team, which makes the audience feel more "at ease".

Availability. People will use those experiences that are easier to recall as a reference. Those impressive memories are often the easiest to recall. Classic shots in the movie may become highlights. For example, Sinuo's weird smile is a deep memory of the "Tang Detective" series for many people. In addition to highlights, the recency effect also affects the availability of memory. The so-called recency effect means that we will be affected by more recent and newer stimuli. Taking the Tang Detective series as an example, the poor reputation of "Tang Detective 3" may also have an impact on the new work.

Anchoring and adjustment. This means that in decision making, people will "anchor" on the information they first obtain, and then use this information to adjust their assessment of new situations. The initial impression often serves as an anchor point, which is often called the primacy effect. Our memory of the first impression is the most profound and vivid, which is preconceived. Especially for things that have never been seen before, the first contact will form a memory schema, and we will use this template to process similar situations that we face later.

Before watching a movie, the audience often has certain expectations about the movie: what kind of movie it is, whether it is a tragedy or a comedy. Those movies that fail to meet expectations are likely to fail. The original novel often sets the tone for the sequel, and the audience will watch the movie with this expectation. For example, many viewers watched The Legend of the Condor Heroes with their impressions and expectations of the TV series, and they may have some opinions about the absence of Huang Yaoshi and the Old Boy in the movie.

According to the heuristic thinking, choosing a sequel is indeed a "more reliable" choice, but whether it is "more correct" is not necessarily. People's disappointment with sequels often comes from too high expectations: the previous work is too good, and the sequel is mediocre, just a "return to normal". On the other hand, the creation of a sequel is a bit like dancing with shackles: people hope that the sequel can be "faithful to the original". In addition to requiring the "return of the original cast", the actors must maintain their appearance and even their looks, and the plot must be innovative but not too innovative. The original story is already very complete, and the character arc has been completed. It is inevitable that the sequel will add unnecessary details and start to add water. In contrast, series without too many character growth lines are less likely to collapse (such as the 007 series). In addition, some sequels are too long apart from the previous work, and young audiences do not have a "highlight impression". It may be embarrassing to use feelings as a selling point.

Due to the success of the previous film, the sequel will not only increase investment, but also receive more publicity and discussion. However, quality is the life of a film, and even more so the life of a series of films. It is not that a sequel cannot be outstanding, but if the only purpose is to make money, no matter how good the IP is, it will not be able to continue its glory.

Written by Wang Richu, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

This article comes from: China Digital Science and Technology Museum