Picture this: elevated fashion dazzles onlookers with instant trend-setting appeal. A collection of stars so bright that someone should alert NASA. No, I’m not talking about The latest Academy Awards. I’m talking about May The Devil Wears Prada 2. The long-awaited sequel to Legacy, which is is already being tracked as a sure shotarrives 20 years after the original. But what is even more impressive than the attractive ensembles that adorn it The original cast is how the film serves as a microcosm for an important trend.
Franchise fatigue is a real threat in Hollywood, but often misdiagnosed. The Devil Wears Prada 2 it exists because there is still steady demand for the original despite two decades without a sequel. Meanwhile, a significant portion of audiences say they are no longer likely to watch new entries from long-running franchises like Marvel (36 percent), Game of Thrones (49 percent), The walking dead (54 percent), according to Entertainment Research Hub. The audience issue is not with general franchises. It’s with franchises that they find oversaturated and creatively exhausted. (With all due respect to absolutely fantastic A knight of the seven kingdoms AND The miracle man).
In a market that has been heavily concentrated in the same small handful of franchises for years, The Devil Wears Prada 2 it feels like a breath of nostalgic fresh air rather than bloated overexposure.
I asked Parrot Analytics to compare the most in-demand movie/TV concepts that haven’t released a new installment in at least 10 years with the top active franchises. The gap between the former (20x more requested than the average title) and the latter (24.6x) was much smaller than expected, suggesting that the inactive IP can rival the franchises of the moment.
Featured examples are included LOST (the 34th most searched TV series in the world), Interstellar (4th among films), The Truman Show (20) and starting (24). The television side of the equation was dominated by genre storytelling (LOST, Hannibal, Person of Interest, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Stargate) – exactly what tired episodic franchises used to deliver well. (It is worth noting that the last one Buffy the resurrection was removed from Hulu). On the film side, the aforementioned high-concept and sci-fi titles mixed with historical epics (Troy) and war history (Black Hawk Down) are among the leaders.
It’s not like Christopher Nolan will be back for sequels soon. But studios can build these worlds with justifiable creative continuity. Many of these titles have remained in the cultural consciousness not only through sheer quality, but optimal placement in a crowded war zone.
Studios are underestimating the significant fan base for older stand-alone movies and/or older TV series. Talk about a potential LOST the sequel has been going on for years without any tangible movement, while false rumors ignited Movie Twitter in 2020, suggesting Tenet was set in the world of starting. Why is that so?
There are about 42 million American consumers over the age of 35 who are nostalgic moviegoers of older titles and are likely to attend opening weekend, according to Greenlight. Older millennials and younger Gen Xers are premium demographics with disposable income. But they are primarily targeted through the family entertainment that studios hope will take their kids. Yes, adult-twisted dramas have become volatile bets at the box office. But that’s partly because Hollywood is aiming in the wrong direction.
Hollywood has eaten itself alive by spending the last 15 years squeezing every last drop out of great franchises. Meanwhile, social platforms like TikTok and YouTube have served as essential discovery and reactivation tools for concepts that haven’t had much exposure. Tthere are nearly 114 million adult sci-fi viewers in the US, and many of them are heavy users of YouTube, according to Greenlight, where fan culture is organically supporting demand and engagement for titles like Interstellar. A viral TikTok/YouTube video, a news link, a celebrity mention, a platform push—all of these elements can drive new growth.
Streaming data shows what audiences want
As a market leader, Netflix is the default broadcaster. Its visibility serves as an important behavioral signal rather than just idle nostalgia. Licensed titles are constantly rotated in and out of the platform at varying intervals due to various contractual arrangements, but the broadcaster’s two-year commitment ratios speak volumes for viewer appetite.
Between 2023 and 2025, the first three seasons of LOST amassed nearly 800 million hours of global viewing (tip hat to What’s on Netflix). Interstellar (101 million hours) and The Truman Show (31 million hours) showed high completion rates (total hours watched divided by total run time). That speaks to how immersive these stories remain years later.
Every Netflix viewing becomes a potential fan for a future installment. About 65 percent of people rarely (or never) watch a sequel without seeing the original, according to Greenlight Analytics, where I work as Director of Insights & Content Strategy. Streaming is quietly building legions of new fans for the dormant IP as owners collect lucrative licensing revenue. It’s a win-win.
TroyIts demand peaked at 58 percent above its already elevated average last year, followed by The Truman Show (46 percent), for Parrot. Other prime candidates for the continuation of dormant IP include Scrubs AND Malcolm in the middle (both have received revival), as well as Scar face (a movie reboot in the works) and V for Vendetta (one HBO adaptation in development).
These types of titles are waiting to explode again when reactivated by the right digital key. Hollywood has more than enough IP to choose from, but lacks the compass to navigate it effectively. Studios pursuing a sixth sequel to a tired franchise are struggling to cut back on diminishing returns. People who want a mix of classic and new, audiences who only watch sequels to movies they’ve seen, and 800 million global hours of dedicated viewing LOST seems to tell a consistent story.
