This is a graph of how much people spend to watch each movie. If it was a graph of how Hollywood relies on sequels, it should show how much money they spent per movie.
All this shows is that people are spending their money on sequels. If people want that to change, they should spend their money on originals.
Wouldn't Endgame be more of a Part 2 than a sequel?
All of the MCU movies are sequels to the first Iron Man
Even the ones that don't include Iron Man?
These are loose definitions of "sequel". This would mean that every story is a "sequel" to the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Not according to the criteria in that graph.
It would be more damning if they said "part of a franchise".
What's the difference?
The implication is whether it's a standalone story or not.
As example, Alien 3 is certainly a sequel to Aliens, because at the end of Aliens the story wraps up nicely and is "finished" - we don't need more.
Dune 2 is more of a continuation of Dune, however because it's the next part of the same unfinished story.
The important part from the planning and development perspectives is that Avengers, Dune, and Lord of the Rings etc were always written to be several parts from the beginning.
Its the difference between "That movie made loads of money, let's make another one" and "This story is really long, we need to do it in three parts"
What does the vertical axis display?
Each column is the top 10 films of a single year. They seem to increase in box office takings as you go up the column.
entering data is beautiful mode ...
It's not a basic 2D graph. And honestly it generally works, especially as the bubble size gives a clear enough sense of the actual box office takings.
It could be 2D though, with the vertical axis representing box office, and that'd probably work too, but it wouldn't be as aesthetically pleasing.
This is a graph of how much people spend to watch each movie. If it was a graph of how Hollywood relies on sequels, it should show how much money they spent per movie.
All this shows is that people are spending their money on sequels. If people want that to change, they should spend their money on originals.