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The Hollywood trend for sequels is pushing young fans away - and turning them onto anime

Nearly a third of fans in the US say they watch anime because they're tired of the countless Star Wars, Marvel, and DC sequels that Hollywood keeps producing

Muzan In Demon Slayer Infinity Castle Movie
Image credit: Ufotable

If there is one thing you can always count on, it is that Hollywood has yet another remake, spinoff, or sequel in the works to tap into some hidden reserve of nostalgia. Between the endlessly sprawling MCU and DC Studios' newest reboot of their own shared universe, studios know that giving people more of what they like is a sound investment – except a new survey shows that maybe there is too much of a good thing, and all these sequels are putting people off Hollywood movies and turning them onto anime instead.

This bit of information comes from a survey conducted by marketing company Dentsu, which talked to people in 10 countries about whether they watched anime and why. The data is packed with interesting facts about the growth of anime outside of Japan, but one statistic that might be worth noting for Hollywood is that 11% of those surveyed who watch anime did so because they were “tired of sequels and remakes in Hollywood (like Star Wars, Marvel, DC) and want something new, a number that grows to 29% in the US.

This gap between what Hollywood is producing (more franchises and more sequels) and what people want isn’t the sole driving factor in anime’s explosive growth over the past several years, but it could be a contributing factor in why people are seeking out anime in the first place. It could also be why Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle has struck such a nerve and become such a touchstone moment for the anime industry in the West.


Trent Cannon

Trent Cannon: Trent is a freelance writer who has been covering anime, video games, and pop culture for a decade. (He/Him)

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