Every few months, social media is flooded with the same complaint. Bollywood should stop making sequels.
Filmmakers should move away from slapstick comedies. Audiences deserve fresh stories instead of recycling old franchises.
But if the box office is any indication, the audience seems to be sending a very different message.
The biggest openers of 2026 so far are all franchise films. Dhurandhar 2 sits at the top, followed by Border 2, Welcome to the Jungle, and now Dhamaal 4. That’s hardly a coincidence.
What’s even more interesting is that two of these films, Welcome to the Jungle and Dhamaal 4, faced heavy criticism even before and after release.
They were called loud, outdated, and creatively uninspired. Critics weren’t impressed, and social media wasn’t particularly kind either.
Yet when the tickets went on sale, audiences turned up.
Welcome to the Jungle may not have broken records, but it still emerged as a commercial success.
Now, Dhamaal 4 is following a similar trajectory. It opened well on Friday, witnessed a strong jump on Saturday, and is expected to register an even bigger Sunday.
Despite mixed reviews, the film has become one of the strongest performers of the year.
So why do producers continue making sequels?
The answer is simple. Producers invest where they see the highest probability of returns.
A successful franchise comes with built-in brand recall, loyal audiences, and lower marketing risk compared to launching a completely original film.
That doesn’t mean every sequel deserves to be made.
Audiences today are quick to reject films that feel lazy or poorly made.
But if a franchise continues to entertain enough people, producers have every reason to keep investing in it.
Original stories deserve support because they push the industry forward. At the same time, commercial entertainers and slapstick comedies have their own audience.
Dismissing them entirely ignores the fact that thousands of people are willingly buying tickets to watch them.
