[user104658]

Originally Posted by James

Even though these recent sequels / remakes haven't done well - Men in Black, Child’s Play, Doctor Sleep, Terminator: Dark Fate, Charlie's Angels.

Indeed... I read an article about this the other day (it was mainly about Dark Fate and Blade Runner 2049). Certain films have performed below expectation and the article basically argued that it's not even about the quality of the films... it's that they're direct sequels to films from decades ago that were aimed at adults THEN and thus relying on the nostalgia of that audience to drive them - but the bulk of the audience doesn't remember them from the first time round. I was the sort of little weirdo (with liberal parents ) who WAS watching Robocop and Terminator when I was 9 or 10 but most people even my age (mid 30's) didn't have these movies as part of their childhood and definitely not younger. 18-35 is just too much of a key demographic for the box office.

As a contrast - Jurassic Park sequels have worked because A) The core audience for the original in the 90's were kids, not adults like for Terminator or RoboCop and B) They started with a "loose enough" sequel to draw in a new young audience that doesn't really need to know the original. They teased nostalgia in the 2nd on and are going all out with it in the 3rd part, because then they have the old AND new audience locked in.

Half of a new audience walking into a RoboCop direct sequel is going to have no idea what's going on.