The last year or so has seen several dormant franchises roar back to life on the strength of perceived nostalgia, only to fall flat at the box office. An important lesson for storytellers, it exemplifies the limits of relying upon long-standing intellectual property.

Men In Black: International is the most blatant example, and many anticipated a similar fate for the late-arriving sequel in another Will Smith franchise: Bad Boys For Life. The third instalment in the action series opened over the weekend, seventeen years after the last entry, 2003's Bad Boys II.

But Bad Boys for Life did gangbusters in its opening frame, taking $73 million over Martin Luther King Day weekend—and nearly double the take analysts were predicting only last week.

There are several takeaways to be discerned here: Firstly, old school R-rated action cinema isn't dead. Audiences still want to see violence and hear swear words in these kinds of films. Secondly, having Will Smith in your Will Smith franchise is key. But thirdly, and most importantly, evolving your characters is necessary for audiences to stay invested.

The passage of time does not go ignored in Bad Boys for Life, in which Martin Lawrence's Marcus Burnett seeks to retire in order to not go out guns-blazing, and Will Smith's Mike Lowrey ponders his legacy after prioritising fast cars and a flashy lifestyle.

It's not exactly deep characterisation, but the effort Bad Boys for Life makes in trying to stay true to what defines the franchise while incorporating the time passage since the last film, shows the kind of care that should go into managing this kind of long-term big screen narrative.

While Bad Boys for life is a case study in how to narratively manage a big cinematic brand name, the film that came in behind it on the weekend box office chart is a masterclass on what not to do in this area.

Although Dolittle earned almost $30 million over the Friday to Monday period, the film cost $175 million—nearly twice as much as Bad Boys for Life—and has been largely rejected as a giant flop.

In this case, the name of the film carries much recognition, but there wasn't a huge amount of audience investment in prior adaptations of the source material. There was a 1967 musical starring Rex Hamilton, and a pair of family comedies (released in 1998 and 2001) starring Eddie Murphy.

There existed a big opportunity here to do something entirely new with the character, especially with one of the biggest stars in the world, Robert Downey Jr., in the lead role and an impressive supporting cast.

But the film struggles to define its own narrative, stuck somewhere between what the studio was presumably after— an epic Pirates of the Caribbean-esque adventure—and an oddly arbitrary plot centered around a curiously mumbly performance from Downey.

There’s also the fact that film had the entire animal world at its disposal, yet felt the need to bring a mythological creature to up the ante, says a lot about the narrative desperation.

Further down the charts, two smaller films are gaining traction thanks to awards-season attention, with both Parasite and Jojo Rabbit expanding their theatrical presence on the strength of Oscar® nominations. It speaks to the importance of nominations in encouraging audiences to take a chance on independent films. Since Parasite unexpectedly took the top prize at the SAG Awards, hopefully audiences will be even more willing to sample this remarkable South Korean film.