IP fatigue is real. It is also a cop-out.
People are not tired of Batman. They are tired of being sold a shelf, not a movie.
Every time a branded film underperforms, the internet diagnoses ‘IP fatigue’ as if the public had come down with a virus. Then a different branded film makes a fortune the next month and the diagnosis is quietly dropped.
Audiences are not tired of characters they have loved since childhood. They are tired of being told that a trailer, a spin-off, a game, a special, and a ‘chapter’ are all equally necessary. Fatigue is what you feel when the homework has no book.
The better sentence
The problem is not intellectual property. The problem is films that assume recognition is a substitute for an engine. A new story with old names still needs a want, a clock, and a reason this chapter exists. If the only reason is ‘the last one made money,’ you are watching an invoice.
How to cover a franchise without becoming a wiki
Do not recap twelve movies as a loyalty test. Tell a reader who has not done the homework whether this one stands up. If it does not, that is the review. Gatekeeping the canon is unpaid labor for a studio.
And be precise: a flopped sequel is not proof that original ideas would have succeeded. Original ideas fail every weekend too. They just fail with less merchandise. A grown-up desk can hold both facts.
