The three Marvel sequels are the most anticipated movies of 2023, according to Fandango

Movie fans clearly can’t get enough of superheroes.

A trio of upcoming Marvel movies – Guardians of the Galaxy, the latest installments in the Spider-Man and Ant-Man franchises Here are the top three most anticipated movies for 2023, according to a new survey by Fandango.

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Moviegoers also said they plan to visit theaters more often than they did this year, according to the survey, which was conducted in early December and is based on responses from more than 5,000 movie fans. Who bought at least one ticket in 2022.

“Anyone who is saying at this point that there is Marvel fatigue or superhero fatigue is clearly not going to the movies,” said Eric Davis, managing director of film and TV information and ticketing site Fandango.

Read more: What’s next for Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros and Paramount?

The survey indicates a huge appetite for familiar characters and universes. Many of the highly anticipated films are prequels, sequels or films that are otherwise attached to a well-known franchise. This marks the second year in a row that Fandango’s most anticipated list has been dominated by franchises.

Of the top 10 most anticipated movies overall, only “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is not part of an established film series. But even that film comes with the name recognition of the popular video game franchise and coincides with the opening of Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios in California.

Some non-voted films with more mid-level budgets, such as “Cocaine Bears” and “M3Gun”, still make separate, category-specific lists. “Cocaine Bears,” a dark comedy about a bear who ingests cocaine and goes on a murderous rampage, is the third most anticipated live-action comedy. “M3gan,” which is about a life-size AI doll that turns evil, is the fifth most anticipated horror film.

“I definitely think there’s room for smaller movies to make a lot of noise,” Davis said. “But I think coming into a brand new year — and this is nothing new — it’s these big movies, these big sequels, these big anticipated franchises that people are really looking forward to the most. “

For Hollywood, a wave of big franchise releases in 2023 could signal a desire for stability after the industry grappled with the disruptions of the Covid pandemic.

Franchise and legacy films are “a box-office insurance policy,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst at comScore. “I think studios are always risk-averse and the biggest insurance is that at least a few people will know what the film is about.”

Most moviegoers also said they plan to visit theaters more often in 2023 than this year, with 84% saying they intend to see at least six movies in a movie theater. Last year, 80% said they wanted to see at least five movies in theatres.

The survey findings are promising for theatres, which have been grappling with a dearth of new releases since the pandemic, when people sat at home streaming movies instead. According to comScore data, 40 fewer films are set to be widely released in 2022 than in 2019.

This year, the latest big blockbuster in theaters is “Avatar: The Way of Water.” The film opened on Sunday and grossed $134 million at the domestic box office, falling short of analysts’ expectations of $175 million.

According to Davis, the drought of new releases in theaters may be less severe in 2023, with the release of more than 100 new films, including the most blockbusters since 2019.

“The good news for next year is you’re going to have a lot more releases going on,” Dargarabedian said.

Some of the big players in the entertainment industry want to re-establish movie watching as a personal experience. When Warner Media and Discovery merged in April, the new regime recommitted to theater-only releases and reduced the production of direct-to-streaming films.

For example, warner bros discovery That reversed course on “Magic Mike’s Last Dance,” which was originally scheduled to release exclusively on HBO Max but is now scheduled for the big screen in February. The pivot came after Warner Bros. Discovery had already shelved “Batgirl,” which was also planned as an HBO Max-exclusive debut.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of CNBC and NBCUniversal, which owns Fandango. NBCUniversal is the distributor of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” “Cocaine Bears” and “M3gan.”