That's not entirely true. There's often returns on co-opted media that rides on the coat-tails of prior entries or an established fanbase. For example, The Force Awakens made money despite being woke.
That said, an established audience doesn't automatically mean success either. Take The Watch for example, which fans of the Discworld series just let die a quiet death because it was shit. But I would say that there are enough instances of established audiences being used to get a return that it's the majority of times, but hopefully there is a tide turning, and LotR Rings of Power seems to be the litmus test for that.
That's not entirely true. There's often returns on co-opted media that rides on the coat-tails of prior entries or an established fanbase. For example, The Force Awakens made money despite being woke.
That said, an established audience doesn't automatically mean success either. Take The Watch for example, which fans of the Discworld series just let die a quiet death because it was shit. But I would say that there are enough instances of established audiences being used to get a return that it's the majority of times, but hopefully there is a tide turning, and LotR Rings of Power seems to be the litmus test for that.