BLOCKBUSTERS like Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), which draws on Disney’s Marvel Comics property, are sought after despite their large budgets because they can potentially bring in twice their cost in box-office receipts, disc and video-on-demand sales, streaming, merchandising, and—studios hope—sequels that generate more of the same. Captain America: The Winter Soldier, sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), grossed $256.7 million in the United States and earned another $454.1 million worldwide (almost 64 percent of the film’s earnings came from abroad). A third installment is set to be released in 2016. Zade Rosenthal/© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Everett Collection