Constantin Film was so confident in The Mortal Instruments franchise that they gave a sequel to the second film, The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes, a green light before the first film, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, even opened.  When City of Bones opened to disappointing box office, production on City of Ashes was delayed.  But Constantin has renewed faith in the franchise, and will push forward with the sequel.  Martin Moszkowicz, Constantin Film’s head of film and TV, THR that the “massive fan base has responded positively to the adaptation and that Constantin is determined to continue the franchise.”  While that may be the case, the fan base is clearly nowhere near the Twilight or Hunger Games young adult audience to make the movie a hit on their own.

Hit the jump for how Constantin plans to avoid making the same mistake on City of Ashes.

According to THR, the studio is currently analyzing what went wrong (I assume they won’t take my opinion of “the film was bad” into account), and they’ve come to the conclusion it was a matter of misguided marketing.  The campaign for City of Bones apparently focused too much on the teenage fans and neglected the fans who are in their 20s and 30s.

But is appealing to those fans really enough to turn the franchise around?  I suppose older fans could have thought the movie was being dumbed down for a younger audience, but even if those older fans come on board for City of Ashes, are they enough to make the sequel a hit?  I’m also little surprised Constantin is forging ahead without waiting to see how the home release does since those older fans may have chosen to wait on City of Bones rather than ignoring it altogether.