Even “Jurassic World” was hardly a sure hit. Universal and Steven Spielberg acquired the rights to Michael Crichton’s best-selling dinosaur epic “Jurassic Park” even before the book was published in 1990, for a modest $2 million. It had been 12 years since the last installment, as Mr. Spielberg rejected scripts he deemed inadequate. Even with Mr. Spielberg’s blessing, the latest version got mixed reviews and some out-and-out pans from critics. But thanks in part to a huge and well-executed digital marketing campaign, it became the must-see movie of the summer, eclipsing even the Disney/Marvel blockbuster “Avengers” sequel.

“There was a social media aspect to it that kind of created a network effect,” Mr. Creutz said of “Jurassic World.” “Everyone was talking about it so everyone had to see it. The marketing was very effective. But beyond that I can’t really explain it. ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ was four times as good a movie, but it didn’t do nearly as well.”

While “Jurassic World” and “Furious” could be considered classic big-budget “tent pole” movies, the kind of films that can prop up an entire slate, they were the only two in Universal’s summer lineup. The studio has also targeted the kind of smaller-budget comedies, dramas and musicals that, while hardly independent art-house fare, have rekindled hopes in Hollywood that something other than action blockbusters can still be made successfully.

“Compton,” the studio’s latest big hit, a musical biopic of the hip-hop group N.W.A., is hardly mainstream blockbuster fare. But it opened to glowing reviews during a national conversation about race and police tactics aimed at young black men like the early hip-hop stars portrayed in the movie. It, too, has generated buzz on social media far beyond the urban black communities like the one in which it’s set. Universal said the film was well on its way to $150 million in domestic box-office sales and cost just $29 million to make.

Image “Minions” was the blockbuster prequel in another hit franchise for the studio. Credit... Illumination Entertainment/Universal Pictures, via Associated Press

A low-budget musical about a women’s a cappella singing group with an ensemble cast lacking major stars would hardly seem like a big-grossing film, let alone franchise material, but the success of “Pitch Perfect 2” suggests that Universal may have generated another franchise hit.

Ms. Langley said the studio had noticed that the original “Pitch Perfect” had “a strong afterlife. The song was a hit. It did well on home video. We knew it was tapping into something.” It could easily have been marketed as a small, off-season movie, but “we gave it an early summer date and treated it like a big summer film,” she said. It has grossed $184 million in domestic sales and cost just $29 million.