Are Original Movies Dying?

From superhero action movies to romantic comedies to animated movies for children, there are movies out there for any person to enjoy. Almost everyone enjoys a good movie from time to time, but, are movies as an industry shifting to big franchises and remakes rather than making new characters and stories we can all love?

Take the highest grossing movies in the box office in the United States from last year as of February 3rd. The list is, in order, Top Gun: Maverick, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Avatar: The Way of Water, Jurassic World: Dominion, Minions: The Rise of Gru, The Batman, Thor: Love and Thunder, SpiderMan: No Way Home, and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The main thing these movies have in common is that none of them are original, rather they are using known characters and worlds that already exist.

Movies that are sequels or remakes do well in the box office and make millions of dollars for a number of theorized reasons. One may be that audiences are already familiar with the ideas and names in a sequel or remake, and do not need to process a new idea in order to enjoy a movie. Audiences want to see movies with characters and universes they know they love, with quality they know they will like, rather than take a risk with movies that have a chance of being disliked for new ideas that audiences are unfamiliar with.

This is not saying that sequel or remake movies are any less valuable than others. They are still beloved by many. But it raises the question: can original movies still do well in Hollywood? Many of the 2023 Oscar nominations for best pic are more original movies, so original movies are definitely still being made. Films such as Avatar: The Way of Water or Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery were inspired and follow up to beloved first movies that used new concepts, characters, and worlds created in recent years. Perhaps these movies are the start of franchises in the making, that may be as cherished as other big franchises in the future. Everything Everywhere All At Once was a new take on the multiverse, using unfamiliar characters and concepts to tell a story, and it was nominated for many Oscars and did well in the box office. Movies like these prove that yes, an original storyline can be successful, so long as it is executed well enough.

In conclusion, while it may appear that big movies these days all appear to just be the same characters and stories reused, original movies do exist still. They may just be in the theaters for less time, or appear further down on a streaming service, because they are not the films fans may pour money into viewing. Many more known movie franchises may appear in theaters, but original movies can become known and popular despite how it may seem when we look at movie billboards.