Originally published in the Fall 2017 edition of PRISM: UF Honors Magazine.

Despite Hollywood being on a superhero binge, the summer 2017 box office finished as the lowest in over a decade. Not too long ago, audiences were smitten with book-to-movie adaptations of dystopian societies featuring rebellious teenage protagonists fighting off oppressive evil entities. Now the movie industry is dominated by big-budget superhero films that continuously crank out sequels and remakes. Despite these hit movies such as Wonder Woman, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2, and Spiderman: Homecoming, many other films fell flat, causing the summer to conclude with only $3.8 billion in earnings. While this may seem like a large sum, it is in fact a 14% decrease from last year’s box office profits.

A possible reason for this summer’s decline is because of Hollywood’s recent trend of constant reboots and sequels. This past summer box office saw continuations such as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Transformers: The Last Knight, Despicable Me 3, and Cars 3 all pull in series lows. Franchise reboots such as The Mummy, starring Tom Cruise, completely flunked in theaters, with the movie earning only $80 million domestically despite its $125 million budget.

Sasha Vagos, a UF telecommunications freshman, noted, “It demonstrates the lack of originality in Hollywood today. The movie industry believes that in sticking to what the audience enjoyed before, they’ll be successful again; but clearly the public is tired of seeing the same things.”

This summer’s box office performance poses the question: Has Hollywood lost its ingenuity? While the movie industry occasionally launches a unique film, it seems for every original story they generate a dozen sequels and remakes. In fact, Walt Disney Pictures currently has up to fourteen remakes planned of classic films such as The Lion King, Mulan and Aladdin. Has Hollywood run out of ideas? Or has it merely become lazy in its approach to what they believe audiences will appreciate.

Marvel at least attempts in many of its films to create new storylines and add complexity to classic heroes, mixing in clever humor to balance more serious scenes. Marvel has also performed well because of their embrace of diversity, a factor many audiences are prioritizing. Baby Driver, Mother! and Get Out are also among the unique movies that riveted audiences this past year. Despite these successes, studios commonly produce series that follow a lurking pattern in which there’s a lack of strong writing, reliance on old content, and characters who have little to no depth. They make no attempts to build on the previous stories, or put a unique twist on classic tales. Instead, they merely go through the motions of assembling a movie they hope will pull in millions.

Studios are afraid to invest in smaller, original films because of the risk. It’s a toss up if the movie will be beloved by audiences, or completely flop. Rather than take a chance, studios cower in the comfort zone of blockbusters. They put millions behind these movies, because big-budget mega films have consistently performed well over the past few years. A skulking trend among studios is that if these movies perform well, a sequel is inevitable. Studios believe the public liked the movie so much that they definitely can make more money if they make a sequel or reboot this franchise. While some studios such as Marvel are able to successfully accomplish this formula of reusing and recreating superhero films, other companies are not so fortunate.

These repetitive aspects in many of the enormously popular superhero films call into question if audiences actually want original movies, or if they are content with predictability. In some ways it seems like audiences are satiated by knowing what to expect from a superhero film. They know it will feature a ragtag group of heroes facing a villain who threatens the world. With quick-thinking, the hero’s skill set, and a bit of humor, the villain is defeated, and all is saved. Then there’s the jerk with a heart of gold, a superhero film’s favorite, the classic character whose bad habits or nature is secretly hiding a kind and caring personality, such as Tony Stark or Batman.

Formulaic movies both inside and outside the superhero universe are struggling. Continuous sequels from children’s animated features and reboots of older movies have performed poorly, and seem to indicate a restless audience that is ready for change. The blockbuster comfort zone that studios have hidden in for so long is beginning to collapse. Audiences’ infatuation with Marvel and DC movies will soon also fade and they will turn their attention upon a new trend.

Hollywood needs to force itself out of its crumbling palace of big-budget films and evaluate the establishment of fresh, innovative movies. Studios are creating entire cinematic universes, a phenomena never before seen, but at what cost? Smaller, more one-of-a-kind films are being crushed under the behemoth of sequels and reboots. In the future, do we really want to live in a world where we are constantly bombarded with continuations and revamps, and excellent, independent films such as Get Out have no chance of survival? We must assess for ourselves if Hollywood’s current obsession with enormous movie franchises are worth the future consequences.