If you haven’t noticed in the past couple of years, there has been a big surge of movie reboots, reimagining of original cult classics. In my opinion, movie studios such as Sony Pictures, Universal, and Paramount, need to be taking more risks instead of recycling old films. Comedy, romance, and sometimes horror films all feel the same and have similar formulas because of how corporations control them, pure laziness, or just for profit. The amount of people going to the movies is decreasing because they see no point in seeing a reboot or remake based on an original film when they know how it’s going to happen.
When the national Writers Guild of America strike happened two years ago in 2023, it affected many movie releases and sometimes reduced film budgets, which limited some director’s original visions. According to The Bird Feed, many projects released from May 2023 to the ongoing future lacked in quality and creativity.
Audiences and critics complain mostly about the lack of interesting stories being adapted for the big screen. The majority of the movies being released recently are criticized for their underwhelmingly or poorly written screenplays and character dialogue.
Even though the Writers Strike ended in September of 2023, major movie studios rapidly release film after film trying to clear ideas off the table without checking if they’re worth watching. So far 2025 has several movie reboots, sequels, and remakes such as “Lilo and Stitch” in May, “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” and “Superman” in July. More are still to come such as “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle” in late October, “Zootopia 2” and “Wicked: For Good” in November, and “Anaconda” in December.
It seems as if movie studios are trying to relive that old Hollywood magic and walk down memory lane, but it’s clear some of these movie reboots are mostly for profit. “Jurassic Park Rebirth” grossed over $828 million worldwide with a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and “Lilo and Stitch” made over $1 billion globally with a 72% rating. It’s clear profit is the number one big game here and movie studios don’t care what audiences think about their movies, they only care about how much money they make. Movie studios only see money and not innovation.
According to Collider, Sony Pictures released about seven movies that are either reboots, remakes, or sequels such as “Anaconda,” “Until Dawn,” “Karate Kid: Legends,” and only five original films were released such as “One of Them Days,” “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” “Heart Eyes,” “KPOP Demon Hunters,” and “Caught Stealing.” Sony Pictures has built up an average line of films with some being based on video games and major franchises that failed to gain a popular viewing and money at the boxoffice.
Major movie studios like Warner Bros. and A24 have been doing a good job releasing and advertising original movies that soon lead up to them becoming big box office hits. Warner Bros. and A24’s recent projects like “Weapons,” “Sinners,” “Bring Her Back,” and “Warfare” have been gaining positive criticism and popularity. One movie studio, A24, is the heart and soul of originality in cinema. If you look up any A24 films, especially from this year, most of them have been original storylines such as “Death of a Unicorn,” and “Eddington.” Almost all of A24’s films aren’t reboots, remakes, or sequels. Each movie is a different story with a different tone and different characters.
New and interesting movie storylines are things people want to see more in cinema. I’m growing tired of seeing the endless reboots, remakes, and sequels that sometimes ruin the overall enjoyment of the original film.
More innovation and originality in cinema instead of repeating the same old product and idea is what Hollywood needs to learn more about.
