Disney’s 2025 film “Snow White” marks the media giant’s 20th live-action remake of a beloved animated original. The list includes “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” and “The Lion King” — those movies alone netted $2.1 billion at the box office.

Moviegoers rightfully decry the end of creativity in Hollywood. Over the past five years, 30 of Disney’s 38 feature length films have been sequels, prequels, remakes, or part of an established universe. According to British director John Boorman, “originality has become the enemy” of producers. Viewers accuse media companies like Disney of nixing original ideas in favor of shameless money grabs. 

The people have a point. The Creative Artists Agency found that original films compose a much smaller portion of box office hits today than they did in the 1990s and early 2000s. Don’t we deserve something better than the 7th iteration of “Cinderella”?

No — you don’t. You deserve whatever version of “Cinderella” comes next, just like you deserve the 35th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are many reasons why Hollywood doesn’t produce original movies like it used to, but the core of the crisis is not lazy producers.

You are the problem.

Before you bristle at the accusation, I won’t shirk my culpability either. I’ve forked over hundreds of dollars to watch “Spider-Man,” “Spider-Man 2,” “Spider-Man 3,” “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “Spider-Man: Far from Home,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” and I enjoyed almost every one of them (looking at you, Andrew Garfield). Movie producers, like anyone else in business, create what they think will earn the most money. The overwhelming number of remakes and sequels does not point to the death of creativity. It is an indicator of where we’re spending our money.

Take the top 10 highest grossing movies in America in 2024. Each one was a sequel. The only exception was “Wicked,” which isn’t truly an exception because it adapted a popular Broadway musical with a strong brand name.

Many of my friends went to see “Gladiator 2” when it came out last November because they wanted to compare it to the original. Of course, they bashed it afterwards. But the only thing that mattered to Hollywood is that they paid the price of admission. According to The Numbers, the top five highest grossing original films of 2024 hauled in only $673 million, while the top five franchise films of the year netted a whopping $5.8 billion. People’s wallets proved what they wanted to watch.

We cling to well-known intellectual property like our favorite childhood stuffed animal. Asking Hollywood to invest in original films is the same as asking it to derail the gravy train. America is a capitalist country: If we want to see an increase in original, ground-breaking movies, then we need to start thinking in terms of supply and demand. There are still more original movies released than franchise movies, and many of them are worth watching.

Some directors, such as Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve, have made their names into brands and receive funding for original blockbusters, like the critically acclaimed hits “Inception” and “Arrival.” The increased availability of media technology has allowed smaller studios like A24 to release lower budget but quality films to the big screen — an example being the 2025 movie “Death of a Unicorn.” Streaming platforms such as Max or Netflix also produce many non-franchise films. 

The number of movies available today is unparalleled in the history of cinema. The amount of data and analytics that media producers have about their audience is likewise unparalleled. What remains is the question people ask their friends when they plop down in front of the TV: “What should we watch?”

I love “Mission Impossible 7.” I love the fourth “Avengers” movie. I also love Christopher Nolan’s original films “Interstellar” and “Oppenheimer.” Hollywood produces many lazily thought-out and executed movies, but it isn’t right to say that all modern films are “trash,” or that there isn’t original media coming out today. 

Before complaining about the end of original films or the death of creativity, consider where you’re shelling out your cash. If you aren’t pleased with the quality of cinema, you should work harder to find and support the excellent original movies that you’ve neglected. Buy a ticket for “Mickey 17” or “Novocaine” instead of “Captain America: Brave New World.” Check out the kid’s flick “Dog Man” instead of the “Snow White” remake. When you steer your popcorn bucket to a different theater, you steer Hollywood with it.

 

Brennan Berryhill is a sophomore studying English.