(Photo courtesy of KSL) “Many of the biggest movies coming out today are sequels and remakes.”
Valeria Santos Rocca
Connector Contributor
Remember the good old days when movies were “new?” You’d relax into a sticky theater seat with popcorn in your hand ready to watch something original. Nowadays Hollywood is like a rerun of your favorite sitcom: comfortable, predictable, and aggressively unoriginal. Every so-called “new” movie feels like déjà vu, but why? Because they’re not new at all. They’re remakes, sequels, and prequels in a desperate attempt to seem “fresh,” a “reboot” of something that was perfectly fine the first time around.
But why are we stuck in this loop of nostalgia? The answer lies with the TikTok-watching, meme-sharing, attention-span-of-a-goldfish generation that just doesn’t watch movies the way older generations do. Hollywood’s strategy for them? Repackage the old stuff and pray they haven’t seen it yet. If anyone has been to the theater in the last decade, you would have probably noticed a troubling trend, everything is either a sequel or a prequel. To name a few, there’s “Jurassic World 25,” “Fast and Furious 37,” “Toy Story 9: Woody’s Retirement Party.” It’s as if Hollywood executives sat around a table, looked at a list of successful ‘90s movies, and said, “What if … we did that again?”
Take “Star Wars” for example. The original trilogy is iconic. Then came the prequels, which were … less so (sorry, not sorry Anakin). But just when you thought it was over, along came a sequel trilogy, spin-off TV shows, and Baby Yoda to distract us from the fact that this galaxy far, far away is a never-ending cash cow. And it’s not just action franchises anymore. Even Disney is guilty of turning every beloved animated classic into a live-action remake. “Aladdin” got a slightly blue Will Smith, “The Lion King” got the CGI treatment, and “Mulan” returned without Mushu. And there’s no sign of this slowing down, every animated movie you loved as a kid is being remade, but now with 50% more realism and 50% less charm. Naturally, the brilliant minds in Hollywood thought “Why make something new when we can give them something they kind of remember? Kids love nostalgia! Right?”
Wrong.
Newer Generations aren’t and won’t be impressed with the recycled plots. If they want to watch “Back to the Future” they can stream it. And when they decide to watch a movie, it’s often chopped into bite-sized chunks on YouTube or given a quick skim on an Instagram post. Instead of creating stories that resonate with modern viewers, Hollywood leans on the assumption that a familiar title is enough to sell tickets. “Look, kids! It’s Ghostbusters! But with … women this time?” The real kicker is that we don’t even need movies the way older generations did. Streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ have turned every TV show into an ongoing, binge-worthy epic. Why invest time and emotional energy into a 120-minute film when you can watch a 47-episode series about a guy who builds inground swimming pools in the jungle? Movies are just…there. They’re not an event, they’re background noise. Instead of heading to the theater for a big premiere, they’re at home watching some random dudes review every flavor of Doritos in one sitting (the purple one is the best). Cinema just can’t compete with the chaos of online content that’s designed to be consumed at lightning speed.
Until then, we’re stuck in this loop of cinematic déjà vu, where every summer blockbuster is the same nostalgic remake, and original films are mythical, rarely seen, and often a disappointment when you finally get one. But hey at least the popcorn’s still kind of good. And who knows? Maybe in 20 years, when the newer generations control Hollywood, we’ll get a remake of “Fast and Furious,” except this time, the cars are electric, and Vin Diesel’s family has a podcast. In the meantime, let’s just settle in and enjoy “Jurassic Park 12: Dinosaurs, but in Space.” Because if we’re being honest, we’re probably going to watch it anyway.
