Did you hear anyone express excitement for the “Dumbo” live-action remake? Did anyone beg for “Jumanji: The Next Level” to be made? When was the last time you heard anyone care in the slightest about “The Walking Dead’s” last seasons? Chances are very few people, if any, actually want or care about recent movie remakes, reboots and sequels. So, why is Hollywood producing more sequels and remakes than ever before? Because people still pay for it.

The film industry has focused so much on money over quality and originality that movie theaters now mostly consist of movies nobody asked for. This is a problem because, while there are still new and original movies and shows being made, the popularity of sequels and remakes overshadows original works. This leaves limited room for high-quality originals. It has also caused movie theaters and streaming services to be clogged with mediocre sequels and unwanted remakes.

However, the excess of mediocre sequels and remakes is a product of fundamental flaws within the film industry. The surplus of lazily written movies and shows comes from the focus on profitability, which is sustainable because even though sequels or remakes are rarely better than the original movies, people keep paying to watch them.

To put it simply, the film industry takes advantage of the audience’s expectations of a film based on their past experience with its predecessor, as opposed to attracting viewers by promises of improved character development, well-crafted storylines or upgraded technology.

Viewers go into the movie theater remembering how good they felt with the predecessor of a movie and they expect to feel the same with the sequel or a “30-years later remake.” Unfortunately, audiences are often disappointed when they find out that the only thing promised by the new movies is the memory of something better.

In the case of franchise reboots or straight-up movie remakes, studios target the viewer’s nostalgia, milking it until the last drop. Examples of nostalgia-based remakes include movies such as “Aladdin,” “The Lion King,” “Dumbo,” “Jurassic World” and many more.

None of these movies were ever really wanted by the public, and none added any substance or an original take to the previous stories. Instead of investing in original content, the film industry has found out that it is much easier and profitable to remake a well-known movie without the pressure of actually making it appealing.

Worse yet, some of these movies detract from the original version. “The Lion King’s” live-action remake, for example, is almost a take-by-take copy of the animated version, and by trying to be photo-realistic, the movie detracted all sense of emotional connection and nuance from the characters. The movie is basically a production of “Hamlet” where all actors play Bella Swan from “Twilight.”

Of course, this is not always the case. Both “Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse” and “Joker,” for example, had refreshing takes on characters that have appeared on screen many times before. However, both movies took the challenge of creating something new with known characters, and in turn, both surpassed expectations with stunning visuals, amazing scores and nuanced writing.

The excess of sequels, on the other hand, happens primarily due to an unexpected, good performance of a movie, where studios will milk every penny out of it by forcing a sequel. Examples of such unnecessary sequels include “Men in Black” sequels, the last “Indiana Jones,” “Finding Dory,” “Frozen 2” and the third “Star Wars” trilogy.

This problem is not exclusive to movies, though. Many shows keep going purely because enough people keep watching. The best example of this is “The Walking Dead.” What once was one of the best and most talked-about shows on the air is now a “walking dead” horse, still beaten to go in no direction.

After the first six seasons, the quality and public interest quickly declined. In 2016, the showrunners admitted that they’d make as many seasons as possible, suggesting the story has no resolution to look forward to. Now, the only people that still watch the show are mostly those who have invested too much time in it to stop.

Movies and shows alike should have a clear end-goal in sight, instead of producing rushed and mediocre works simply because people are still willing to watch. However, even though both people and critics usually dislike remakes, reboots and forced sequels, people still pay for them, which is why the problem still exists today. In fact, eight out of the ten top-grossing movies released in 2019 were either sequels or remakes of older movies.

This is a problem because when studios put money as a priority over writing quality, they end up mass-producing rushed and lazy works. In essence, both studios and viewers reward mediocrity even though people keep complaining about it.

A clear example of this can be seen in the gradual decline of the quality of Pixar movies. Since its beginning, Pixar proved to be a powerhouse in the film industry by creating not only numerous instant classics, but producing them back to back since their first project. However, everyone’s favorite monopoly had to take advantage, and in the early 2000s, Disney tried to force sequels of Pixar’s “Finding Nemo,” “Monsters Inc.,” “Toy Story 2” and “The Incredibles.”

Pixar tried to defend their creative rights against Disney since they never planned or wanted to create sequels and preferred maintaining the original stories. Years later, though, Disney bought Pixar and did it anyway. Since then, most of the latest Disney Pixar movies have been poorly written sequels and films with lazy world-building, theme exploration and character writing. But hey, at least Disney’s making more money than ever.

Ultimately, good art takes risks, and making movie remakes, franchise reboots and unexpected sequels takes all the risk out of filmmaking. This has caused an overall decline in storytelling and creativity in studios throughout the years.

While some sequels and reboots might actually be well-executed and offer more than just nostalgia references and background-noise material, the future of the film industry depends on the viewers. Hollywood will not learn when to stop until we make it stop.

Gustavo Gutierrez can be reached at guti6327@stthomas.edu.