Lately, it seems as though every new movie and series release isn’t actually new. In the three months since 2024 started a Mean Girls remake, Percy Jackson series and Dune 2 have been released. Although Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Dune 2 have done relatively well with Dune making $82.5 million just in the opening weekend, the lack of originality is still evident. 

In cases like Mean Girls, a classic that everyone has seen, the new musical release lacks creativity and originality. One viewer mentions that key scenes from the 2004 edition were left out and they “could hear everyone in the cinema groan because of how excessive it was”. The Dune sequel was highly anticipated but after the popularity of the book and the 1984 movie, there really isn’t a need for more.

One leader in the re-make franchise is Disney. Recently they have loved making their old movies into “live-actions” just to stretch the money they made from the idea as far as possible. Most recent examples of this include Lion King, Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid and Pinocchio. Instead of coming up with new ideas, they make new versions of older movies that continue to flop at the box office with mediocre live-action remakes that nobody asked for. 

In the next few years, the box office will continue being filled with more remakes and sequels that lack creativity and originality. Harry Potter is set to be made into a series, but now, he’s American, which kind of makes it worse. Along with this, Disney will continue adding sequels with Moana and Inside Out 2 both set to be released by the end of the year. 

Remaking classics and childhood favorites does not extend the nostalgia they bring – it ends it. Sometimes a story doesn’t need to be developed any further and its best left with the original ending. 

Hollywood needs to stop adding sequels and remakes of old movies and come up with new ideas.