When watching for new movies to hit the theaters, it’s extremely common to recognize the titles. Unfortunately, not because of good advertisement. Rather, it’s due to the fact that the movie industry has recently become obsessed with making easy money and in most cases, beating the dead horse that are franchises.

I’m beginning to question whether this is an attempt at appealing to the fans or a cash grab. In any case, I am not pleased. I’m extremely tired of watching the same story line get used for a franchise until it’s nothing but cliches and actors desperate to hold onto their prime. Movies should be attended and enjoyed because they actually have the potential of being a good movie on it’s own grounds and not because the movies before it were good.

The only movies I’ve been interested in as of late were The Matrix Resurrections, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Sing II,  and Encanto. Out of those five titles, Encanto is the only one that was an original franchise. Although knowing Disney, there are probably going to be spinoffs and TV shows for Disney+.

While plenty of other movies are being released, it’s usually the big hitters that are talked about enough to spread by word of mouth. Unfortunately for fans of original movies, these are the companies that are putting out the sequels. 

Netflix is especially guilty of this. Fan response is very low on their list of importance as movie after movie is made for the same franchise that only did somewhat well. The production is cheap and poorly done and the actors are reused until they’re nearly hated by fans. Netflix seems to favor quantity over quality more than any company I’ve seen. Some of my favorite shows have been canceled in favor of a sequel for a movie that did well enough. Even worse, it seems like these movies only do well because people watch them ironically. There is no reason that the Kissing Booth needed three movies, the first one was bad enough. 

It’s clear that capitalism’s greed has taken over the industry. Big producers no longer care about creating an art piece that will speak to the people. Directors and Producers’ creative freedoms are sorely limited to whatever will bring in the biggest profit. Now they just go for the low hanging fruit- the easy money grabbers. If the first movie did well there’s typically a set of fans that will see the movie no matter what. But if an original movie fails, that’s a lot of risk and a large possibility for failure. No company is willing to risk that anymore.

Not only are these movies clearly a cash grab but they’ve also all come out during the holiday season. When it comes to movies with all the hype, there’s usually dry spells  throughout the year for release dates. Then all the movies are released around the same time which creates a flurry of theater participation. These times are specially planned out for the ultimate sales and that means they come out around christmas and summer. Which is when people are all at home and looking for something to do with their families. 

I used to love movies and the movie theater was always my go-to family outing choice. One of my favorite feelings is leaving the theater and raving about the movie I just saw. But I have not felt that way in a long time. I’m tired of feeling like I’m out of the loop when I go to a movie and the only thing that is being thrown at me is nostalgia meant for another audience. The last few times I’ve left the theater, I’ve mostly just been severely let down. 

I understand the desire for sequels. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of movies that I wanted more of as well. But most  sequels aren’t well done. Instead of feeling like a continuation of the first movie, it feels more like Suzanne Collins regretting getting into a three book contract.