Reboot the Film Industry, Not the Avengers….Again

There are around 40,000 screens in movie theaters across the U.S. today. Movie theaters have to play something on them to earn money, but why does it feel like the movies featured are always from IP (intellectual property)? Well, because they usually are.

As of writing, when I look at my local movie theaters and the available wide-release films, eleven films come from IP. You wait until the end of the month, and there are three more (see the bottom for the list). This is an issue because there are so many talented filmmakers out there waiting for that real big break and studios are not really even listening to what the people want.

Getting Personal

Darrell is a movie passholder and frequents the movies around twice a week. He finds that it is something fun to do alone. He worked as a truck driver and now works in

constructing heavy-duty lockers.

Sometimes, Darrell rewatches the same film twice. He states that "if they [movie theaters] are playing only a certain amount of movies and there's nothing else to watch, I pick the best out of what I previously watched to watch again." He also usually bases it on standout scenes. He tends to particularly enjoy adventure, action, and drama.

Vinny is one of my local movie theater’s managers, and he often frequents the movies

himself. In regards to IP films, he states that, "those movies [IP films] tend to have more upfront demand, more awareness, more excitement around them. Sometimes people are not necessarily pleased that's there's a reboot, but they still come out. They're more curious than they might be than something that's original."

Vinny says that he is most definitely for original material, but it seems that right now, the industry is not a place that allows it to prosper on a larger scale and keep theaters self-sustaining. When IP is done well, word tends to spread, and it reaps the rewards.

The Disney Problem

Moviegoers beg for original content, and the critical and commercial failures of Marvel

and Disney live-action films are clear signs of this. Marvel and Disney live-action films have an average Rotten Tomatoes score of 73% and 61%, IMDb score of 6.8 and 6.3, and

Letterboxd score of 3 and 2.9.

Vinny notes the power of negative word of mouth, especially with franchises. He said that, "Some films open strongly and they crash pretty quickly. You think about the recent Captain America film, so those types of movies. If the audience responds negatively right off the bat, if there's a huge audience opening weekend and they're disappointed with it, then it's negative word of mouth, poor reaction, poor reception...and they tends to get a lot of attention quickly and numbers tend to drop off fast."

The biggest economic success post-Endgame was Spider-Man: No Way Home, which

capitalized on nostalgia-bait and fan service. The highest-grossing Disney live-action film was The Lion King, having the pull of stars like Beyoncé, Donald Glover, and more.

Darrell concurs that the genre followed by the cast is what drives him to see a film. One

thing of note is that Darrell tends to prefer two types of movies: non-animated, geared

toward adults, and standalone films. He does not mind a sequel, such as a “part two,”

but franchises deter him from seeing a film. Both are problems Disney suffers from.

A photo from the Snatch’D (2025) set.

So What?

As an original writer-director and film fan, it is conflicting. While it’s exciting to see

some of my favorite series back in theaters, it’s regurgitative. There are so many filmmakers who need and deserve that big break to make their dream project, but do not

have the luxury of relying on IP to launch their career in order to afford to get to that point.

The goal is not to dismiss these movies. Vinny and I agree that many new reboots can

exist independently from the IP or have original stories in and of themselves, as seen

through 28 Years Later. There are also many IP-based films I truly love. That also does

not mean that I am opposed to creating something from IP. In fact, I would die happy if

I made a live-action Scooby Doo series (Warner Bros, please contact me.) However, that

does not mean it’s immune to criticism or people wanting more original work.

A photo of me dressed as Ladybird for Halloween 2025, truly showing how much of a film nerd I am.

Breaking the Mold

A major problem is that companies believe that you need to be invested in characters

and stories that already exist in order to care, but people care because they are humans going about their lives, facing hardship. It is also just significantly more economically safe to invest in IP, but it removes the potential for reward, such as Sinners.

It is easy to say that Sinners was a huge original, national phenomenon, economically

and culturally. According to The Numbers, the film earned 4.1% times its production budget, earning over $365 million. The film also has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 96%, an IMDb score of 7.7, and a Letterboxd score of 4.2. Ryan Coogler himself made Marvel films and found great success in them–without them, he would not have been able to make what can arguably be called a masterpiece.

Vinny states, "That its originality had a lot to do with it [the film's sucess] and talking to a lot of the people that went out to see it all throughout its run, so early on and later on, people were hearing good things about it from friends you've gotta see it." He also states that its depth were a part of its success. He said, "it was sort of like a phenomena where not much was expected of it but because it had a cast and... a director, and writer, and a star that people were familar with, that drew the initial audienec in."

Darrell saw Sinners in theaters three separate times. He states that, "it was a different type of movie, but it was good." He said that the cast and the originality is what drew him in. He particularly enjoyed the one-shot song scene.

Now What?

People like genre work, well-known actors, and caring about what they are seeing. However, that does not mean we should only invest in preexisting work. If we invest the

same time and energy in original works in the same manner that we did Sinners, success

for filmmakers and satisfaction in audiences is inevitable. This includes finding a way to

get a big star for that movie to draw people initially in and then let the people do the

hard work by spreading the good news of a great film.

People like good films that creators invest time and care into. They want filmmakers

who love and have a passion for the source material, no matter how big or small the

filmmaker is, such as Final Destination: Bloodlines and James Gunn’s Superman. IP is

safe, but since when has the film industry cared about that? Safety inherently hinders

innovation, and why have that in a field that is constantly evolving?

Releases: Superman, Jurassic World: Rebirth, How to Train Your Dragon, 28 Years Later, Megan 2.0, Lilo and Stitch, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, Ballerina, Karate Kids: Legends, Final Destination: Bloodlines, The Life of Chuck

Upcoming Releases: I Know What You Did Last Summer, Fantastic Four, Smurfs