Think about the last time you went to a movie theater, and which movies were displayed in the lobby. Wicked, Zootopia 2, Inside Out 2, and various Disney live actions seem to dominate. It seems like no one has any original ideas for movies and TV. According to research done by CJ Stallworth, as of 2024, less than 19% of films today are original. This number is down from 40.9% in 2000. This data demonstrates a key theme in media today, the lack of originality and care put into it.
Disney Pixar
It is no secret that Disney is the biggest company in the entertainment industry and for years, it has produced many of the most successful and iconic movies ever.
Disney was first driven to popularity through animation. Early short films like Steamboat Willie and later, movies like Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Pinocchio pioneered the animated film industry, and while many early Disney films were based on other works of fiction, they were more loosely piggybacking off of historical fairy tales, myths, and literature.
In 2021, during the pandemic, Disney released multiple, well rated animated movies like Soul, Luca, Raya and the Last Dragon, and Encanto. While Encanto was very successful, earning about $96.1 million domestically, Raya and the Last Dragon did mediocre and Soul and Luca both bombed.
These films mark the beginning of Disney’s downfall. Disney saw these original movies as too much effort and making not enough profit.
While sequels have always been used, recently, they have become increasingly prevalent. With “live action remakes,” another massive trend, movies only require studios like Disney to choose a successful IP, and dump money into making the exact same movie over again.
Marvel and Sony
From 2008 to 2019, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was one of the most captivating and culturally relevant film series of the time. Through loosely basing the films off of comics, but still adding new content in a way that is very similar to early Disney, Marvel was able to make characters like Iron Man a global phenomenon.
Every so often, hints were dropped in the films about a new, stronger-than-ever threat. The climax of this came in 2019 when almost every storyline in the MCU converged and culminated into the biggest movie yet, Avengers: End Game, which grossed around $2.8 billion making it the most successful Marvel movie of all time.
When the pandemic struck, theaters around the world closed, leaving Marvel to simmer in its victory of Infinity War, and when doors to theaters opened again, it was obvious Marvel, like Disney, had had all of the wrong take-aways.
Marvel began to rely heavily on nostalgia and poorly set up, “team up” events like Spider-Man: No Way Home and Deadpool & Wolverine to turn a profit.
Spider-Man is an especially interesting IP for the situation of its rights ownership. While Marvel can still legally include Spider-Man in their movies, only Sony can make Spider-Man specific movies like the original Spider-Man Trilogy, or more importantly, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
These movies are especially important because they are some of the best modern animated movies, with Across the Spider-Verse being the only movie from the 2020s to be in the top 50 highest rated movies on IMDB. For these films, Sony took the already popular, and by extension safe, IP of Spider-Man and used comics, like early Marvel, to write a fantastic original story that anyone could enjoy.
It is obvious that Sony was learning from their success of Spider-Man when KPop Demon Hunters was released. KPop Demon Hunters debuted on Netflix, becoming very popular very quickly for good reason.
The movie follows an original and interesting story with attention to detail in every aspect. The music is so popular, the one song from the film was nominated for five Grammys. Additionally, its theatrical release grossed over $24 million domestically through its mere four days in theaters.
Though I have praised Kpop Demon Hunters, I don’t want a Kpop Demon Hunters 2. Though I can appreciate Sony’s animated Spider-Man films, I don’t want a Spider-Man 3, past Across the Spider-Verse Part 2. What is necessary for Sony to not experience the same fate as Disney Pixar and Marvel is for them to keep making original films.
But maybe the biggest culprit in all of this isn’t Sony, or Marvel, or Disney, but rather the consumer. The demand in fans for Kpop Demon Hunters 2, and Sony’s giving in, is a live demonstration of how the massive studios of Marvel and Disney stopped producing the quality original content they were known for.
That fact that Kpop Demon Hunters was so massively popular in the first place shows that the people want original media. No matter how much Live action Lilo & Stitch made or how much Kpop Demon Hunters 2 might, it all reveals how we, the viewers, just want to relive the experience of finding something new. Something that’s original, exciting, and something that had obvious care put into every aspect.
The point of all of this is to say; stop supporting these companies. They are dumping millions into high budget, low effort films, and they’re making the money right back, and the only way to break this loop is to make it unprofitable.