Prequels, sequels and remakes are overdone

I am sick of reused material. In our current entertainment landscape, a large percentage of mainstream entertainment that’s being released and promoted nowadays — movies, TV shows, video games — is just cannibalizing previous trademarks. We have a trend of sequels, prequels, remakes, universes and franchises, but very little of anything new. 

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is onto its 38th film with the upcoming 2026 release of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” Another of Disney’s juggernaut franchises, “Star Wars,” has one new show, two confirmed video games, and two upcoming films for the year — one of which is a continuation of “The Mandalorian.”. 

This past month was the release of “Wuthering Heights,” — a film that has seen over 30 film adaptations, — the fifth “The Strangers” movie, two confirmed “Avatar” films, and “The Iron Lung” independent movie released by YouTuber Markiplier. There is a “Dexter” TV reboot,the fifth “Star Trek” spinoff show as well as the 14th “Resident Evil” game, and two new — a sequel and a remake — “Silent Hill” games.  

All of this media is just reused ideas, there are no longer new ideas. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, a lot of this media is actually good. It reviews well and is enjoyed by wide audiences — including myself — and even ranked as some of the best media of all time. It’s understandable why these ideas end up being built-upon, reused and reworked into the ground. Production companies see that certain ideas work and draw audiences, so why take risks on new ideas? If those companies give those ideas a chance, they then fail to promote them and blame the resulting failure on the idea and not the marketing.

I’ve been dealing with my dislike of reused material by actively looking elsewhere. Whenever I see an interesting original idea pop up in theaters, I add it to my  watchlist and go see it, or when I see a new game concept, it gets put on my wishlist for purchase. Will I still be tuning into the mainstream releases? Yes, because I enjoy continuations of stories, expanded lore, favorite games made more optimal and reimaginings of classics. I just don't want to see only that.  

The opinions desk can be reached at opinions@ubspectrum.com