---
title: "The Downfall of Cinema"
description: "What happened to the classics of Hollywood cinema? The Godfather (1972). Jaws (1975). Star Wars (1977). Forrest Gump (1994). Hollywood always managed to…"
url: https://www.independentpress.com/article/the-downfall-of-cinema
date: 2026-02-03
categories: ["Movies"]
author: "By Pierce Duhe"
---

# The Downfall of Cinema

![The Downfall of Cinema](https://images.ctfassets.net/ewtdlsoyixc1/RWbmVr8HFBZlFCJ6wyZwc/43a9c61eaf760a5487a219340c70f840/cb58025d-c382-4de5-be98-578764295322.jpg)

What happened to the classics of Hollywood cinema? _The Godfather_ (1972). _Jaws _(1975). _Star Wars _(1977). _Forrest Gump_ (1994). Hollywood always managed to produce movies that were ahead of their time. Yet somehow, the future has come and we no longer see the same artistic masterpieces from times ago. Where have they gone? The answer comes down to originality, risk, and trends. Moviegoers and lovers of cinema have noted a steady decline in the quality of highly promoted films over the years. The decline in the originality of Hollywood cinema has coincided with an increase in the prevalence of streaming networks and original television programming. The golden era for streaming has been born at a time of depression for Hollywood cinema. 

The world’s top five streaming services – Netflix, JioHotstar, Amazon Prime, HBO Max, and Disney+ – respectively, all record subscriber numbers of over 127 million. With Netflix’s recent $82.7 billion buyout offer to merge with Warner Bros. (owner of HBO Max), the streaming industry looks to consolidate even further. Streaming platforms are easy, convenient, cheap, and reliable. Services like Netflix, HBO Max, and Amazon Prime frequently hire directors and screenwriters to produce their own original pieces, both episodic shows and movies. They not only allow people to watch their favorite movies at home without having to wait for them to come out on cable, but they also save an expensive trip to the theater. The structure of the streaming industry has nearly eliminated the desire for theater-only releases. The trend towards in-home streaming for cinematic watches has affected the at-home viewer, as well as the incentives of directors and studios to take on certain projects. 

The use of smartphones has added even more competition to the multimedia landscape and further eroded the originality of Hollywood cinema. Though streaming platforms have outperformed theaters over the last decade, they themselves have faced stiff competition from smartphones and social media platforms. In a world of constant scrolling, streaming platforms are often left on as background music. Instead of devoting full attention to a television screen, many viewers are consumed by their phones while ignoring the movie that plays off in the background. To combat the decreasing attention span of their users, streaming platforms have decided to produce shows with thinner scripts that are easier to follow for the casual viewer. The Guardian’s Ralph Jones acknowledges this trend stating, “...if a viewer’s primary screen is their phone, they shouldn’t be so challenged by the Netflix show on their secondary screen that they switch the show off. Above all else, goes the cynical view, Netflix just wants you to have its visual muzak playing for as long as possible.” In a world where smartphone screens are the center of attraction for the eyes of many, cinema has been made to accommodate rather than imagine.

In response to the increased competition from streaming platforms, smart phones, and social media platforms, movie studios have resorted to the one thing that sells best: nostalgia. Reboots, remakes, sequels, prequels, and re-screenings have bombarded the box office in recent years, compelling movie watchers to revisit a part of their childhood. Sequels, like 2019’s _Toy Story 4_ (they’re making a fifth) and _Wicked: For Good_ (2025)_,_ continue to dominate the movie industry along with reboots and remakes like _How to Train Your Dragon. _(2025), _Lilo and Stitch _(2025), and _Anaconda _(2025). Mimicry has flooded theaters. Artists, producers, and studios are less willing to take risks, so they reuse ideas that have already worked before. Social media and streaming platforms have driven originality out of cinema, causing ingenuity in the movie industry to wane. 

Film analyst and Youtuber Rob Ager lists a total of twenty-six reasons why the current generation’s movies have declined in quality. Ager's main blame focuses on “lack of economic pacing,” “recycled symbols and metaphors,” and “lack of visionary filmmakers.” He remembers times like the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s when films had a purpose and artistic vision aside from money-making. Even Disney, a company once renowned for its hand-drawn animated masterpieces, has resorted to computer-generated 3D animation for kid’s films, losing sight of the beautiful hand-drawn Disney classics like _Beauty and the Beast_ (1991) and _Cinderella_ (1950). As Kshitij Rawat states for Lifestyle Asia, “Movie remakes are safe bets in an industry obsessed with ROI. Nostalgia sells, as we have seen many, many times. Brand recognition trumps originality. A studio greenlighting a reboot of a known property is like a person choosing a fixed deposit over the stock market for investment.” Consolidation in the movie industry, like the proposed Netflix Warner Bros. merger, has compounded the problem. Major studios are risk-averse and more focused on bottom-line profit than smaller independents and as a result less likely to produce artistic films with orginal storylines. More than 50% of the anticipated movies for 2025 from the six major studios – Universal, Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount, Sony and Lionsgate – were related to existing intellectual property (IP).While there will always be arguments on what defines “true art”, most would agree that art should be risky. Imitation art possesses little to no risk.

Why does cinema matter? Cultural artforms are one of the ways that generations pass down information from one generation to the next. Movies, television, paintings, photographs, etc. provide ways in which people can express and urge reform in symbolic, allegorical ways. Life Beyond School reports that, “Longitudinal studies using the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking show American children's creativity scores have fallen significantly since the 1990s, particularly in the areas of originality, elaboration, and imaginative storytelling…This creativity decline occurs despite rising IQ scores and increased access to information – suggesting the issue isn't cognitive capacity but rather how children's developing minds are engaged and challenged.” Interesting that America’s creativity has fallen at roughly the same time that originality has stagnated in the movie industry. The Prose Media website reports that in 2023, eight of the top ten highest grossing movies of the year were already part of a franchise (sequels, prequels, and cinematic universes). While any of these sequels and prequels, or franchise films may very well be masterpieces, there is an argument that redundancy in our cinema is causing banality in our youth.

Hope exists though. Small hope, at least. While many of the big named studios have stagnated on unoriginal programming, some new independent studios like A24 have become very reliable sources for fresh creativity. Over the last 10 years, A24 has released some terrific films including _The Brutalist _(2024), _Past Lives_ (2023), _Everything Everywhere All at Once_ (2022), _The Lighthouse_ (2019), and _Moonlight_ (2016). Pixar, the fan-favorite animation studio owned by Disney, has produced twenty-nine original feature films since its founding, creating classics like _Toy Story_ (1995), _Ratatouille_ (2007), and _Coco_ (2017). Though, Pixar too has fallen victim to pandering to nostalgia, releasing _Inside Out 2_ (2024), _Incredibles 2 _(2018), and a soon-to-be-released _Toy Story 5_. In discussing the box-office bomb of Pixar’s 2025 original _Elio_, Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer, Peter Docter, noted the surge in sequels stating, “It's a rough time, and all we can do is try to make movies… We have to find out what people want before they know it. Because if we just gave them more of what they know, we’d be making Toy Story 27.” Studio execs know that there is a problem. Pixar’s goal is to release at least one original piece a year, a bit depressing in its reflection of originality in Hollywood cinema – but at least it is something. 

_Raiders of the Lost Ark_ (1981), _Planet of the Apes _(1968), _Monty Python and the Holy Grail _(1975). There is nothing wrong with producing sequels or prequels to nostalgic favorites. But prequels, sequels, and big-budget remakes shouldn’t be the only option on the movie screen. People watch movies to be entertained. How much incremental gain comes from watching another _Mission Impossible_ installment, or another unexciting Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie when everyone knows the franchise should have ended after _Avengers Endgame_? “End” is in the name people! MCU writers even satirized their own work with multiple comments about corporate cashgrabbing in 2024’s _Deadpool & Wolverine_. 

Change is needed in the film industry. Original art needs to be given a chance to thrive so creative ingenuity can return to Hollywood cinema and be passed down to successive generations. Mimicry, while still a form of art, should not trump originality because of economics. A box office based on sequels, prequels, and cinematic universes may be good for near-term profits but risks losing the movie magic that has made Hollywood such a powerful driver of culture and society over the last 100 years. It is hard to imagine a world without movie classics like _Citizen Kane _(1941) and _2001: A Space Odyssey_ (1968) from the twentieth century. Making movies is not easy. If it was, everyone would be an artist. Art is something one earns, not something one is contractually obligated to. Hopefully, and hopefully soon, the pendulum turns back towards originality in film so Hollywood can start to reimagine the cinematic magic that has made movies such an important facet of our culture and society.