“Until the year 2000, about 25% of top-grossing movies were prequels, sequels, spinoffs, remakes, reboots, or cinematic universe expansions.”
In 2021 one of the ten top-grossing films was an original, and it was Free Guy. The same squeeze shows up in TV, music, books and games. Fewer artists, fewer franchises, more of the money. More content than ever exists, and everyone is watching the same five things.