When I go to the movie theater nowadays, I feel like I’m in the 1990s. Every poster displayed along the walls reminds me of movies my parents recall viewing as children. Now it seems that nothing but older franchises are being revived for the public’s eye. But why bother releasing films that provide nothing new to the table?

Although the terminology can start to sound the same the more it is said, there is a difference between a remake, reboot and revival. As defined by ABC News, a remake tells an old story, but with new actors portraying the characters; a reboot tells a new story, but with familiar characters; a revival, most commonly used for television shows, brings back the main cast years after the show’s original run.

Recently, many studios have been remaking classic films for the box office, such as “Ghostbusters”, “Jumanji” and “It”. In addition, Disney has recently been creating live-action films as counterparts for the classic animated movies. The main reason for all of these remakes is the great profit, but this does not come solely from America.

“We’re playing a global box office game now, and North America alone isn’t the say-all, end-all in the total global picture of box office sales,” Daniel Loria, editorial director of Boxoffice Media, said in an article for The Washington Post. “Many times what will decide if a sequel happens if a film flops in North America is how strong it does overseas.”

According to The Numbers, a website that provides a variety of movie and franchise analyses, the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise has gained the most profits of all time with $22,590,455,007. Of these profits, only 38 percent of the total revenue is from America. This means that directors have to consider the responses from other countries, for they contribute the most money to their profits.

The audience needs to consider these effects as well. Due to the copious remakes being released, there are no new ideas being contemplated, resulting in a lack of development in the media.

Let us connect this scenario to that of a different industry: the publishing industry. If an author were to publish the exact same book, then no editors or readers would desire it. No one wants to read the exact same story when nothing has changed except, possibly, a couple of minor characters. However, the author published this book in an attempt to receive more money than they did from the previous book. This relates to the movie industry: it is now the means of quantity over quality in the producers’ eyes.

Although directors and studios need to gain profit from their movies, they also need to consider the next generation of media and culture. Future filmmakers cannot rely on ideas from 30 years ago, or else no innovation will ensue in the media. We hate the thought of history repeating itself, so we should not encourage franchises to do the same.