Walking into the cinema, you’re greeted by a box office attendee asking what film you’re choosing to see. Looking at the list, you’re surrounded by recognizable characters and films such as ‘Wicked,’ ‘Gladiator II’ and ‘Venom: The Last Dance,’ all sequels or remakes. Playing it safe, you choose ‘Gladiator II,’ a sequel to the 2000 film, ‘Gladiator.’
Walking away with your ticket in hand, you’re happy with your decision. Unknowingly, a closer look at the list of films would’ve revealed titles you’ve never heard of. But you chose the familiar film, what could go wrong?
A lot, actually.
According to Box Office Mojo, as of December 2nd, only four out of twenty-five of the highest-grossing films domestically of 2024 are original screenplays. The highest is If at #19, followed by ‘Bob Marley: One Love’ at #21, ‘The Fall Guy’ at #22 and ‘Red One’ at #24.
The total domestic gross of these four films is $388,662,438. That’s $264,317,656 less than the highest-grossing film domestically this year, ‘Inside Out 2.’
One of the reasons we see these high box office numbers in sequels and remakes is because of a phenomenon called nostalgia bait. Film studios know that audiences love certain characters and movies from their childhood. Many examples from just this past year include ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,’ ‘Mean Girls,’ ‘Kung Fu Panda 4’ and ‘Twisters.’
With this in mind, it keeps studios sucked in on funding already existing IPs. This then leads to a much larger issue, the underfunding and underpromotion of films with original screenplays.
In 2024, hundreds of films with original screenplays were released and at the forefront of distributing them were two companies, A24 and Neon. Both of these distribution companies are known for their core value of financing original, independent films. Many of their films are even in talks for the 2025 awards season.
The one problem? Many of their films aren’t able to be properly promoted because of the size of these production companies. This leads to the general public not being made aware of many amazing films by innovative actors, directors, screenwriters, and more.
A24’s big hit of the year was ‘Civil War’ directed by Alex Garland starring Cailee Spaeney and Kirstin Dunst. This led them to neglect many of their other movies such as ‘We Live In Time,’ ‘Heretic,’ ‘Sing Sing,’ ‘A Different Man,’ ‘Queer’ and so many other amazing films that deserved more attention from the general public.
The same thing happened over at Neon. Their big hit was the horror film ‘Longlegs’ directed by Osgood Perkins and stars Makia Monroe and Nicolas Cage. But they also had ‘Anora,’ ‘Cuckoo,’ ‘Immaculate,’ ‘The End’ and lots more films that didn’t take off with the average consumer.
While a lot of problems come from the production companies, the same amount of problems lie with the audiences.
The general public, aka you, have the opportunity to choose to see a smaller, indie film instead of the latest blockbuster. If you look further than what’s being plastered all over your social media feed, you will find that interesting films are everywhere.
It may be tempting to revisit characters from your childhood or a franchise that’s been going on for fifteen years, but if you reach out beyond your comfort zone you’ll find something new and exciting that you never thought you’d enjoy. These new stories deserve your time and attention just as much as the ones you’ve known your whole life. You’d also be helping support smaller projects and showing studios that audiences do care about smaller films with original stories.
So during the break, maybe think about going to the cinema sometime and see a film you’ve never heard of before with up-and-coming actors and underrecognized directors. Who knows, you might just find your new favorite movie.
