Sequels and Remakes: The Lack of Original Hit Films

In the media throughout the years, the world has been presented with many fantastic films. From dramatic movies like Forrest Gump and The Notebook to heartwarming stories such as WALL-E and Inside Out, audiences have been enthused and entertained for decades. But due to milking franchises when the first movie succeeds, people have been getting restless. Could this all be coincidence? Or is it the fate of recycled plotlines? Sequels and remakes are becoming too overdone, and here’s the reason.

For starters, consider the Moana franchise. The first Moana movie was an absolute sensation

when it hit the theaters. Households around the world couldn’t stop jamming to songs from the movie daily; including “How Far I’ll Go” and “You’re Welcome.” The film grossed about 687.2 million dollars worldwide in the box office. Similarly, Moana 2 performed exceedingly well pulling in about 1.059 billion worldwide. It was even more successful than the original movie, or at least that’s what the money would imply. Unfortunately, audiences weren’t too enthused with the sequel. Moana 2 quickly garnered negative opinions online, with one reviewer claiming, “All the songs are dull, the lyrics are lazy, and they do almost nothing to advance plot and character,” (Donaldson, 2024). It’s not too far-fetched to say people only went to watch Moana 2 due to its predecessor holding the grand title as an influential movie.

A comparable scenario to this idea is the new live-action Snow White. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is arguably a trendsetting movie, considering Snow White was the first Disney princess to make its debut. So like many other Disney movies, it was showcased into live-action. Sadly, the film underperformed poorly with only about 205.5 million dollars grossed worldwide. Keep in mind, this is a Disney movie and the budget for the movie was estimated at 270 million. This type of box office failure isn’t a good look, especially for a thriving company like Disney. Some blame the downfall on the acting, going as far to say: “However, poor writing does not excuse Gadot’s awful performance as the Evil Queen…to me, and to others laughing in the audience, it was not believable at all,” (McMillan, 2025). It’s quite clear that the flop of this movie isn’t just due to opinions online, it’s also shown in the box office.

It’s not to say that sometimes these movies don’t land. Toy Story 2 and Monster’s University are prime examples of popular, thriving sequels. What these movies often lack is authenticity and passion that the original films so prominently portray. That’s exactly the reason media like KPop Demon Hunters and Sinners will always have that star quality that attracts an eager audience. You can’t always recreate perfection, and that is something movie studios will have to tackle endlessly.