Can Hollywood Please STOP with the Sequels and Remakes? I’m Tired.

Can Hollywood Please STOP with the Sequels and Remakes? I’m Tired.

Like… truly tired.I don’t mean “whew I didn’t sleep last night” tired. I mean emotionally drained from seeing the same five movies with different fonts tired. Every time I go online, it feels like déjà vu. Another announcement. Another sequel. Another remake. Another cash grab disguised as “a modern reimagining.”

It’s not that I hate all sequels or remakes. I just hate bad ones. The lazy ones. The ones that clearly only exist because some studio exec looked at a spreadsheet and said, “Hey, this made money 20 years ago… let’s do it again, but soulless this time!”

Everything Doesn’t Need a Sequel — Let Things Die (With Dignity)

Can we stop dragging stories out just because they once made money?Some movies ended perfectly. Wrapped up. Bow tied. Curtain down. The end.

But Hollywood is out here like:

“What if… we made Frozen 3… and this time Elsa gets a sword?!”

Like, girl—she already had a whole arc. She sang her song. She let it go. We’ve all let it go. Why can’t you?

Or take Inside Out 2. Now listen—I love the first one. It was clever, emotional, and hit hard. But the sequel? Feels like we’re back in therapy we didn’t sign up for. Joy’s exhausted, Sadness is still Sadness-ing, and now Anxiety pulled up with baggage. Can’t Riley just play a sport or something?

And Beetlejuice 2? Look—I love camp. I love the original. But did anyone need a sequel to a movie from 1988? I barely remember what happened in the first one and now I have to emotionally reinvest 30+ years later? My attention span can’t handle that.

This is what I mean when I say not every story needs more. Some things are beautiful because they ended. That’s the whole point of storytelling—knowing when to stop.

Remakes Have Officially Gone Too Far (And Most of Them Are Bad, Let’s Be Honest)

I’m convinced Hollywood is in a toxic relationship with its own past.

Every time a remake is announced, they swear it’s going to be "updated for a new generation" or "a bold reimagining with modern sensibilities."Then you watch it and it’s literally just the same story but somehow more boring, more polished, and completely missing the heart of the original.

Take the Mean Girls musical remake. I wanted to like it. I tried. But why does it feel like the musical forgot how funny the movie was? Like it took the edges off everything. Everyone’s trying to go viral on TikTok instead of just being iconic. There’s no bite. Just vibes.

Or the Disney live-action remakes. Y’all… they are breaking my heart.

• The Lion King (2019) was like watching a nature documentary with no soul. Beautiful visuals, but no facial expressions. It was all “Circle of Life” and zero emotional connection.

• Mulan removed the songs and Mushu. That’s not Mulan. That’s just a different movie with the same name.

• The Little Mermaid gave us pretty visuals, yes. But also, did we need a longer, less magical version of a movie we already know by heart?

These remakes are trying so hard to be “mature” or “gritty” or “realistic” that they forget why we loved the original in the first place: heart, humor, color, camp, and chaos.

And horror remakes?Don’t get me started.They either overexplain everything (The Grudge 2020) or change the plot so much it’s unrecognizable (Black Christmas 2019, what even was that?).

Hollywood’s in a Creativity Drought — And Nostalgia Is the Juice Box They Keep Squeezing

It’s not that original ideas don’t exist—it’s that studios are scared of them.

You can tell the suits are terrified of anything new. If it’s not attached to a franchise, a toy, or a book series that already sold well, they’re like, “Yeah… hard pass.”

This is why they’ll greenlight:

• Barney: The Movie

• Uno: The Movie (yes, it’s real)

• Polly Pocket starring Lily Collins

• Hot Wheels: The Reckoning (okay I made that one up… but also, I probably didn’t)

They’re not remaking stories. They’re remaking IP portfolios. It’s all about streaming rights, merchandise, social media campaigns, and brand synergy. Art takes a backseat to analytics.

Meanwhile, real creators—the ones with wild, beautiful, fresh ideas—are stuck pitching their souls just to get ignored in favor of The Breakfast Club: Gen Z Edition where they all vape and trauma dump.

Where Are the Originals? Where’s the Risk?

It’s not like original movies don’t work. Look at:

• Get Out — instant classic, launched careers, made money.

• Barbarian — had us all screaming and confused (in a good way).

• Everything Everywhere All At Once — weird, chaotic, emotional perfection. Won Oscars.

• Talk to Me — creepy, cool, and original without being part of some dusty horror universe.

These movies didn’t need 30 years of backstory or an ‘80s cartoon tie-in. They just needed a strong vision and a little trust from the studios.

There are so many writers, screenwriters, and creators out here with stories that would rock our world if they just had a shot. But instead, Hollywood keeps saying:

“That sounds cool… but what if we made another Transformers instead?”

Final Thoughts: I’m Not Mad, I’m Just… Okay, I’m Mad

Yes, I love film. Yes, I love seeing familiar faces and hearing old theme songs remixed. But I’m over the constant parade of sequels and remakes that bring nothing new to the table except longer runtimes and “modern updates” nobody asked for. I want to be surprised again. I want to walk into a theater and have no idea what I’m about to experience. I want to see something that wasn’t algorithm-approved by a committee of nostalgia farmers in a boardroom. Until then, I guess I’ll keep watching these reboots just to stay in the loop, but with a side-eye and a sigh. Hollywood, if you’re listening: We get it. You liked the '90s. We did too. But it’s time to move on. Please. For all of us.