2018 has been, and will continue to be, a huge year for movie-goers. I am a film student, so naturally I am incredibly excited about all the upcoming movies and movies that have been released so far. I am also a broke college student, so I usually have to prioritize the films I see in theaters. I usually make a list of the films I must see in cinemas and budget for those films accordingly. However, upon looking at my list for this year, I couldn’t help but notice most of the films are based on some form of book or a sequel. This made me start to wonder about how many original ideas Hollywood are actually putting forth.

I have never hidden my nerdy self or my love of geek culture, so I am of course in love with all of the superhero franchises, “Star Wars” sequels and spin-offs, and book adaptations. That doesn’t mean this is all I want to see in theaters though. I have noticed over the past several years there have been more and more reboots, sequels, spin-offs, continuations, etc. Digging deeper, I found that the amount of original films has decreased drastically since 1981. In 1981 there were 7 original films in the top 10 films of that year based on growth. That number dropped all the way to 0 in 2011. That doesn’t even account for reboots.

We have been supporting “Harry Potter,” “Planet of the Apes,” and “The Fast and the Furious,” among others, since 2001. That is 10 years we have been seeing the same films over and over again in new iterations, and, again, that does not include all of the reboots that have come in those 10 years. I have also noticed that few of those reboot films have been good. Most of them have been destroyed by critics and fans alike. I am not saying all of those film sequels and reboots have been bad, but I do not necessarily think it is good for the film industry and art medium to be copying itself so much.

We are almost in the middle of the year, and the only remotely original film I have seen so far is “A Quiet Place.” I thought that movie was fantastic, and it was not only a relatively original movie, but it was done by a fairly new director (John Krasinski has obviously made a name for himself as an actor, but he is still new to writing and directing). The reviews speak for themselves, and I think part of the reason they are so good is because the film is an original story. Audiences will definitely support an original idea that is created if it has a good story among other things behind it.

Unfortunately, Hollywood doesn’t seem to want to take a gamble on some of new original ideas that are out there, but that is where some of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters came from. “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” “Alien” and, of course, “Star Wars” are all films that were made from directors and writers who had an idea for something different. I know that, at the end of the day, Hollywood is a business and studios need to make a profit, but eventually people will get tired of seeing the same thing every year. Studios need good original ideas just as we do. Filmmakers like Jordan Peele and Greta Gerwig have blown people away with their films, and their films (Peele's "Get Out" and Gerwig's "Lady Bird" won acclaim at the Academy Awards). I am glad to see that there are a lot of huge directors taking a step in that direction, even more so to see indie directors going for something new. It is a joint effort, however, and we as audience members must support these artists and their ideas if we ever want to escape this sequel and remake era.