Have you noticed lately how Star Wars movies and series are introducing some exotic looking animals and paying them some attention without using them in the story at all? Well, you then can buy toys of these in Disney stores around the world.

Every single Star Wars movie was always like that

Did people forget what movies the “morchandizing” bit in Spaceballs was making fun of? Because in 1987 it certainly wasn’t The Force Awakens.

Guys are just starting to notice the blatant cash grab additions because the target market for the cutesy ones like bb8 and the porgs is girls and women.

Your'e being downvoted, but I for one agree wholly with the point you make.

I don't doubt filmmaking has always, in the end, been about business or they wouldn't be made. But the captains of the film industry, perhaps in optimizing profit, seem to be all circling the same kind of flashy, effects-laden action film.

I've heard people suggest it's a result of the "globalization of the industry", that action films with "effects > dialog" sells to a Chinese audience, for example. Perhaps there is some truth to it (if so, it suggests again studios optimizing for profit).

I've been on a "1001 Films To See Before You Die" tear for a few years now and it is hard not to see many of these old films and sigh, "When would Hollywood ever make a film like this today?"

Please, can we have another, another "new wave"? More indie cinema please. This market has been ripe for disruption since the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise took root.

Hey, POTC 1 is a truly great swashbuckler/adventure film. The sequels are all truly garbage though, I agree.

Does anyone remember Karate Kid 7? The movie market has always been repetitive.

Arnold Schwarzenegger played a tough guy in a dozen derisive movies.

Heck, even Ronald Reagan’s later movies felt like they were all the same character in different clothes and a pastiche plot.

The Wizard of Oz (1939) was the fourth Wizard of Oz film.

> It's wasted effort in my opinion.

Not financially; these movies earn a fucktillion dollars.

Artistically yes, it's boring at best. But these are not artistic movies.

I don't have to watch them, so I don't, and beyond that I don't really care. That said, I don't quite understand why so many folks keep watching them.

That's true, however if the majority of movies are like that, most people will watch them, shifting movie culture toward this kind of movies. Sure, niches could form, but given a movie requires a lot of money, that's really hard. Besides action/blockbuster movies, also so called "artistic" movies are generally worse in quality than the past (I don't think this is just nostalgia). One related thought: doesn't make sense that every year someone has to win an oscar. There should be years without a winner at all. That's not allowed, so winning an oscar doesn't really set a quality goal but it's bounded by a year timeframe

> I don't quite understand why so many folks keep watching them.

A lot of people don't seem aware that other movies exist. Which is odd as the VFX-laden, action-heavy franchise blockbusters everybody complains about are only a small proportion of movies that are made.

I know many holes could be poked in my opinion, but I believe that at this point in time we could probably stop making movies, tv shows, even books. We already have enough amazing, intemporal content to fill many life times.

From my point of view it's inevitable new content is made. If you make content, you just can't stay quiet: how that catches on is another matter. I agree that too much content is made: the reason is mostly money and lack of education.