Why are the vast majority of movies being released—at least the mainstream ones seeking box office dominance—franchise films, sequels, requels, reboots, or nostalgic celebrations of childhood toys?

The standard response is that Hollywood is out of new ideas. Creativity is dead. The onus of the problem (if we see it as a problem, and many film critics do) is usually placed squarely on a movie industry supposedly more motivated by dollar signs than compelling storytelling. My take is a little different, however. I see movies constantly that are wildly creative, artistically daring, and thematically compelling—it’s just that most audiences today don’t seem interested.

As I write in the article below, the problem isn’t that filmmakers lack artistic creativity; it’s that Hollywood is a business that responds to markets, “and the market has made clear its desire: the old and familiar, not the new and unknown. Rather than blame audiences for this inclination toward the known and disinclination toward original stories, we should seek to understand why this is the case.”

Read my theory below on why audiences are so hungry for nostalgia, how it connects to larger trends in our culture, and what it all means for the church.