Hollywood is out of ideas. It was bound to happen: the grinding gears of the film industry would eventually slow down and come to a staggering halt. Hollywood has been producing movies since the 1910s, bringing us beloved classics like The Wizard of Oz (1939), The Godfather (1972), and Forrest Gump (1994) that are crucial to family movie nights. Now, over a century later from the first movies being made, is Hollywood realizing that their ideas aren’t infinite?

The movie industry has created an abundance of sequels, prequels, and extended series of movies and is now moving into the vault of video games that carry storylines and developed characters. The popular PlayStation game, The Last Of Us, released in 2013 and has multiple available versions to play, has recently been adapted into an HBOmax series. Every Sunday, a new episode is launched and 21.3 million viewers tune in to watch the post-apocalyptic show. While the series is undoubtedly suspenseful and entertaining — it’s been done before. 

Creating a show that is almost a carbon copy of the video game is downright lazy screenwriting. The Last of Us (TLOU) has a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, and for a good reason: it has everything a zombie-loving, thrill-catching viewer would want. It’s also important to note the pattern of Hollywood bringing in popular actors to create buzz: Pedro Pascal is the star of TLOU, and his presence certainly attracts viewers. But that doesn’t stray away from Hollywood’s lack of original ideas. People want fewer secondhand concepts and more effort from Hollywood to produce a genuinely good movie or series. 

Adapting video games to be consumed in shows or films is the tip of the iceberg to Hollywood’s more significant problem. Without the influx of new and unique ideas for viewers to enjoy, the industry is slowly dying. Remakes and adaptations will only keep Hollywood afloat for a limited time. Eventually, people will tire of seeing the same concepts on screen over and over. Instead of reusing ideas, Hollywood should focus on developing the beloved classics people once knew and loved.