Wait… I’ve Seen This Before
Written by Esther Smith
It seems like everything we see today is a callback to the past: from newly released music having samples from existing songs to Y2K fashion being the hot new thing, we are always carrying the past into the future. The film and TV industry is no different.
I’m writing this at an interesting time, specifically for reboots: Scrubs has started a new season and Malcolm In The Middle released a trailer. Sure, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot was killed, but these are TV shows from the 2000s that have stood the test of time - and that dead horse is going to be flogged just once more to have its last 5 minutes of fame. See: Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special.
Meanwhile, interesting and original shows have such a little window to succeed on streaming platforms before the executives announce the cancellation. More often than not, citing “low ratings” as the reason without appropriate marketing. It’s tiring and prevents audiences from branching out if the risks are higher than the rewards.
We can’t let the greats rest and instead, need to resurrect them — either giving it a modern perspective or perhaps it’s just a money-grabbing scheme… have we reached the end of originality?
Tropes & Clichés
Filmmakers have approximately 2 hours to tell a story: set-up, confrontation, and resolution. Within this time, characters need to develop and plots need to move forward, so it’s only natural we lean into tropes. Tropes are a good way of familiarising the audience with all these components in an effective way, allowing more time for strengthening the story.
We’ve seen the heartfelt love confession in the pouring rain, walking away in slow motion after an explosion, saying a badass line to the villain before they face justice – they’re tropes that we’ve seen over again and when done correctly, the audience doesn’t bat an eyelid. But relying on tropes for storytelling can lead to recklessness, unoriginality, and disappointment. Nobody likes a cliché; we roll our eyes, judge storytellers for copying someone else, and sours the viewing experience.
Aesthetic cinematography is not immune to being boiled down to “just a trope”: Wes Anderson is not a fan of the Wes Anderson Trend on social media saying, “I don’t want to see too much of someone else thinking about what I try to be because, God knows, I could then start doing it.” It’s worth noting that he is, however, supportive of the Accidentally Wes Anderson project.
Aside from film, the publishing industry has been under fire for using tropes to sell books: enemies to lovers is recycling, the chosen one feels tedious. The product is being pushed onto customers through familiarity and unwillingness to be creative; creating a dangerous comfort zone for both writers and readers.
R&R: Reboots and Remakes
When the pressure is on to make money, it’s obvious to go back to milking the cash cow that’s proven profitable all those years ago; the hard work of building an audience has already been done, now it’s time to bring them back to cinemas.
Audiences are, in fact, turning up — 7 out of the 10 biggest box office successes in 2025 were either sequels or reboots. Additionally, if parents were to take their children to the cinema (where the prices have often increased), wouldn’t they want to play it safe with a Disney remake they know their child would like? The risk to reward ratio seems obvious when you look at it from both a studio and audience perspective.
On the flip side, it’s obvious that people are becoming tired of this formula; from complaints of nostalgia bait to unoriginal and lazy filmmaking, there’s growing risk of “ruining” the experience and memories with reboots and the sequels that come out decades later. Look no further than the reaction to the first trailer for the live-action remake of Moana (2016), with complaints of bad lighting, unfavourable hair styling, and the uncalled-for remake of a film that’s only 10-years old boils down to one word: greed.
In the rare defence of remakes, I’d like to point out that the expiration of copyright and works entering the public domain offers filmmakers a chance to explore a new dynamic within these characters and their settings — it just so happens there’s a lot of horror films of beloved characters.
Inspiration Or Plagiarism?
In the music industry, copyright cases are rife and Ed Sheeran argued the same chord progression has been used in over one hundred songs and won his case. In film, copyright cases are not as common but they do exist — highlighting the importance of originality when it comes to storytelling.
And what about the films you’ve seen that feel like replicas? No, you don’t need your eyes testing because this is actually a thing. These are called Twin Films — usually exploring the same setting, character, and/or themes; they'll either be released in the same year or too close together: it’s a race to release. Cheddar found three reasons why: studios coming across similar scripts at the same time, world events inspiring stories, and, unfortunately, genuine theft.
But how do we become inspired by art without outright stealing? Meme culture aside, Kamala Harris was right about coconut trees: we do exist in the context of all in which we live and what came before us. Art is not created inside a vacuum; it’s inspired by the lives we live, the people we encounter, the stories we hear — there’s bound to be a crossover somewhere. Whether or not the crossover lies in the land of “theft” is up for debate; but Jim Jarmusch encourages taking inspiration and celebrating your thievery: “Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic.”
But underneath the surface, there is a real risk of plagiarism: Artificial Intelligence. The technology (stylish or sinister — take your pick!) has already made an appearance in Festival Formula’s Insight Blog in our screenwriting edition. It’s no secret that AI services scrape existing content to train their systems, therefore, using these platforms means taking someone else’s work and claiming it as your own. This is a threat to originality, where artists of all types risk having their work re-purposed and packaged as something new, all in the name of innovation.
The Marketing Of It All
If reboots and remakes have an established audience to project onto, original concepts need to work harder to gain their audience. This is where marketing comes in, right? Well, kind of. While marketing budgets have risen to 30% of the film’s budget, it’s become difficult to advertise in an age where everything we see is pushing us to spend money, even if they’re undisclosed ads. Streaming services, once perfect for those who didn’t like advert breaks on TV, now display ads unless you pay for a higher tier.
Word of mouth is probably the most powerful marketing tool but sometimes we forget until we see the results. In 2023, an X post about a book reached 20 million views, 4 years after its release, and it skyrocketed in popularity. Aside from books, films such as Scream (1996), The Blair Witch Project (1999) are among the biggest examples of word of mouth advertising in film. But word of mouth advertising is not always positive: Ella MacCay (2025) saw a trend for its awkward poster, reminding us that the internet is just as quick to turn their back on films as they are to celebrate them.
Short Films
Sometimes remakes don’t have the reaction you’d expect. The short film, Lights Out (2013) became a viral hit and when the short film became a feature film also titled Lights Out (2016), the reviews seem to be mixed but the IMDB ratings favour the short film. But do not for one second think that all short-films-turned-features follow the same fate, it’s certainly not the case for these films.
With that being said, for the filmmakers who may worry about originality: tropes don’t have to be predictable, you can reinvent them. Kung Fury (2015), a short film, was praised for its originality while simultaneously having a long list of tropes. Norwich Film Festival wrote a piece on what they love in short film and they highlight the importance of finding your voice in filmmaking, shaping it into something that will translate to audiences far better than “short film ideas” Google searches ever could.
And if filmmakers want to explore something a little different than the traditional genre categories at film festivals? With the rise of genre-specific film festivals they now have the freedom to experiment, possibly exploring with style and story to help create something original.
The Glass is Half… You Tell Me?
That’s not to say originality is dead, a recent example of worldwide success would be KPop Demon Hunters (2025). The film not only took the world by storm with the hit song Golden having nearly 3 billion streams across Spotify and YouTube, but also winning a Grammy and an Oscar. So, unsurprisingly, a sequel has already been confirmed (and I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a live-action remake down the line). Nevertheless, it’s proof we haven’t run out of ideas just yet — and for that we should celebrate!
Look, I’m not the first person to roll their eyes and criticise the entertainment industry for their lack of originality, and that, in itself, is hilarious. But while we criticise the reboots, the remakes, the tedious stories being told over and over again, at some point we need to look inwards.
There’s hidden gems out there, waiting for an audience — whether they’re screening at independent cinemas or film festivals or through online channels, they are there waiting for you. Perhaps we, as audiences, need to take the initiative of seeking them out instead of scrolling through social media and waiting for them to land on our screens.
That’s not to say we can’t engage in the nostalgia bait every once in a while, but even a fish learns to avoid the big, shiny hook in the water after a while.
