Like a mother bird, capitalism regurgitates the digested media of the past into our mouths and we eat it up every time. In 2024 the top 10 highest grossing films all came from pre-existing intellectual property, and over half of the six major Hollywood studios movies for 2025 will likewise pull from existing IP.1

To find out Adam Mastroianni analysed the top 20 grossing films in every year since 1977 and coded whether each was part of a “multiplicity” (i.e. a sequel, prequel, franchise, spin-off, reboot etc.).

What he found was surprising:

“Until the year 2000, about 25% of top-grossing movies were prequels, sequels, spinoffs, remakes, reboots, or cinematic... See more