Hollywood, no one asked for this

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If, the last time you turned on your TV, you were convinced you'd somehow fallen into a kind of relentless time loop, you're probably not the only one. In fact, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the entertainment world has simply travelled back through time, defying all metaphysical norms and stayed there. At least, that's seems to be the only way to explain why everything is a reboot, a remake or a sequel of something that came before it.

There have always been remakes, but increasingly there seems to be nothing else. Just this year we've had Cruella, He's All That, Guilty and The Many Saints of Newark, to name a few, with And Just Like That..., Dune, West Side Story, Home Alone and a Grease spin-off all on the way. Meanwhile in TV, Gossip Girl, Will & Grace, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Oliver Twist and How I Met Your Mother have all had - or are getting - the remake treatment.

And when they're not remakes they're sequels; the umpteenth go around in a franchise that should have ended long ago. Either way the shows and films you grew up with are back. Re-packaged, re-modelled and re-marketed, but still faintly recognisable.

Reddit is teeming with people who are sick of the reboot trend. From one thread asking, "Is Hollywood running out of ideas?" to another stating, "I'm really so tired of reboots and remakes," it often seems as though interest in reviving previously done stories has turned into full-on entertainment ennui. So, why then, are they still being made?

One school of thought suggests that the remake genre is so pervasive because for the production companies, actors and brands involved in the films, it's a safe bet. You don't have to drum up interest in a new concept, story or character because there's a ready-made audience there for the taking. You can capitalise on the connections people already have with their favourite characters, while tapping into the feeling of nostalgia we're all so readily intoxicated by.

Disney and the remake model

Just look at how many Disney films are being remade at the moment. Mulan, The Jungle Book, Dumbo, Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast are some of its most recent remakes with many more on the list to come. The distributor has done this so prolifically, in fact, that many of its latest and upcoming projects are revivals of their own remakes, like the 2021 Cruella, a prequel to the 1996 101 Dalmations starring Glenn Close, which was in itself a live-action remake of the 1996 cartoon version.