CC Bishop

The movie industry has produced several flops due to the loss of creativity and original content.

In the first couple of months of 2025, business in the movie industry has been in a massive decline. It seems like production companies are beginning to lose their flair due to an overall loss of originality and creativity.

Marketing and advertising campaigns have been promoting a long line of movies in the past month, spanning from Mufasa to A Minecraft Movie, leaving fans highly anticipated. Now that they are showing exclusively in theaters, it’s clear that many productions have fallen short of audience expectations. While there have been a few hits this year, movies such as Snow White have been noted to be major flops. Theaters have even been pointed out for having a noticeable number of empty seats and lower overall attendance. As sales begin to fall, movie production companies are going to have to find a way to bring back their authenticity.

Human creativity is irreplaceable. In our world today, originality and overall creative flair are often something businesses take for granted. A recent study at the University of Exeter asked 293 participants to develop an eight-sentence story for teenagers and young adults. Out of every participant, only a third had no artificial assistance, while the vast majority used generative AI to get ideas. After evaluating the stories based on originality, usefulness, and overall emotional characteristics, researchers pointed out that AI does help writers who lack flair but also creates less stand-out films with basic storylines.

Disney, for example, is one production studio known for creating some of the most unforgettable and magical stories we know and love today. Receiving a total of 151 Academy Awards, Disney will forever hold the legacy of producing groundbreaking motion-picture films. As of the past several years, however, Disney seems to have slowed down its storytelling efforts, focusing more on live-action remakes and sequels to past successes or, as they put it, “bringing back the magic.” Nonetheless, many fans are left wondering whether this is from a lack of overall creativity or from a feeling of laziness.

I’m not saying their previous remakes haven’t been hits, but some have not turned out as successful as hoped. For example, as of the end of March 2025, Snow White was officially released to theaters with the expectation of being a great success for Disney. After spending around $410 million on both production and marketing campaigns, making it one of Disney’s most expensive movies, they aimed to recapture the magic of the original 1937 film. However, due to the harsh backlash over the casting of Rachel Zegler and further criticism of the use of computer-generated imagery, the movie flopped. Sitting at a low IMDb rating of 1.6/10, Snow White became a major financial setback for Disney Motion Pictures, totaling a loss of around $115 million.

Considering this year’s movie production trends, I think it’s evident that companies should consider implementing some changes. By investing more time in developing a more authentic storyline, sales could likely improve drastically. After all, human creativity plays a crucial role in our everyday lives, especially when it comes to creating another smash-hit film.