In recent years, cultural critics have been getting depressed while looking at which movies are performing best at the box office. Instead of telling new stories, studios are increasingly relying on established franchises like Disney, Star Wars, and the Marvel Universe. This is often Exhibit A in the case being made that we are in an era of artistic stagnation or even decline. In The Age of Decadence, Ross Douthat spends quite a lot of time talking about what has happened to cinema. Throughout the media, the death of original storytelling has become something of a trope.
