Recently, I saw one of the worst movies I have ever seen in theaters. Anyone who knows me knows I will be the first in line to see whatever new psychological thriller is out, so when I went to see an evening showing of “Escape Room,” I was completely ready to be – well, psychologically thrilled. The result was quite the opposite; to offer an explanation vague enough to avoid spoilers, “Escape Room” was a hectic mess of needless action scenes, an empty plot and ultimately little to no explanation for any of the cryptic events that occured in the movie. I walked out of the theater confused and with one question tapping on my mind: when was the last time I saw a really great movie?

In the past several years, it seems the quality of blockbuster films has decreased. Hollywood churns out movies with budgets in the hundreds of millions of dollars and rakes in billions more from the box office, like an old and dirty bucket being filled up, dumped out and repeating the process. The worst part of this analogy is that we, the moviegoers, are the ones drinking the dirty water. I am by no means a film connoisseur, let alone a harsh critic, but I know the difference between a money-making moderately entertaining movie and a movie that is genuinely deserving of critical acclaim and worldwide recognition.

For example, out of the 26 movies released by Walt Disney Pictures from the beginning of 2016 through the end of 2018, only 12 of them were born from completely original ideas (meaning not a sequel, remake or film production of a pre-existing story). While these statistics only include movies that came out under the main Disney banner and exclude movies from other sources like Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm and TV films, it is still baffling to read that so few new and creative ideas have been poured into theaters.

Superheroes can only fly laps around New York City so many times before the audience gets exasperated. We can only cry over Toy Story sequels so many times before the idea gets old. Perhaps the lack of originality in recent films stems from an eagerness to profit off of audience nostalgia and childhood memories, or maybe it is just sheer laziness. Regardless, I hope to see a day soon when movie theaters are full of excitement and elevated heart rates again, rather than disappointment and apathy.