re: Hollywood has truly run out of ideas

Hollywood has a lot of original ideas. You just never see them. And if they do come out with something original, it's rarely supported at the box office.

To that end, executives are looking for something with a built-in audience. Unless they're going to spend under the 5.5 million cut-off so that it's a Tier 1 film.

Studios hedge their bets by using properties they already own the rights to (remakes, sequels, TV show adaptations) or/and or things that have a built-in audience (the above listed, popular novels, etc.).

The reason they do this is to protect investors and -- if going the independent route -- can sell investors the idea, by proving its success as a known commodity, by using its past success as a barometer.

But that's all part and partial to moviegoers rewarding those investments with a return at the box office. If people didn't reward that with ticket sales, Hollywood wouldn't churn out the movies they do. They simply give the public what it wants, and the public wants crappy movies that they can recognize.