English novelist W. Somerset Maugham made a compelling observation on the idea of originality: “The world in general doesn't know what to make of originality; it is startled out of its comfortable habits of thought, and its first reaction is one of anger” (Great Novelists and Their Novels).  Sadly, this mentality has seeped into Hollywood in such a way that it infects almost every film made by the movie industry.  Over the years, directors, producers, and others in power in Hollywood have discovered what is popular and which actors will rake in the most money.  This discovery has led Hollywood into a state of complacency.  The past decade or so has been the worst so far, with movie-makers spawning bastardized reproductions of old classics and churning out prequels, sequels, and reboots of every conceivable video game, popular book series, comic book hero, cartoon, and childhood toys and board games.  Audiences have become comfortable with these types of movies and expect them, thereby giving the movie industry permission to generate them as known cash-cows.  Hollywood, I contend, has lost its spark and has sacrificed it in favor of what makes the most money.  An increasing lack in diversity of genres, the inability to match indie films in originality, and dependence on the celebrity status of actors and actresses all allow Hollywood to create and market weak movies with great success.  
	An audience takes many factors into consideration when deciding if a movie is worth seeing or not.  The acting, dialogue, cinematography, plot, faithfulness to any work on which the movie is based, setting and pacing all determine the quality of a film.  Movies with great actors can make up for poor dialogue or cinematography.  And movies with poor actors can be great, if the plot, setting, and dialogue are excellent.  But if too many of these factors are missing or weak in a film, it becomes hard for it to be anything other than a failure.  The genre of the film can also play a role in whether or not a film will actually be successful.  
While Hollywood was once filled with many genres and sub-genres, the past decade has shown a steady decline in the production of meaningful movies of various genres.  Instead, the past ten years have shown a rise in the popularity of movies based on books, video games, comic books, and board games.  Older films have been given new life in the form of remakes that rarely live up to the original, and new movies have been granted second, third, and in some cases even more, chances in the forms of sequels.  While some of these films have been popular and well made, making millions of dollars and having “blow-out” opening-weekend debuts, many of them have failed.  Of the four categories listed above, movies based on books and comic books have succeeded the most in the past ten years.  Two of the most famous series adapted to film are The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Harry Potter series.  Both series are written for young adults and adults, although many would argue that Harry Potter is more of a children book than Lord of the Rings.  The success of movies like these has allowed Hollywood filmmakers to think there is a niche for any film based on a book.  
