Books getting adapted into films is hardly anything new. Pick any great classic novel and it will almost definitely have been brought to life on screen. But in recent years, the tradition of page to screen adaptations has grown into something which dominates Hollywood, to the point where in 2026, it feels like every new release is coming from existing material.
Just look at the top 10 highest grossing movies of the year so far: they are all based on existing IP. We have The Odyssey – literally thousands of years in the making – alongside other adaptations like Wuthering Heights, Project Hail Mary and The Housemaid. Then there are the sequels – Spider-Man: Brand New Day, The Devil Wears Prada 2, Toy Story 5 (yes, five) – each one coasting on its predecessors’ success.
Now as we head into autumn and peak TV season, it looks like we’re getting more of the same. Slow Horses, Apple TV’s acclaimed adaptation of Mick Herron’s spy-packed novels, is back on our screens and we’re gearing up for Netflix’s take on John Steinbeck’s East of Eden starring Florence Pugh. The hype is building for Dolly Alderton’s Pride & Prejudice remake, and we’re getting hot under the collar at the thought of the next batch of Rivals, arriving to Disney+ in November.
In the cinema, it’s no different. The Hunger Games franchise is getting another outing with the Sunrise On The Reaping, and the third instalment of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune series lands in December. Daisy Edgar-Jones is starring in Sense & Sensibility, The Chronicles of Narnia is getting the Greta Gerwig treatment and yet another Colleen Hoover novel is being brought to the screen. Woof. It’s just a never-ending stream of adaptations.
And a lot of them aren’t even a first-time outing for their source material. After the Colin Firth TV series and the Keira Knightley film, do we really need another Pride & Prejudice? Can anything ever top Emma Thompson’s Sense & Sensibility? We’re getting remakes of the remakes.
So is Hollywood simply out of ideas? Writing for The Substack Post, Emily Kirkpatrick says it’s the fault of the viewers. She asks: “Is TV bad now, or are we all just bad at watching it?”, blaming our increasingly short attention spans and poor “media consumption hygiene” for the dwindling quality of the media fed to us. If everyone, as Kirkpatrick puts it, is “double-fisting their remote and a heated game of Candy Crush”, formulaic plots and exposition-heavy dialogue are a requirement, and TV execs will favour the familiar.
Frankly, we’re getting bad at watching new stuff, and as punishment, we’re getting served the same recycled content. Original movies simply aren’t performing the way sequels and adaptations do. Take One Night Only, the rom-com starring Callum Turner and Monica Barbaro, the studios spent all summer trying to get us to watch. Did you see it? Neither did we. It’s simple supply and demand. If the previous four Toy Story films performed so well, why wouldn’t you make another? It’s a guaranteed money maker.
In a Protein article, Ruby Justice Thelot called it aesthetic stagnation. He argued that aesthetic innovation requires certain conditions to take hold, and one of the big ones is that audiences have to actively seek out something new. It won’t just arrive because it’s due.
So when choosing your next watch why not opt for something original? There’s a stacked line-up of original shows dropping this autumn, like the Dominic West and Sienna Miller-led divorce drama, War, and the return of gritty police drama Blue Lights. If you’re looking for a laugh, there’s the original comedy, It Gets Worse, from rising star Leo Reich and Sharon Horgan’s new one, Youth. Better yet, why not take a trip to your local independent cinema and catch some of the year’s most hyped original screenplays. Digger, Fjord and Wild Horse Nine are all coming to the UK soon – catch them now, and by the time awards season comes around, you’ll be able to be the superior friend who’s actually watched the noms.
Next time a familiar title pops up in your recommended, ask yourself: are you actually excited, or just comfortable?
PHOTO BY LUDOVIC ROBERT / NETFLIX
