Location: An executive boardroom.

The boardroom is full of Hollywood executives circled around a well-dressed man who can only be described as looking like a corpse after it’s been submerged in water for days. Dead or alive, it doesn’t matter to the executives. All they care about is pitching their million-dollar idea to Mr. Hollywood.

“It’s a prequel to a 9-year-old movie, but the twist is it has nothing to do with the franchise’s main character.”

“Boring! Give the boss something that’ll wake him up in the morning. What about a prequel to a 48-year-old horror franchise that most of our audience hasn’t even heard of.”

“Prequels?! Don’t you two have anything original to pitch? Listen to this, boss. It’s a sequel to a 51-year-old film that most critics say is the scariest movie ever made. So how do we top that? Instead of one little girl getting possessed by a demon, our movie’s gonna have two little girls.”

“Thank God I’m here, or the boss might have offed himself with these terrible ideas. Don’t worry, sir. I’ve got something guaranteed to make money. It’s a sequel to a 43-year-old action franchise starring one of our biggest names. He’s an 81-year-old man who says he’ll only do it if the check is big enough.”

“This is ridiculous! It doesn’t matter how good any of our ideas are, the streamers are ruining us,” one executive cries.

“They’re killing the box office,” another executive shouts. “There’s just nothing we can do!”

Someone standing in the back of the boardroom clears their throat. ” You’ve got it all wrong—even you, Mr. Hollywood.”

The critique sends a wave of silence across the room. Everyone stares at the mysterious individual, waiting for what they’ll say next.

“If streaming was the problem, why did Dune Part 2 do so well? The real problem is that when studios use existing IP to tell new stories, we’re not explaining to audiences that we’re not trying to trick them into seeing something made entirely for a quick buck. In fact, if a studio is confident enough to make something and put it out in theaters, that alone should be a stamp of quality assurance. What’s the difference between Netflix’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre and 20th Centuries The First Omen? One was good enough for the movie theaters. At least, that’s what we should be telling our customers.”

Not one executive even dares to respond. Could this voice of reason be what changes the industry forever? Before anyone can even begin to think of a better world, the bloated corpse of Mr. Hollywood begins to move. His arm extends, his mint-colored finger points towards the mysterious figure, and clawing its way past his dried lips comes the word streamer.

One by one, the executives all start to mumble their leader’s words, “Streamer, streamer, streamer,” as they shuffle over to the mysterious individual, lift them over their heads, and promptly throw them out of the window.

If you’re confused, don’t worry. I am, too. If I remember correctly, I’ve weaved that little tale of corporate ignorance to say this: The First Omen is an incredible movie that deserved the misfortune it got because 20th Century refused to let me know that they were actually trying to make a good movie.

Rewatching the trailer for The First Omen, I’m reminded why I wasn’t interested. As the trailer reaches its halfway point, a young woman appears. She’s looking down at a group of children and says, “it’s all for you,” before she takes her own life. This particular clip made its way to my TikTok feed dozens of times, and every time I saw it, I became more uninterested in the film. I understand the logic behind using this scene to promote the movie, but it doesn’t accomplish what it’s intended to do. If you recognize the familiar scene from the original 1976 film, then you’re left thinking that The First Omen is a creative bankrupt film that lacks any originality of its own. However, if you have no knowledge of the classic horror film, then the trailer ruins one of the movie’s best moments. Good job.

On top of that, this trailer is loud and riddled with jump scares. That’s not what this movie is. The First Omen comes off more like a lower-budget art film from A24 rather than a loud horror movie about demons from one of the big studios. This isn’t The Pope’s Exorcist. The First Omen has something to say. Director Arkasha Stevenson is using a 50-year-old movie franchise as their platform to masterfully present that message. Oh, and by the way, that message never comes off as preachy. Even more impressive is that it can be easily missed or ignored by audiences simply looking to watch a creepy horror movie.

But these studios have to tell me what they’re making. They can’t continue to depend on podcasters, niche YouTube channels, and 30-second YouTube ads that are getting skipped as fast as possible to let people know a studio is finally trying to make something good. Shudder is a streaming service that costs $6 a month, and they offered horror movie lovers one of the best movies of 2024, Late Night with the Devil. With offers like that, I’m not asking for too much when I say these studios should try and sell me the product they want me to spend money on.

This problem extends to big-budget movies like Furiosa, too. Audiences were expected to show up in droves because it was the follow-up to Fury Road, and they would have without question if we were living in the year 2018. If that were the case, it would be three years after the release of Fury Road, not nine like it is now. Work was required to get people in those seats, but no one at the studio seemed to recognize this. I’m sure Chris Hemsworth and Anna Taylor Joy were great on their press tour for Furiosa. Both are incredibly charismatic people, so there’s no reason to doubt that they crushed every interview that was put in front of them, but that kind of thing doesn’t matter as much as it used to. What matters is making me understand why it’s important that this movie tells the story of Furiosa and not the titular character of Mad Max. What’s important is reminding me how amazing it felt to experience Fury Road in theaters and that despite legendary director George Miller being 79 years old, those happy feet of his have never been more active, and he plans to prove it by blowing us all away with Furiosa.

We didn’t get that, though. Go back and watch the first two trailers for Furiosa. Sure, if you’re a fan of the Mad Max universe, you’ve got every reason in the world to be excited, but once again, we’ve got a Mad Max movie featuring no Mad Max. The people need more. It’s important to remember that while everyone is acting like Furiosa failing at the box office is shocking, Fury Road failed to open at number one, its opening weekend. What beat it, though? It had to have been a juggernaut like Avengers: Age of Ultron, Furious 7, or maybe Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, right? No. The movie that made $20 million more than Fury Road’s opening weekend is Pitch Perfect 2. Either remember your own history or work harder to avoid repeating it. I’m more than happy to have gotten another movie set in the Mad Max universe, but everything about this franchise says it has no business putting out a movie that costs $168 million. That nine-year gap between this franchise’s installments killed any momentum that Fury Road might have started, yet no one realized it.

So, what’s next for the movie industry? Are we destined to see our feeds filled with articles crying over how movies aren’t making money while, once again, ignoring the success of films like Dune Part 2 and Civil War? Or will something come along and eliminate all of this doom and gloom? Ironically, the genre that so many film critics have begged to die might be this year’s last hope for proving that when people are interested, they’ll go to the theater.

Say what you will about Disney, but history says that when their backs are against the wall, they eventually find their way back to success. By announcing that Inside Out 2 wouldn’t be coming to Disney Plus until September and delaying all but one Marvel movie for 2024, Disney seems to be looking at their recent mistakes and trying to fix them.

Since the pandemic, they’ve told parents Pixar movies would be available on Disney Plus almost immediately. As a result, we had to watch people act shocked that Pixar’s films were no longer the box office hits they once were. Announcing this September streaming date so far in advance may not guarantee Inside Out 2’s success, but Disney is doing what I want studios to do. Try.

The same goes for Deadpool and Wolverine. 2023’s Guardians of the Galaxy 3 making $845 million worldwide might suggest the superhero genre isn’t as stale as some claim, but it is hard to deny that the studio putting out 6 projects last year was too much, even for their most loyal fans. That said, we’re seeing a massive pullback in the scope of releases. Regarding the box office, we’re only getting one superhero movie from Marvel, and unless you’re living under a rock, you’re well aware of its existence. It feels like Marvel and Disney recognize that their cash cow might be on the ropes and are ready to do everything they can to guarantee its success. Deadpool and Wolverine have been marketed endlessly for months, even going as far as trying to recreate the Dune popcorn bucket meme. Is it cringe? A little, but it doesn’t matter because, once again, this is a studio trying to make sure that audiences are aware of their movie. I don’t really know what it’ll mean for movie theaters and the industry at large if something like Deadpool and Wolverine fails to meet expectations, but at the very least, we won’t be able to say it failed for lack of trying.