They’ve said for years that Hollywood is dying.

Some even claim it’s already dead.

Yet as we speak, movies continue to be watched in huge numbers.

Classic films are in rotation decades later, while new Netflix exclusives tend to perform extremely well (released back in June, “KPop Demon Hunters” has officially become the platform’s most-watched film ever, pulling in over 236m viewers).

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Clearly, the demand is still there for the right movies. That’s undeniable. And despite all the claims that film isn’t quite what it used to be, movies are well and truly still a big player in the entertainment space.

The Enduring Popularity of Movies

It’s no secret that the movie industry took a big hit back in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shutdowns, cancelations, and production delays caused utter chaos that left the industry quite literally hanging on by a thread. The fallout from this caused billions of dollars to be lost.

Then 2022 rolled around and action legend Tom Cruise released Top Gun: Maverick, a movie that finally got people back in movie theatre seats. The long-anticipated sequel to the original Top Gun made just under $1.5bn at the global box office and even led to Steven Spielberg claiming Tom Cruise “saved Hollywood’s ass”. Although it might be a slight stretch, Cruise certainly gave the movie industry a much-needed shot in the arm and got it back on track after 2 years in the wilderness.

And since then, despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic still haunting the wider industry, movies have, for the most part, bounced back. Sure, the classic days of people flooding into theatres with their popcorn might not be back just yet (they may never come back at all), but movies are still popular. This, we know, from the numbers.

ROME, ITALY – OCTOBER 24: Kit Harington signs autographs at the end of the press conference of the movie “Eternals” during the 16th Rome Film Fest 2021 on October 24, 2021 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Elisabetta Villa/Getty Images for Marvel)

It was only back in 2023 when “Barbenheimer” fever took over the world. For what seemed like months on end, people were talking about the dual release of the films Barbie and Oppenheimer, with the whole saga serving as the movie industry’s biggest pop culture moment of the decade. These movies were trending everywhere, with Barbie quickly becoming the biggest movie of 2023, grossing $1.4bn worldwide, and Oppenheimer pulling in $946m to secure its spot in third place.

Then there’s the live-action Lilo and Stitch remake from 2025, which quickly became the first movie of this year to pass the $1bn mark. Despite receiving generally mixed movie reviews, the proof is right there: Hollywood movies are still a big draw. The catch, though, is that the high-grossing movies usually have to be linked to already established franchises in order to get people interested.

Netflix, the biggest movie streaming platform on the planet, is also continuing to thrive, despite recent subscription price increases. As of 2025, the platform has 301.6 million global subscribers and earnt $11.07bn in revenue during Q2 2025 alone, with most of its users still dedicating countless hours to streaming movies.

Streaming Platforms and Changing Consumer Habits

Movies are always going to be popular. That we know for sure, as even a global pandemic and decline in overall movie output quality hasn’t stopped people from going to movie theaters and keeping their Netflix subscriptions active. However, this doesn’t mean consumer habits haven’t changed, because they have.

In the old, old days, movies were primarily people’s main source of entertainment outside of cable television. But in 2025, Gen Z and Millennials rule the marketplace now, and even though they still show a lot of interest in movies, their time is largely spent in other avenues.

Of course, social media scrolling and short-form videos are top of the agenda at the moment. At the same time, gaming is still a big hit, and there’s even the recent trend of more young people deciding to join online sweepstakes casinos like Stake.us and Riversweeps, with the Riversweeps bonus proving to be a major attraction point for new players.

Unsurprisingly, when both young and old generations do get around to watching movies, most of them do it through streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney+, and Paramount+. Sure, people are still going to movie theatres to see flicks they’re interested in, but a MX8 Labs recently surveyed US viewers and found that 46% of them prefer to stream movies at home, while only 15% favor actual theatres.

Remake Culture Is Bad for the Movie Industry

One of the biggest criticisms the movie industry has faced for close to a decade now is an overreliance on remakes and rehashes.

It feels as though Hollywood is slightly stuck on repeat. Plus, even when a movie isn’t a direct remake of something that came before it, there’s a high chance it’s a sequel or has at least some type of tie to an already classic franchise.

Across the entirety of 2025, it’s estimated that up to 70% of films will be either sequels, prequels, or remakes. And in 2024, all of the top-10 grossing films — including Deadpool & Wolverine, Despicable Me 4, Moana 2, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Kung Fu Panda 4, and Venom: The Last Dance — were franchise-based and none were original titles.

What does this tell us? Well, it confirms what people have ultimately been accusing Hollywood of for a while. The industry is, simply put, too reliant on old franchises and ideas. Yes, the remakes and sequels of today can still draw big revenue, but how long Hollywood can continue to rely on this business model remains to be seen.

Just last week, Disney announced at the Destination D23 event that it would, indeed, be releasing a new original animated movie, Hexed, in 2026. It’s good news, but the movie itself will be wedged between Disney’s upcoming sequels to Zootopia and Frozen, proving that even when new movies are being put out, they’re often surrounded by remakes and sequels that will likely outperform them.

Movies Might Not Be the Most Popular Form of Entertainment Anymore, But They’re Here to Stay

What the past half-decade has told us is this: movies aren’t going anywhere.

When you’ve got major releases like KPop Demon Hunters and Lilo & Stitch (2025) pulling in billions of dollars and countless viewers, it’s obvious that audiences are still there.

Many of them have, admittedly, switched over to Netflix and other streaming platforms, but that’s part of the evolution of film. Nothing stays the same forever, and the day may potentially come when movie theatres are largely shut down.

However, whatever happens in that department, what will never change is the consumer demand for good movies. If Hollywood can overcome its current burden of relying too heavily on remakes and old franchises from years gone by and get back to creating new, exciting originals instead, then it would benefit everyone, not least the viewers at home.