The newly released movies, “Taken 3,” “Hot Tub Time Machine 2,” “American Sniper,” “ The Imitation Game,” and “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” are some of the titles of films recently in the box office. However, they are all sequels, based on true stories or books, or sometimes even a combination of both. The movie business seems to be stuck in the quicksand of unoriginal story lines.

A theme present in this past year’s Oscar’s, Screen Actor Guild, and Golden Globes nominee list was rewarding films based on true stories. Some of the most frequently nominated films included “Selma,” “American Sniper,” “The Theory of Everything,” and “The Imitation Game.” These are stories that have inspired many, but they have been told before. The public has been told the story of Martin Luther King Jr. since elementary school, and was inspired by the story. However, it is a tale that has been over told in the media.

There have been countless live-action films and documentaries made on the topic of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. Countless movies on other topics and documentaries have also recently been created, such as Stephen Hawking and World War II. These are all iconic historical moments, another reason to question their film popularity recently. The original intended use for the movie-making business was to entertain the public with moving pictures of fictional worlds to distract them from real-world events, such as war, famine, and sickness. It was not to remind the public of the war, famine, and sickness that already happened.

Another topic overused in the film industry is movies based on books. The most popular franchises have been “The Hunger Games” and “Divergent,” young adult series that have gained dedication from teen and some adult fans. A common sight to see in theaters today are the words ‘Based on the Bestselling Novel’ at the beginning of a movie trailer. It becomes a sight that tires moviegoers, as they are forced to hear the same stories over and over again. While there is some amount of original story lines, they are hard to come by.

A majority of original storylines are part of the horror genre. Recent original horror plots include “The Lazarus Effect,” “Ouija,” while some that were not of the horror genre include, “Jupiter Ascending,” “Chappie,” and “Focus.” However, the amount of original storylines pales in comparison to the amount of sequels and films based on books or true stories. One movie that seemed to stand out amongst the unoriginal storylines was the award winning film, “Birdman.” The movie, starring Michael Keaton and Emma Stone, grossed $26,337,584 in the box office and won a total of 14 major awards in total. This shows that there are good original storylines, they are just hard to come by, as the film industry is dominated by sequels. In the end, having this amount of unoriginal stories does not make them bad, but the lines ‘based on…’ do get old.