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Despite ‘The Odyssey,’ Hollywood Still Has an Original Blockbuster Problem

Hollywood still wants fresh stories, but the economics increasingly favor modestly budgeted films over $200 million studio gambles.

Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day is Hollywood’s latest attempt to launch an original blockbuster-scale property. It was a strong bet given its pedigree, solid quality and manageable $115 million production budget. Yet, with only $237 million at the worldwide box office as of this writing, it is expected to lose money. The torch has officially been passed to Christopher Nolan. Despite being a near-three-hour R-rated historical epic, The Odyssey nearly matched Superman‘s opening weekend with $123.5 million. Yet Nolan’s paradigm-shaking moneymaking with big-budget newness is virtually impossible to replicate. Disclosure Day joins a growing list of expensive original and new-to-screen bets that struggle to turn a profit, launch new franchises, or break out globally. 

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In both 2024 and 2025, 13 of the year’s 15 highest domestic grossers were either sequels, prequels, spinoffs or reboots. As of this writing, eight of this year’s 15 biggest films are also franchise entries. This isn’t remotely surprising. We’ve arguably been living in the age of intellectual property (IP) since 2008. What’s more surprising is where new breakout IP tends to originate from.

The challenges of originality 

Hollywood can and does create successful original and new-to-screen properties. (We are going to define new-to-screen as movies that are not tied to established franchises, even if they are........

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