A really interesting New York Times opinion piece, written by former Amazon exec Roy Price, will certainly lead to agreement, and disagreement, but mostly debate, in his arguing what Hollywood got wrong the last decade, and his arguing that Amazon’s “Project Hail Mary” highlights a growing audience appetite for big, entertaining, original movies.
Price makes many points here, one of which is that Hollywood should start prioritizing fun, optimism, and craftsmanship over franchise-driven spectacle. He suggests that Hollywood has become overly dependent on sequels, reboots, and gloomy storytelling, while films like ‘Hail Mary,’ a poppy sci-fi adventure—featuring humor, sincerity, and emotional warmth—recall an earlier era of crowd-pleasing blockbusters designed simply to delight audiences.
Price cites recent non-franchise successes as ‘Hail Mary,’ ‘The Housemaid,’ and ‘Wuthering Heights’ as examples of audiences wanting more than just sequels and reboots. These hit movies have made the box office go up by 20% in 2026 when compared to this time last year.
Now, here’s where Price’s more divisive argument comes in, and I am in full agreement with it — you don’t have to be, but it’s what I’ve personally noticed these last few years.
Dionysian elements of popular entertainment — irreverence, sexual frankness and broad, even scatological humor — were cast aside as the industry sought to correct historic wrongs and resist current ones. An unmistakable censoriousness and fear of saying or doing the wrong thing seemed to settle over the creative process. Cultural and political considerations played an outsize role — not only in what movies got made, but in how success for these movies was defined. What didn’t seem to matter as much? Making sure that audiences were filling seats.
He’s arguing that, in his view, Hollywood became more cautious and self-policing in recent years, prioritizing cultural sensitivity and political messaging over carefree entertainment, which audiences have noticed, and been turned off by. By saying “Dionysian elements” like irreverence, sexual openness, and crude humor were “cast aside,” he means studios pulled back from edgier, riskier fare to avoid offending people.
He suggests creators felt pressure to avoid controversy, which he thinks influenced what films were green-lit and how success was judged (for example, by cultural impact rather than ticket sales). This shift, in his opinion, led the industry to focus less on whether audiences actually enjoyed the movies enough to fill theaters.
Are we finally entering a new era in Hollywood? Price seems hopeful. Perhaps 2026 will be the year studio executives realize audiences still crave original filmmaking. Let’s hope they do. Superhero movies are now earning barely half of what they did a decade ago, and most reboots and remakes are met with growing disdain. The moment for a genuine course correction might finally be here.