We kinda knew this was going to happen. New Hollywood really wants to be classic Hollywood, where the studios own the lives of the actors and control every aspect. But I expected them to start by cyber-thesbianning Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, Jean Harlow and Clark Gable.

But yeah, the studios are going through a creativity crisis, now decades into a best practices run of avoiding new ideas for less risky sequels and high concept films, preferring spectacle over introspection and character study.

The copyright maximalism and Hollywood accounting isn’t really about piracy or greed so much as desperation to keep old promises of exponential dividend growth.

Every bubble eventually pops, and the longer they try to keep it intact, the more disastrous the outcome.

In the meantime, I look forward to when small indie directors can star Bogart and Harlow in their concept film.