Written in response to the article "Where Is Originality In Hollywood? Prequels, Sequels, and Remakes, Oh My!" by Trevor Kupfer, which appeared in The Flip Side Volume 1, Issue 11 (April 28th - May 11th, 2004).

What are you talking about? The originality in Hollywood is abundant, but I'll come back to that in a minute. First, I would like to point out a few things to you. The Wachowski brothers decided to make a trilogy in the beginning, no one forced them to. Second, Harry Potter is based on a series (seven books when complete), just like Lord of the Rings, so of course there will sequels. You never attack movies based on books, but you attack movies based on videogames, TV shows, and comic books. In fact, you praise Jurassic Park for its originality, which is based on a book.

As for originality, there have been many recent original films. Here's a small list: Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2, Signs, The Sixth Sense, The Village (opens July 30, 2004), Punch Drunk Love, Death to Smoochy, One Hour Photo, Finding Nemo, Ice Age, Monsters Inc., The Emperor's New Groove, American Beauty, K-Pax, Pirates of the Caribbean, Gothika, SWAT, Saving Private Ryan, Cast Away, Fight Club, Monster's Ball, Training Day, Adaptation, 28 Days Later, and many more. I think I've made my point.

Also, some sequels are better than the original, Godfather Part II for example. Hollywood filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino and M. Night Shyamalan are constantly producing new original films. There is no "reign of unoriginality" as you put it. In fact, original movies continue to become more abundant and of increasingly improved quality.