I remember seeing an old article saying how terrible "Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back" was. Now often regarded as the best Star Wars movie, and featured in many "best movies of all times" lists.
I still think there is a problem with Hollywood movies today, also AAA video games, and I think it focuses on making a small number of blockbusters with insane budgets. These movies are not bad in a sense that they are incompetently made, the problem is that they have to be safe for the investors. So, no crazy ideas, wide target audience, inoffensive, familiar, etc... That's why we get so many sequels and remakes, can't go wrong with these, but unfortunately, you can't go outstandingly right either. Indie, on the other hand, is thriving, though more in games than in movies.
I highly recommend people watch Wick is Pain [0] because it raises several interesting point:
- The film almost didn't get made until Eva Longoria joined as a producer to help get it financed.
- a lot of the Gun Fu fight scenes were actually developed for Jason Statham but he thought it was too different
- both of the directors were fight choreographers and not seasoned directors
- the guns used in the movies are blank firing but have barrels that are welded closed. This is so that they can be used at close range to other actors (which is a newer technique)
- Chad S. has a great line about the later movies: "We thought 'can we do this next?' but then we remembered we own the IP for this franchise so we can do WHATEVER we want"
I say all of this to point out that I agree with your original point and wish that there were more money available to fund "outside the norm" movies that could lead to great new franchises.