The infinite monkey theorem goes: a monkey typing away at a keyboard for an infinite amount of time could, by chance, produce something worth reading – like, to take a joke from The Simpsons, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Churn out enough and treasure will emerge. Apply this idea to Hollywood, and its paralysing aversion to taking risk, and you end up in our current situation: cinemas clogged with safe, so-so sequels no one really asked for.
That is not to say brilliant films aren’t being made right now. Last year was particularly exceptional. How many years have we had a Past Lives, The Zone of Interest, Anatomy of a Fall, Poor Things, Oppenheimer and The Holdovers? How often do we get even one of those, let alone all of them in a single year? But while we may feel like we’ve made it very clear to the powers-that-be that we’d like more original and daring ideas, Hollywood is a very slow kitchen. This leaves us where we are now, sitting confused out in the restaurant. Who ordered Shrek 5, 16 years after the fourth came out? Or a second Devil Wears Prada (announced on Tuesday)? Do we want a new Beverly Hills Cop? Another Beetlejuice? And who asked for Bad Boys: Ride or Die? (Someone must have, it made $336m.)
