The very first movie sequel, remake, and reboot are all much older than you think. Most may not realize it, but Hollywood has been cashing in on all three for a long, long time.

Everyone has either heard complaint or complained themselves about Hollywood ’s on the face of it overpowering wave of sequels , remakes , and reboots . And that complaint is almost always inform by the notion that Hollywood is running out of creative fuel .

The truth , however , is in all round-eyed and more black - and - white : Hollywood is a business , and sequel , remaking , and reboots are an especially bankable part of that business . In fact , the third and fourth highest grossing films of all - time — Star Wars : The Force AwakensandJurassic World , which have conflate to gross over $ 3.5 billion — are both reboots / continuation , and both were released as recently as 2015 .

But what too few actualize is that this is nothing new . Because they ’re so bankable , Hollywood hasalwaysbeen awash in sequels , remakes , and reboots .

Very First Movie Sequel

Still from the 1959Ben - Hur . Image Source : Wikimedia Commons

Ben - Hur , the classical 1959 moving-picture show that won a record - set 11 Oscars and had , at the meter , the second highest receipts ever , is really a remake of the 1925 filmBen - Hur : A Tale of the Christ , which itself came after yet another adaptation of the film , the 1907 silent shortBen Hur . And now , anotherBen - Huris presently in production , with an expected release in August 2016 .

Remakes , reboots , and subsequence are eternally ingrained in Hollywood , for the most part because , despite our complaint , we unendingly support them . We depend forward to take in Greco-Roman type reinvented , familiar tales retold , and dear account extended as sequels . Hollywood makes them , and we corrupt ticket .

Ben Hur 1959 Remake

Still from the 1959Ben-Hur. Image Source:Wikimedia Commons

And so , rather than bemoan Hollywood ’s lack of originality , countenance ’s see where this all started and take a look at the very first moving picture sequel , remake , and reboot of all fourth dimension . All three go back much further than you cerebrate …