Actually, it seems to have lost virtually all original plots. The large studios are currently deploying massive budgets to constantly indulge in a slew of CGI-addled remakes and adaptations.

Classic Michael Caine films; Eastern cinema; counterculture comic books; 1970s sitcoms; the Bible; video games; Bollywood blockbusters: nothing in the world is sacred enough to stay unprofaned by the rollicking juggernaut of the Hollywood dollar.

The last few years have seen the annual charts constantly topped by various mass-cultural products, none of which has been original. A serious glut of creative inertia is evident in the world's richest film industry.

Yes, there is the inspiringly unique Pirate, any Charlie Kaufman screenplay, and a Sofie Coppola every now and then, but a Sparrow does not a Hollywood summer make. A Gandalf, on the other hand, does.