The 2020s, despite widespread predictions of decline for the theatrical film industry amid streaming, YouTube and pandemic closures, have actually become one of the most innovative decades in cinema history. Faced with pressure and necessity, film-makers and studios have developed new production models and creative approaches that simply did not exist at the start of the decade, reshaping what kinds of films get made and who makes them.

A key driver has been the rise of YouTube-trained directors making major box-office hits, such as Curry Barker's Obsession ($442m worldwide) and Kane Parsons's Backrooms ($384m), the latter adapted from his own online "creepypasta"-inspired shorts. Steven Spielberg is now producing a similar adaptation, The Mandela Catalogue. The article also highlights the "copyright expiry movie" trend, sparked when the US Copyright Term Extension Act's 95-year protection began lapsing in 2019, freeing up 1923-era works such as Winnie-the-Pooh and Steamboat Willie for reinterpretation, including horror spin-offs like Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 and Screamboat.