Indie movies can range anywhere from $100k-$15M+, it’s a big range.

But I understand your point— mid-budget studio movies (romcoms especially) have been hit the hardest by the pivot to Marvel mania and cinematic universes. Unfortunately that’s as much because of audience preference as it is studios.

Maybe I'm naive, but what stops indie studios from creating cinematic universes? The props, sets, visual effects, etc. are primarily what's expensive, not the size of the (in-your-head) universe. If anything, I would expect indie universes to be more consistent and to have more meaningful/powerful plots, because these things tend to be labors of love rather than the more cookie cutter process we see in the big films.

I think the big thing is the financial risk of committing to a series, but it seems like if you take the films one at a time, you get to see how the last one is doing before you get too far along making the next one. Can't be that much worse than making everything a one-off.

They do! The largest one right now (which is also receiving a wide release, even) would be X (March 2022), then the prequel Pearl (September 2022), and the soon-to-be-sequel in 2023.

They spent probably less than $5M total on the 3 movies (and filmed all at once), and the first two have already brought in $25M at the box office. A pretty good indie success story.

The casual audience isnt stupid. Just lacking patience. New, Solid and well written themes are hard work to follow. Aint nobody got time for that.

But then theres also the insidious observation. My generation are now senior writers and also the majority of the audience and between us is as much creativity as a fart.

…Good Will Hunting. At the time that movie (and the ones you listed) came out, they were the talk of the country. They were THE zeitgeist.