The Search for Creative Ideas or the Lack Thereof

Ever since the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter became huge successes, there has been an endless stream of imitators trying to cash in on those ideas. However, what those immatators and the people who make them fail to realise that some of the biggest draws of the films being imitated are origional ideas. Let's take Shrek as an example. Shrek was successful because of it's irreverent humor that was so uncommon at the time. However, because it was so succesful, it spawned a slew of immatators, which made irreverent humor mainstream. Because of that, Shrek's new ideas became harder and harder to find and exploit, and by the time Shrek the Third came around, the Shrek well of humor was dry. This may be why P.I.X.A.R is so successful. All of there ideas are new, and the almost never do sequels.