The era of the auteur filmmaker is over, and that's a good thing for cinema. Franchises like the MCU and Star Wars now dominate the box office, but they're built by committees and studio mandates, not by a single visionary. I caught a rerelease of The Godfather last week and it felt timeless, while most new blockbusters feel like they're designed by algorithm. Sure, Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve still get big budgets, but they're the exception, and even they have to answer to IP lords. The reality is that audiences vote with their wallets, and they've chosen shared universes over personal stories — why pretend otherwise?