In recent years, we have seen how new works in old franchises (such as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings) have been poorly received. One major issue is that these new works sometimes deviate from what existing fans already know about the franchises. That is to say, they contradict existing "canon".
Canon is a very touchy issue when it comes to adaptations and spin-offs. There are fans who refuse any deviation, big or small, from the source materials, even if such deviations make the adaptation a stronger story in its new medium. There are also fans who are willing to accept some changes as long as the adaptation adheres broadly enough to the source materials. But there are also times when deviations from the source materials end up creating a work that is just as interesting, even if it is somewhat different, as the original work.
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Spin-offs and other derivative works are even touchier, as can be seen from the poor reception of The Acolyte (set in the Star Wars universe) and Rings of Power (set in the second age of Middle Earth). Or the Dune-related books by Brian Herbert, the son of Frank Herbert. But there are also successes, such as Teasing Master (Former) Takagi-san, a spin-off from Teasing Master Takagi-san.
When I see people trying to make new works in old franchises, I am reminded of how The Return of the Condor Heroes has been repeatedly adapted over the years into movies, drama series, and even anime and comics. Not all of them are successes, but it does show that, if the story is good, a new adaptation of it will still draw an audience. At the end of the day, it is the story and how it is presented. A new adaptation of a past, well-received work means part of the work is already done; you already have a good story. All that remains is to present it in a new way to an audience. We see this in Dune and Lord of the Rings too. These works have been adapted several times in the past, with varying reception according to how they were presented each time.
Spin-offs and derivative works are even harder because they are basically new, original works that need to work within confines determined by another work. Even then, it is slightly easier for works that continue from the original story; the past has already been written for them, the writers just need to think about the future. If you try to create a new work set in the past, you have to consider the existing canon, and also how your new work will affect the original story. All of them are additional factors that further confine your new story and form trip wires that may cause your story to feel inconsistent with the original work.
So instead of trying to come up with new stories in old franchises, maybe Hollywood can take a leaf from Japan's entertainment industry and instead adapt works that already sell. There is a reason why many Japanese movies, anime, and drama series are based on novels, light novels, and manga. The source materials have already shown that they can sell; they have good stories. The directors just have to work on presenting those stories in a different medium. There are probably enough novels and comics in the English-speaking world that have sold quite well. This may be the time to work on adapting them, instead of trying to find talented writers to come up with new works which no one knows will sell or not.
It takes talent to come up with new stories. Having a world setting sometimes make it easier to create a new story, but that world setting also confines that new work; a certain level of talent is still required to be able to make use of that baseline help offered by an existing world setting (for example, the Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms stories). It is not impossible, but maybe it would be good to stick with adapting existing works, and then finding people with a track record of good adaptations to offer them a chance to come up with something new.
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