WSJ story on why Hollywood is rooting for "Inception," which projects to do about $50-60M over the weekend: it is emblematic of a dying breed. Film franchises based on original ideas are going the way of the dinosaur in Hollywood, losing out to adaptations. In the 1980s, 70% of the films featured original scripts. That share dropped to 45% in the 1990s and 25% in the 00s.
Here's hoping it reverses the trend, although that's too much to expect of any one film--unless it's made by James Cameron.