This has been my attitude for some time. Disney is probably the worst offender; when they aren't just pulling 40 year old cartoons out of their "vault" to sell on a limited time only basis, they make do by remaking them as live action features. When it was a rare and novel thing remakes were sometimes good for introducing a new generation of audiences to classic stories, especially when they did new things with old idea. Perhaps the best example is the remake of the Ten Commandments; the original B&W version is usually considered inferior to the star studded '50s epic, partly because the second half is a modern morality tale for which the story we know so well in the first half merely sets the stage.

Nowadays it's just as you say though: Hollywood is lazy. Worse than that, they're gutless. Why take the chance with a NEW script when you can just recycle a PROVEN blockbuster? Oceans 11 managed even more Hollywood self-indulgence with Clooney than it did with Sinatra, but apparently not enough, because they had to make two sequels. Bleah. Tell ya what, Hollywood hacks: If I decide I want to watch an old good movie again, I'll do exactly that.