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What you have to understand about Hollywood is that it isn't run by artists, it's run by money men. Money men don't understand art or storytelling or creativity, they only understand returns on investment. That's why we get so much nonsense like this. Financially, a historical epic set entirely in Japan wouldn't appeal to the mass American market that much. It may make for a fantastic movie, but bad product. All they care about is product. So they add supernatural elements, dumb it down for the least-common denominator and hope they can get the audiences to come out.
For much of Hollywood's existence, the balance between commerce and art has been at an acceptable level. And when it got out of whack (the ridiculously bloated epics of the 1960's that killed the studio system, for example) the pendulum would swing the other way to compensate (the 1970's being an unparalleled time of artistic freedom in movies).
But now the balance is completely shattered. I remember reading an article a long time ago that detailed the rise of money men as studio heads in the 1980's. That's when things begin to change. They weren't coming from film production backgrounds but financial institution backgrounds, and they really skewed the balance between money and art that had once existed.
And to see how bad it is, just look at what's going on in Hollywood with creatives. Writers are treated like second class citizens (there's a pretty good documentary on Netflix called Tales from the Script that really illustrates how much being a screenwriter sucks), special effects guys, especially digital effects, have become grossly overworked, underpaid, and treated like robots. It isn't getting much play in the regular media, but there's real concern among those in the effects industry about how they're being treated by the studios. They're being given unacceptably short turnaround times, then getting raked over the coals and belittled by executives when goals aren't met. There's a lot of discontent in that field right now. Directors themselves, unless you're a a top-tier guy like Spielberg, have to play the game and jump through crazy hoops to get things done. Even Christopher Nolan, a guy with a very successful financial track record, has to play the "one for them (Batman), one for me (Inception)" game to get his passion projects developed.
So yeah, it's more business than art now. And it's noticeable.
While my original question was largely rhetorical, this is a great answer.