Makes me wonder how much of it is a Men vs. Women perspective thing. Like, how many romance novels have shitty endings? And is there a reason they're written specifically for women? While the "hero" stories written for males are mostly tragic: Batman is wicked screwed up in the head, so his struggle is all about staying "good" even though killing every bad guy is way more efficient; Superman is basically immortal, so everyone he cares about is going to end up dead no matter how good of a job he does... while he keeps going-- his job is basically that of a mercy nurse, making sure the time everyone else has left is as peaceful as possible.
Anyhow, there's a reason those markets make so much money: they're written specifically for their target audience. What we're seeing today is these idiots trying to prove human nature wrong and going broke for it. Women don't want weak men, and men like getting laid so they don't want to be weak. Go back to those stories and theatres will be full again almost immediately.