Hollywood sure loves to recycle… and that’s a bad thing.
If you do a Google search using the words “sequels, remakes, dominate” what you will find is a series of articles from different years with essentially the same title – Sequels, prequels, remakes and reboots dominate (insert year here) film lineup.
The inclination by movie studio executives to go with these films that are considered less risky and easier to market has created a cinematic landscape that stifles the development of original motion pictures. Consider that in the year 2000, nine of the top 10 grossing films of the year were original films. In 2014, all but one film on the year-end top 10 list was a prequel, sequel, remake or reboot.
To this point of the year we have already seen sequels to Fast and Furious Avengers, Taken the Divergent Series and Pitch Perfect 2. Remakes for Cinderella and Mad Max have already appeared on the silver screen.
I remember how it was exciting to go into watch an original movie such as Inception five years ago. The film had such a unique tone, brain and look to it. I went into the theater that night at home in Brooks, AB, not knowing what to expect, and then left two-and-a-half hours later completely amazed with what I saw. These innovative pieces of the past decade do stick out in large extent because there is such a dearth of them around.
Of course recycled films have been churned out regularly throughout the history of film, but at least it was being balanced out with great filmmakers like Spielberg, Scorsese and Kubrick being the green light to flex their creative potential to the fullest extent.
It is tough to see Spielberg and Lucas tell to the media that it has become a massive struggle for them to get their films shown in theaters as proven talents, and that the hill that young directors must climb to get a film shown is even more Everest-like.
I am not saying that recycled films are 100 per cent bad. I do get excited about films like the Avengers and Star Wars. I just hope that executives start taking risks again like they once did in order to expose audiences to fresh on-screen creations.
While the film industry has stalled it has widely agreed upon that we are experiencing a golden age of television. TV is the medium if you like in-depth creative storytelling with electrifying characters. Executives deciding to take a chance on a new idea fostered this current landscape.
Hopefully film clues in sooner rather than later.
