Hollywood Ideas0

Something has been really been bothering me lately. I’m becoming more and more disturbed by the idea that Hollywood is out of ideas. I know people have been saying that for decades but the thing that makes it so noticeable at the moment is that every movie coming out is based on a book, a video game, an 80’s TV series, an 80’s cartoon series, another movie, a amusement park right, a board game, a web site or something written on the back of a shopping docket.

Now I don’t think it’s all bad by any means. I think that the Harry Potter books were transformed in to great films, same with Lord of the Rings. Plus how good have the last two Batman movies been. Not to mention Scott Pilgrim, Kick-ass and lots of other comic book movies filling my life with joy. I’ve even heard that this Facebook movie is really good, go figure. The thing that all these movies have in common is that the source material is handled with the upmost care and respect. But so many of these franchises are being slapped together to make a buck and in the process totally missing the essence of what made the source material great. Michael Bay I’m looking at you. Now step aside so I can talk to Shyamalan.

I know that not everyone in Hollywood is spewing out sequels, knockoffs and remakes. We still have Pixar striving for originality with all of their projects, plus great directors like Christopher Nolan, who takes time off from work on giant superhero franchises to make their own complex cerebral gems. Although there is speculation that the idea and story for Inception originated from a Scrooge McDuck comic book. I’m not kidding.

I think some of the stuff in the works sounds great. Just the idea that in a couple of months we’re getting an updated sequel to Tron gives me chills. I also think the game Bioshock would work great as a movie, assuming they could get the right people to bring the atmosphere alive. But there are so many other films coming out that I don’t see any point to. Do we really need a Yogi Bear movie or a Smurfs movie? I mean both those franchises haven’t been relevant for at least fifteen years and I can’t really imagine they have some kind of large underground organisation of fans. But it doesn’t stop there. In the works there is a Monopoly movie and a Battleship movie, that’s right the board games. They don’t even have a semblance of a plot. Then again neither did the Pirates of the Caribbean ride but that didn’t stop it from spawning three movies. Just have a look at some of the movies that have come out this year so far:

Lovely Bones – Book

Edge of Darkness – TV Series

Wolfman – Remake

Percy Jackson – Book

The Crazies – Remake

Clash of the Titans – Remake

Prince of Persia – Game

Kick-ass – Comic

Losers – Bad comic

Nightmare on Elm Street – Completely useless remake

Iron Man 2 – Comic and sequel

Valentines Day – Shitty Love Actually rip off

Alice in Wonderland – Sort of remake, sort of sequel, sort of crap

Robin Hood – Um I guess a confusing remake/prequel, thing

Shrek 4 – Let it go already

Sex and the City – A sequel to a movie based on a TV show adapted from a newspaper column – Jesus

Get him to the Greek – A spinoff from a better movie

Seriously I can keep going all day.

Marmaduke – um I think it was a comic strip or something

The Karate Kid – 80’s Remake

The A-Team – 80’s TV show

Twilight: Eclipse – Book/Sequel/Angst

The Last Airbender – Great Cartoon (don’t get your hopes up for the movie)

Predators – Long awaited Sequel

Eat, Pray, Love – Book of sorts

Scott Pilgrim – Comic, an awesome comic

Cats and Dogs 3D – Sequel in 3D

Step Up 3D – Sequel in 3D

Piranha 3D – Sequel/Remake in 3D

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – A short Mickey Mouse cartoon from the musical Fantasia – No Mickey Mouse in the movie but Nicolas Cage’s hair must be some kind of rodent.

Just this week we’ve had the release of Resident Evil Afterlife, which is the FORTH film of a game adaptation, Legend of the Guardian a fantasy novel and Wall Street 2 a sequel from an 80’s movie. Are you getting the point I’m trying to make here? Where are the original stories? Surely we can’t be out yet. I know a lot of you can point out all the interesting new stuff but we definitely seem to be getting more films based on properties than original stories. Let’s face it, the movies are a business and financially it makes more sense to design a film around an idea that comes with an audience built in. We have to admit that when we hear about a new Batman or a new Ghostbusters or even a new Bill and Ted movie (I shit you not, that might actually be happening) we all sit up straight and take notice. This of course means that most of us will go see it regardless of the quality. It’s a safe movie and it’ll make its money back. This can be both good and bad. Good because we can get big movie versions of some of our favourite things, like The Transformers. Bad because if the properties have a built in audience the filmmakers may not feel it necessary to treat the material seriously, like The Transformers.

Anyway, like I said at the beginning it’s something that been on my mind as I’m looking at the movies slated to come out over the next few months. I really want to focus on watching some more of this original stuff like Buried or The Town. But I still can’t ignore the fact that I’m super excited for Tron Legacy. God it looks good.

Later.

Rowan