A troubling statistic: 96% of all films generated by Hollywood in the last two years have been remakes and reboots.
This is because of something in marketing called "brand recognition." Basically, people hear about a remake or reboot coming out, and they say, "Oh, I've heard of that! I've heard people say things about that before, so I'd rather spend my money on that than risk it on something I've never heard of."
This makes it a little safer for producers and studio execs who need to turn a quick profit, because a film has such a short amount of time to make its money back these days. You see, the general public's attention is pulled between iPhones, computers, video games, Netflix, and the abundance of social media. These things are constantly pulling at us, keeping our focus away from the movie theaters--at the very least, we are less focused on films than we once were, pre-Internet era, when that was THE social event, perhaps second only to dancing.
In short, studios need a sure bet, and aren't usually willing to take a gamble.
What's worse is that the general public believes they are immune to "brand recognition," but the box office grosses show they're wrong. They gladly stand in line at the box office to hand over their money for another new version of Sherlock Holmes or Star Trek, even as they complain that "There are no new ideas." You hear them complain about this even as they feed the flames (with their money).
But it gets even worse. Not only are the remakes multiplying, but we are getting movies that are based off of classic stories IN NAME ONLY! For instance, no matter what you think about the new Sherlock Holmes films with Robert Downey, Jr., no matter how much you enjoyed them, you have to concede that this version of Holmes does not even remotely resemble the non-humorous, cold, calculating detective who never got into a single swordfight or ignited an earth-shattering explosion in Doyle's original stories. That was his appeal. If you don't like that kind of slow pacing and logical tension, then you ought to go watch something else, not reinvent Holmes so that YOU can enjoy him along with your "nerd" friends.
Star Trek used to pride itself in complex sciences (for those who love scientific accuracy, and why shouldn't those people have their own show?), but now it has become a space action adventure with nearly zero mentioning of anything scientific. While you may enjoy these changes, what you need to understand is that Star Trek had a very specific energy to it, as did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's tales of the great Holmes. These are being diluted, to make them just like everything else, with only mild "nods" to the original works (someone says "beam me up Scotty" and the audience is supposed nod their heads and say, "Yep, this is a Star Trek flick, all right.)
In other words, we're basically getting THE SAME KIND OF MOVIES without any innovation over and over and over and over and over again.
The studios create an action flick, which kind of keeps some themes of Sherlock Holmes (such as the mentioning of logic here and there), slap on the NAME Sherlock Holmes, and then market it as a "bold new reimagining of a classic," or a "new detective for a new era."
It's not that original ideas don't exist, it's just that they aren't promoted nearly as much as things that resembled previously established success stories.
So, in short, many of you are saying one thing but doing another: You're saying you want new, original ideas, but you're going to see nothing but remakes, reboots, sequels and reimaginings. If this wasn't the case, the studios wouldn't make anymore. After all, the bottom line for them is profit. If original ideas made money, believe me, they'd make nothing but films with original concepts.
Vote with your wallet. Or don't. But don't keep complaining about the lack of ideas even as you feed the beast (re)generating the same old ideas again and again.
Check out my novel Psycho Save Us, and the upcoming sequel A Psycho In Each of Us
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Check out my website: www.forestofideas.com
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