Post by 10wjeremy on Oct 27, 2014 0:03:26 GMT
www.shortoftheweek.com/2012/01/05/has-hollywood-lost-its-way/
A plague has hit Hollywood in the last decade or so. With the birth of the internet, ticket sales have been going down. Not super drastically, but enough that movie producers are now starting to worry about how much money a movie will potentially pull in. This has led to movie producers generally preferring to take a safer route when creating new films. This safer route has been the almost complete obliteration of original films. Lately, a successful movie has been one of the following things: a remake, reboot, sequel, or adaption. Just look at the most successful movies so far in 2014. We have Guardians of the Galaxy (Adaption), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Sequel) and Transformers: Age of Extinction (Sequel/adaption). On the horizon, the most anticipated movies also fall under this category. Avengers: Age of Ultron (adaption), Star Wars VII (Reboot), and Big Hero 6 (Adaption) are some of the most highly anticipated movies coming soon. These franchises have already gained enough of a fan base from their original source material that a film adaption of them is a guaranteed success. On the other hand, a completely original screenplay is a risk that most producers don't want to make. Why should they? General audiences are eating it up. Even seemingly bad movies. Despite negative reviews, Transformers: Age of Extinction still managed to become the highest grossing movie of 2014. According the the article linked above, the number of original movies in the top ten in 1981 were 7. In 2011, that number was decreased to 0. That's quite a drastic decrease.
Many, including myself, think the internet is mostly to blame. I've established now that the cause of the loss of original movies has been due to a decrease in ticket sales. Of course, most people will still let go of the 15-20 dollars it takes to see a movie in theaters, as long as it's a movie they are guaranteed to enjoy. However, it is just as easy to wait for that movie to come out on Netflix and watch it there. Or, they can rent it on Amazon, like my family likes to do. Alternatively, people can just pirate movies for free which is only possible thanks to the internet. All of these sources take in less money than ticket sales, but is much easier and much more convenient for the general public. To see a movie in theaters, one must gather one or more friends, figure out movie times, get to the theater, spend an extra 15 dollars, spend even more money on overpriced concessions, and sit in the crowded theater for an uninterrupted 2 hours. To some, such as myself, this sounds like a great time. But to others, this could seem like a hassle, especially compared to the much easier and cheaper option. The general public will only go through this process if they know what they're going to see. In this case,the only thing must people will see is something they already know, such as an adaption.
Why is this a problem? People are going out to see these movies, they're making money, everyone's happy. A movie being unoriginal doesn't make it a bad movie. The previously mentioned Guardians of the Galaxy is one of my favorite movies of all time. But, this can only end badly. You can only have so many sequels before people start to get sick of it and sop seeing them. Or is that the case? The Transformers movies haven't seen critical success since the first movie, yet it has just passed its fourth with plans to continue to a fifth. And get this: those movies just keep making more money. People know those movies are bad. When I ask people who saw the fourth movie about why they saw it, they told me that they knew it was going to be bad, but they just wanted to see what happened next. As Hollywood loses its creativity, it also loses all reason to make good movies. Why make a good movie when a bad one can make just as much, maybe even more, as long as it's adapted off of something? Hollywood is going down a downhill slope, one that I fear could eventually cause the end of Hollywood as we know it. What I fear more is: we might not be able to do anything to stop it.
A plague has hit Hollywood in the last decade or so. With the birth of the internet, ticket sales have been going down. Not super drastically, but enough that movie producers are now starting to worry about how much money a movie will potentially pull in. This has led to movie producers generally preferring to take a safer route when creating new films. This safer route has been the almost complete obliteration of original films. Lately, a successful movie has been one of the following things: a remake, reboot, sequel, or adaption. Just look at the most successful movies so far in 2014. We have Guardians of the Galaxy (Adaption), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Sequel) and Transformers: Age of Extinction (Sequel/adaption). On the horizon, the most anticipated movies also fall under this category. Avengers: Age of Ultron (adaption), Star Wars VII (Reboot), and Big Hero 6 (Adaption) are some of the most highly anticipated movies coming soon. These franchises have already gained enough of a fan base from their original source material that a film adaption of them is a guaranteed success. On the other hand, a completely original screenplay is a risk that most producers don't want to make. Why should they? General audiences are eating it up. Even seemingly bad movies. Despite negative reviews, Transformers: Age of Extinction still managed to become the highest grossing movie of 2014. According the the article linked above, the number of original movies in the top ten in 1981 were 7. In 2011, that number was decreased to 0. That's quite a drastic decrease.
Many, including myself, think the internet is mostly to blame. I've established now that the cause of the loss of original movies has been due to a decrease in ticket sales. Of course, most people will still let go of the 15-20 dollars it takes to see a movie in theaters, as long as it's a movie they are guaranteed to enjoy. However, it is just as easy to wait for that movie to come out on Netflix and watch it there. Or, they can rent it on Amazon, like my family likes to do. Alternatively, people can just pirate movies for free which is only possible thanks to the internet. All of these sources take in less money than ticket sales, but is much easier and much more convenient for the general public. To see a movie in theaters, one must gather one or more friends, figure out movie times, get to the theater, spend an extra 15 dollars, spend even more money on overpriced concessions, and sit in the crowded theater for an uninterrupted 2 hours. To some, such as myself, this sounds like a great time. But to others, this could seem like a hassle, especially compared to the much easier and cheaper option. The general public will only go through this process if they know what they're going to see. In this case,the only thing must people will see is something they already know, such as an adaption.
Why is this a problem? People are going out to see these movies, they're making money, everyone's happy. A movie being unoriginal doesn't make it a bad movie. The previously mentioned Guardians of the Galaxy is one of my favorite movies of all time. But, this can only end badly. You can only have so many sequels before people start to get sick of it and sop seeing them. Or is that the case? The Transformers movies haven't seen critical success since the first movie, yet it has just passed its fourth with plans to continue to a fifth. And get this: those movies just keep making more money. People know those movies are bad. When I ask people who saw the fourth movie about why they saw it, they told me that they knew it was going to be bad, but they just wanted to see what happened next. As Hollywood loses its creativity, it also loses all reason to make good movies. Why make a good movie when a bad one can make just as much, maybe even more, as long as it's adapted off of something? Hollywood is going down a downhill slope, one that I fear could eventually cause the end of Hollywood as we know it. What I fear more is: we might not be able to do anything to stop it.