They did it! Hollywood has finally found the perfect formula for success, and they will never dare stray from it as long as it continues working. The more that people would rather see a live action remake of their favorite nostalgic cartoon instead of opening their mind to new and original ideas, the more the industry will continue to profit off of it.
This phenomenon can be found in various aspects of entertainment. In music, artists who remix the same collection of sounds in a million different ways are the most popular and become mainstream. For video games, once something comes out, people not only ask for, but expect at least three more of it in the series. The list can go on and on. Even movies that have famous actors, actresses and directors will get more recognition than a movie with a brand new cast and crew. People will sit and complain that nothing is original and how they’re not mainstream, but will hypocritically still not take a chance on anything that does not have a sense of familiarity.
Inspiration is normal and even encouraged in the art of creation. However, taking inspiration from a pre-existing source and completely butchering its memory by recreating it so much until it’s unrecognizable are two very different things. For example, the recent film “Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle” took inspiration from the original “Jumanji” from 1995. The Robin Williams classic was used to get more publicity and media coverage for a new movie featuring Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson that was almost completely different, with the only similarity being the conflict of getting trapped in a game.
In IMDB’s 2020 movie release list, the majority of the releases are cheap shots like Peter Rabbit 2, a live action Sonic movie, another Godzilla remake that can’t even bother being counted, Legally Blonde 3, and many, many more. It’s almost as if they’re not even trying to hide the fact that they’re out of ideas anymore.
What happened to the beauty of coming up with an idea and writing a script and hiring new and brilliant actors that can carry out the difficult roles the best and seeing this piece of art come to life and having people far and wide be amazed by something so new and different that it transports them to a whole different world? What happened to that inspirational craft that made it possible for people to see and hear things that they could never even have imagined? Now we have 2 hours of special effects and giving the public exactly what they want instead of something that could open their small minds up just a little bit more.
Even when a new and young director who hasn’t been beaten down yet wants to reclaim the artistry of cinematic masterpieces, every original idea fails miserably in the box office because it has no guarantee of enjoyment so no consumer wants to take the chance. Especially not the new generation of consumers who grew up with the exact same movies the last generation grew up with, except this time with better graphics and less magic. This only reiterates the industry’s motivation to make more money by using their classic safety nets: superhero movies, explosive action movies with no plot line, or cheesy teenage romance books turned into movies.
