Movie Remakes and Sequels
Within the movie industry, some feel that the majority of movies being released today are either remakes of older movies or sequels, with not much original work being done. Movies are in an age where they are not the most crucial form of entertainment anymore, with the world filled with so many kinds of different options for movies between all the different streaming platforms now. As Scott Stinson from The Independent Florida Alligator says, “…the movie theater became a cultural foundation. It represented so much of the culture’s beliefs, longings, fears and hopes…film was the medium by which Americans communicated with each other, the space in which public discourse took place. The movies both mirrored and sculpted American culture.” This is an incredibly accurate statement compared to what it was like during our parents generation. I don’t always think that this is a bad aspect of the industry, but it does seem like of late that it is getting a bit out of hand with all the movies being recreated and expanded upon.
The movie industry seems to be milking their current franchises, I think a good example of this would be the upcoming spinoff movie from “The Fast and Furious” franchise with the new team up movie, “Hobbs and Shaw,” coming out this summer. Do we really need a Fast and Furious movie with a villain with superhuman strength? Probably not, but that is what the industry has turned into today. It has taken a franchise that was primarily about racing and has stretched it out into soon to be ten movies about big explosions and slowly weakening stories. Many would see this as an unnecessary expansion of the franchise and is clogging the movie industry with the same type of films, and I could definitely see how this would start to turn away older individuals that don’t want to keep track of a franchise well over several movies in it’s directory.
As I stated earlier I don’t always think it is a bad aspect of the industry, as Stintson mentions in his article, over the course of the last four years Marvel and Star Wars have dominated the box office with the movies in its respective franchises. Personally, I love both these franchises with the majority of my heart, so to me it is almost like Christmas day getting a new movie from one. But that does not mean that everything in the industry needs to turn into just because these have been able to do it well. They both have a wide spread of characters and source material to work from when crafting their stories that not many others have. Its important that the whole industry not turn into this because not everyone likes these big franchises and they shouldn’t be forgotten. There should still be a diverse original content shown in the theater today that doesn’t always have to be expanded into more and into a huge franchise.
