Movie studios are increasingly relying on established franchises and intellectual properties (IPs) for profit, with a focus on big-budget blockbusters rather than original content.
Hollywood cranks out remakes for the same reason it always has - a property that has been a success in the past is an “easy bet” and can be expected to make money again.
Mark Twain said there is no such thing as an original idea.
He said we can turn old ideas into new, curious combinations, but he reckoned they are “the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.”
Nowadays, Hollywood churns out movies that are carbon copies of one another. Whether it's sequels, such as “Top Gun: Maverick,” true stories, such as “Blonde,” or movies based on literature, such as “Where the Crawdads Sing,” there's no denying that Hollywood is losing its originality.
The inevitable success of remakes allows film studios to take risks when producing original films. If an original film like “Tomorrowland” does poorly in the box office, the studio does not have to worry about financial loss as long as the profit their other films earn counteracts an original film's failure.
The logic of the television industry suggests that so many reboots exist for the simple reason that they stand a high chance of being popular, using a familiar idea to cut through a glut of programming.
“By nature, I'm an experimenter,” Walt was quoted as saying, “To this day, I don't believe in sequels. I can't follow popular cycles. I have to move on to new things. So with the success of Mickey, I was determined to diversify.”
Hollywood's Golden Age finally came to an end due to two main factors: antitrust actions, and the invention of television. The iconic Hollywood sign. Reprinted from Hollywood 1940 – 2008 by Marc Wanamaker (pg. 19, Arcadia Publishing, 2009).
Making movies and TV has become a very expensive game. We've seen blockbuster budgets balloon, and many times they do not feel justified. These high budgets mean movies have to earn billions to be profitable. There's so much pressure on studios to make these tentpoles, they're leaving smaller titles behind.
Original storylines seem to be becoming more and more scarce, and most movies and TV series are adaptations of previously made ideas. In the past few years, remakes like “Cruella,” “Dune,” and “West Side Story,” have all been produced.
It's not that The Walt Disney Company is out of new ideas; it's just a business decision. Would you like to see Disney create more original story content in the future?
New ideas bring uncertainty, a state which which people feel a strong motivation to diminish and avoid. They also worry about whether the idea might fail, and about the potential social rejection when expressing the idea to others.
Creativity doesn't always have to mean creating original concepts and ideas from nothing, because that rarely happens. Creativity can be as simple as adding a few previously discovered ideas to create something new.
Of the 1,000 highest grossing films at the US box office released 2005-14 (top 100 of each year), 38.5% of movies were 'truly original', i.e. not an adaptation, sequel, spin-off, remake, or other such derivative work.
Old movies were shot on either 35mm or 70mm film reel. These reels were analogue. Analogue gives you the ability to go back to it and 'transfer' it to what ever technology is available at the time.
Movie remakes vary from the good to the awful, but when they're good – they're great! New innovations in technology, and societal and cultural changes all contribute to the desire to update classic movies, with some remakes better than the original.
According to The Guardian, in 2019 the number of women working in the film industry reached an all-time high, but men still outnumbered them four to one in key roles on film sets.
With more and more people opting to watch films and television shows online, the number of people going to movie theaters has decreased, leading to a decline in box office sales.
The movie industry is in trouble, too. People spend more time and money on video games than on movies and more time watching YouTube than any other TV network. Big media companies are merging with or buying other big media companies. Some of the companies that were bought may soon be sold.
The rise of streaming services has contributed to the decline of turnout in theaters. Going to the movies is a beloved experience for many, but has become less popular as of late. In 2021, a notably high 61% of Americans skipped out on the moviegoing experience.
Similar or associated terms include classical Hollywood narrative, the Golden Age of Hollywood, Old Hollywood, and classical continuity. The period is also referred to as the studio era, which may also include films of the late silent era.
Disney wasn't always the media behemoth it is today, in fact, this movie nearly ended the company. In 1985, Disney released its 25th animated feature, The Black Cauldron. The movie was based on The Chronicles of Prydain novels by Lloyd Alexander which were rooted in Welsh mythology.
Cinderella was the next venture for the studio. It was a huge risk for Walt Disney, costing nearly $3 million to produce. The company was dependent on Cinderella to be a huge box office success in order to survive. Thankfully, this seemingly huge risk paid off greatly.
Once a staple of Disney's animated features, particularly musicals, villains have slowly been phased out in favor of stories like Frozen II or Encanto that focus more on our hero's inner conflict with themselves.
