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If you know me or follow Film Fervor at all, you already know that I’m not a huge fan of Hollywood movies anymore. Yes, the occasional film comes out that I just have to see, but in the grand scheme of things, I really have gotten tired of seeing the same movies rehashed over and over with new wrappers.
The biggest problem I have in Hollywood is the fact that the studio executives and the people with money are only backing projects they think are a “sure thing” which means reboots, prequels, and sequels. Innovative, thought provoking, and unique concepts do exist and people are looking for them, but without half a billion dollars of combined marketing and star power, a lot of those projects get lost in the abyssal sea of “maybe.”
According to rumors, tweets, and general gossip, there are over 100 classic films being negotiated for reboots right now. Everything from Ace Ventura to Zorro (see what I did there?) are apparently queued up for remakes and reboots.
Now, I understand that I’m a child of the 80’s and I have classic that I want to keep classic. Perhaps its nostalgia, perhaps it is some selfish wish to keep it all to myself and my younger years, but when I see the trailers (see: Ghostbusters) I can’t help but cringe and look for a receptacle for my impending vomit.
I didn’t pick the title of this post lightly. I do believe that the reboots are going to be the final nail in the coffin of the traditional Hollywood movie. Maybe not this year, maybe not next year, but I’m willing to bet it will be pretty damn soon. Personally, I would rather spend my money backing an independent film concept, helping them grow their talents, and seeing it come to life as a unique and interesting project, than shell out $20 on a Hollywood film I’ve seen 50 times since I was a child.
Brand recognition aside, what possible reason would we need to spend $250,000,000 on a Wargames remake? I can see it now. There’s going to be a spunky hacker kid with an iPad and a laptop, parkouring his way through the mean streets of inner city anywhere, USA, with a team of inept government agents on his back until he finally gets brought to the new Joshua Supercomputer, but instead of being some strange global thermonuclear war platform, it’ll be some Al-Queda spin off nonsense. Oh, don’t forget the obligatory minority sidekick and the tough, but cute, female lead who doesn’t need a man, she needs a six-pack and a shotgun. Cause, that’s a thing.
Sometimes I feel like an old man just complaining about the glory days, but then I see the truly nauseating deluge of vomit-inducing swill coming out of major production houses and I wonder just how long they have to live in their current business model.
I guess time will tell.
For me, I’m going to stick to independent films where I at least know there are some unique ideas running around. Bootstrapping, crowdfunding, and creative partnerships will always, in my opinion, allow for greater creativity than a hundred-million-dollar check, with stipulations and producer drama.
I’m a wannabe screenwriter who hasn’t yet had any luck but I want nothing to do with Hollywood. Walt Disney would be disgusted if he was alive to see how corrupt, greedy and short-sighted they’ve have become, especially his own company, which ripped off the Star Wars Original Trilogy and destroyed its dignity in the process while marketing the rip-off as a sequel. Walt created Disney with the intention of using the money that movies earned to make more movies and while that is technically what Hollywood is doing, they’ve forgotten that films are supposed to be art, not cash cows. If they make loads of money, great, but people need to stop using that as their primary motivation and actually put some effort into their films. Once in a while, we get films that had effort put into them, but those kinds of movies are becoming rarer and rarer as time goes on.