Today’s article is a bit of an opinion piece, but it covers a question that has become vitally important to ask, especially for those of us who values quality entertainment. Whether you’re a movie/television series buff or a video gamer who values his/her narrative in said medium, I’m sure we can all agree that creativity in the Entertainment Industry has definitely hit some sort of wall.
I am of course speaking about reboots, or remakes as some of you might call them. We’ve been seeing more and more reboots in our favourite entertainment media as of late and the general mindset on this remakes of classics has not been received very well. Have the film/video game makers of old set the bar too high, or are those that have taken it upon themselves to redo a classic not done enough to do the original justice?
I’ve read several reviews lately of films where the original idea of a reboot had been pitched and it was met with fervour and excitement but when the actual film came out, it lacked in various ways, most of which was creative direction. This is a serious problem, especially considering it is an affront to fans and to those who have not even seen the original. Look, let’s be honest for a second though. Bad reboots may be the norm but it is not really the rule as there have been some pretty good reboots. I for one thoroughly enjoyed Total Recall and I think it did do the original some semblance of justice. Another favourite in the reboot category for me was Judge Dredd and despite the criticism it received, still deserves a sequel, which is officially not on the cards for anywhere in the near future, but there are ongoing petitions.
Essentially my reasoning behind this piece is this; Hollywood seems to be putting a lot of focus into rebooting old movies, and I feel that it could be either because they just feel that a lot of the movies that the previous generations grew up with needs a fresh coat of paint for the current generation or simply (and I believe this is the true reason) they have run out of ideas for new and original Intellectual Property. Something I have heard mentioned in the video games industry and I believe may also ring true for its silverscreen counterpart is that the creative types feel that coming up with and rolling out new and original ideas might not be as successful as already established franchises. You see, movies/games takes a lot of time and money to make and it is a HUGE risk to undertake something like that. If your idea is not accepted and/or liked, that leads to your project tanking and that brings nobody money at the end of the day.
So in essence, it all boils down to money. Studios do not want to take the risk because they are afraid of losing money that they have worked so hard to make. Which is kinda sad really considering this just leads into a creative decline and ultimately resulting in poorer and poorer quality entertainment products.
Thanks for listening to my opinion and please, don’t hesitate to weigh in on the above topic.