The Church Of Reboot
Hollywood's Slow Suicide
96% of Hollywoods output in the last two years have been sequels, prequels and reboots.* Chew on that.
Hollywood used to be a wondrous place, a melting pot of ideas catalysed by talented artists. This was a time when, ironically, the Europeans were in charge of America’s dream factory. Ernst Lubitsch, Charles Chaplin, Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, etc ad infinitum. Up until around the early 80's, Hollywood was an equal, if not superior, to world cinema. What happened?
Success happened. Unique, focused, unexpected success. George Lucas happened, Steven Spielberg happened, James Cameron happened. This doesn't mean we all go out and lynch them, because it isn't their fault. They did what any artist worth their salt does: have an original idea, and follow through with it as well as they can on a small budget. Imagine being pitched Star Wars:
"Well, um, have you seen 'The Hidden Fortress' by Kurosawa? It's that, but in space, and there are these guys called jedi and they fight with laser swords."
It's certainly original, but the $530 million dollar question is: will it sell? This always has been the key question in the business of art, but never to the degree that cinema faces in the early 21st century. As studios realised the potential of high-concept, low-budget box-office successes, they wanted to replicate the formula. Now, just as we don't point the finger at Lucas or Spielberg, we also don't give the finger to American capitalism — we just acknowledge it with a frosty look. The rising mentality of blockbuster remakes was the catalyst for the disappearance of European sensibilities in Hollywood, and the American Way took it back.
Terminator 2, Star Wars Episode V, Jurassic Park 2. They make a lot of money. The studios catch on. Michael Bay and Tony Scott literally explode on to the Hollywood scene. Chaos Cinema is born, helped by MTV editors. The studios realise that what has worked will work again, and cinematic language is all but lost in the frame of blockbusters as Michael Bay demonstrates that spacial awareness and continuity is for snobs. Chaos Cinema says to hell with practical effects, and CGI becomes the norm. Laziness in cinema becomes socially accepted, and financially encouraged.
Then, superheroes happened.
Sam Raimi brought Spiderman to life in a forgettable first film, a fantastic second film and another forgettable third film. 2002, 2004, 2007. (Darkman was made in 1990 by Sam Raimi, quietly establishing that superheroes can exist in reality). The first half of the 00's were still fairly creative (by today's Hollywood standards), but 2008 happened and everything changed. Iron Man and The Dark Knight were released that year. Christopher Nolan became a popular director overnight, and Marvel discovered their new formula.
(NB: to appreciate a concise outlining of Marvel's formula,watch Honest Trailer's "Iron Man" video.)
The Cult of Marvel
Kevin Feige and his studio cronies caught on to the success of Iron Man, discovering that people enjoyed the simple storytelling formula employed in bringing fun and general coolness to a B-list comic-book character. When the sequel came out in 2010, it was clear that they had created the cinematic equivalent to Lego, or heroin: it’s always the same, but people constantly buy it. In a stroke of evil genius, they realised that untapped potential existed in the source material - the crossover elements so prevalent in the comics. Until Marvel’s “Phase 1” films, superhero films were standalone, followed by sequels. As that was getting boring, Marvel jumped in with the simple move of starting to involve separate lead superheroes in each other’s films. This culminated in The Avengers, which existed for two reasons: 1) to get people into cinemas to see all of their favourite superheroes in one movie, and 2) create one of the most profitable films of all time.
Marvel are now kings of Hollywood, and everyone has realised the power of the sequel, the reboot, the revamp, to varying degrees of success - 'everyone' meaning studio executives. It’s seductive, it’s guaranteed to make some form of a profit, nobody loses. We are reaching the point when they started flying a bit too high, a bit too close to the sun. The first step is heatstroke. The second step is the melting of their wings. The third step is a fatal spiral down.
The first step is starting to show: studios are beginning to lose their minds. Proof and point - La Dolce Vita is in talks to being remade. Adapting text-speak into a film with Emoji. The Magnificent Seven. Disney has completely given up on creating anything new, planning on remaking Dumbo, Pinocchio, Mulan and even Winnie The Pooh for the nth time. The studio heatstroke has reached Germany, where a German studio is planning to remake the perfect film Das Boot.
The second step, when the studios upwards trend starts slowing further, is when their reboots and remakes and sequels and tie-in films start making less…and less…and less money. The greatest films were created by people who assume their audience is intelligent, not the other way around. Studio mentality concerning this issue is very much like how banks mentality works: “how can we get as much money as we can now?” An understandable mentality, but it never extends to thinking of tomorrow, least of all the more distant future. Just like the meltdown of 2008, there will be a Studio Meltdown, perhaps by 2020. This might unfortunately be slightly extended due to what will be an explosion of reinvented Star Wars films. However, the third step will occur, and we will be a better society for it.
Death To The Reboot! Death To The Sequel! Death To The Studio!
"If it works, it works right? People are still excited about Marvel’s Phase 3, and Terminator Genisys is selling tickets, so there’s no reason to change anything. Who are you to say what people want, or should have?”
Call it a philanthropic mission for the human intellect. Say I believe that originality and creativity are lacking, and the masses subconsciously know that. The only people benefiting from these endless sequels and reboots and revamps and prequels are the studios. They no longer have to risk anything on a new, daring idea - and new daring ideas are what propel art, and the human experience forward.
Bonus: watch Red Letter Media's entirely serious take on sequels below.
*Image Credit: Marvel Studios;LucasFilm; Paramount Pictures; Disney; Andy Ur
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