You're in a dark theater as the previews are just beginning. The screen flickers and the first trailer begins. Something about it looks really familiar, but you just can't figure out why. Then the title screen flashes. Ohhh! It's a remake. Whenever that happens, listen closely to your fellow theater patrons. There will be a faint, collective groan. In recent years, a vocal segment if the movie going audience has begun speaking out against the seemingly constant barrage of remakes, reboots and sequels. They hope for a return to some imaginary golden age when movies were all original concepts. But did that age ever exist and will we realistically ever get back to it?
In doing research for this post, I tried to trace where the concept of a sequel began. What I found was something I'd already known: it predates movies. The first movie to be considered a sequel was released in 1916, but audiences have a long history of becoming attached to fictional characters. Even stories as old as Greek myth captured their audiences imaginations and made them want to hear more of Hercules' adventures and the like. This has continued ever since in literature. So the sequel craze is nothing new, just the medium by which we consume the stories.
Remakes are a more recent phenomena that is specific to the movie medium. But I'll bet you'll be surprised to know when the first remake was released: 1904. Even better, it had only been ONE YEAR since the originally had come out. And ever since, films have been made and remade for each generation. So clearly remakes aren't a new thing either unless you consider almost 110 years ago new.
The difference between a remake and a reboot is open for discussion. In my mind, a reboot is a film that gives a previously established character or characters a brand new start with a new story, tone and overall direction. Usually, reboots are the result of a franchise of films that has gone stale or just plain flopped, but the studios still feel the character(s) can be salvaged. The first reboot I can find is the 2005 Batman Begins which kicked off one of the most popular film franchises of all time. Next came the Incredible Hulk, which erased the previous 2003 Ang Lee Hulk film from continuity and became part of the powerhouse that culminated in the Avengers. So while reboots are a new species of movie, their effectiveness is undeniable in terms of popularity and box office numbers.
Despite the fact that these three types of movies have been around for a while or, at the very least, are extremely successful, many people are fed up with Hollywood, constantly complaining about the latest sequel or remake. They feel that Hollywood should be making only original stories and that with each installment of The Fast and Furious series or each superhero reboot, our culture is somehow sinking further into some dark place; A place where or creative talents are diminishing.
I wholeheartedly disagree with this frankly childish point of view. The insinuation is that, by no fault of our own, Hollywood is shoving these unwanted movies down our throats. But the reality is, perhaps more than any other industry, the film industry is a demand driven business. That means that when a teenage vampire movie makes $35 million in its opening day and go on to blow away all other expectations, studios will naturally scramble to duplicate that success. Next thing you know, there are a dozen supernatural teenage dramas in the pipeline. However the opposite is true as well: when the numbers start to disappoint rather than excite, gears are switched and projects are killed. Your dollars and my dollars are what drives these franchises.
My point is this: They've been with us as long as cinema itself. And as long as sequels, remakes and reboots still make LOADS of money from the tickets WE continue to buy, they aren't going away.
So now that we've established that these kinds of movies aren't going anywhere, in my next post we'll talk about why these films may not be as evil as people think.
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