Originality: A Dying Breed

Modern Hollywood struggles to bring original ideas to the big screen

Dec. 20: Long-awaited sequel: Will Ferrell is Ron Burgundy and Christina Applegate is Veronica Corningstone in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.

(Gemma LaMana/MCT)

Dec. 20: Long-awaited sequel: Will Ferrell is Ron Burgundy and Christina Applegate is Veronica Corningstone in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.

A few months back, BoxOfficeMojo.com reported that more than 50% of the films released in 2013 were either a sequel, prequel, reboot, or adaptation. This is not just a fact, however, but a red flag that Hollywood is struggling in modern times to bring something new to its audiences.

Now, one big reason Hollywood has had trouble with originality in recent years is its very apparant use of copycat films. Movies have been around for approximately 100 years, and in those 100 years, Hollywood has managed to overuse several ideas that were at one point original. Films like Jaws and Halloween, while fantastic, have unfortunately only inspired half-baked remakes, reboots, sequels, and copycat films.

Film producers continue to make films in the light of other past popular films anyways because they are aware that this is the formula that works. As a result, it discourages companies from doing original content, and looking at the issue from another perspective makes their reasoning only clearer.

Along with the struggle to create original content, the financial prospect in non-original material is a humongous reason for film companies to draw away from doing original films.

Lynda Obst, producer of Sleeping in Seattle and Contact, says that companies “need people to know [the] title…to be familiar with it before it’s even marketed.” She has mentioned that in this new age of film, she feels constant pressure to make films that are “sequelizable” (a phrase she coined).

Producers and filmmakers feel this pressure to make sequels, prequels, reboots, and adaptations because these properties make the maximum profit. Prairie Ridge Senior Jessica Schalz explains that “franchises have already proved themselves to be worthy of watching, which garners larger and more faithful fans.”

This mindset is shown in the recent news that Lionsgate (the film studio behind the Hunger Games film franchise) is buying the rights to doing the film adaptations for the Chaos Walking book series. Lionsgate knows that franchises sell and specifically, in their case, book-to-film adaptations that have several fans to stand behind them.

It is this mindset that Hollywood has recently adopted that has led them to not even consider the possibility of original films dominating cinema.  That being said, this does not mean all hope is lost for originality in cinema. A small window of possibility remains.

Even though audiences today enjoy seeing unoriginal content for the most part, a few original films each year manage to capture public interest. As Neil Pretkelis, a senior at Prairie Ridge High School, explains that “when [original movies] are executed properly, they can be hugely successful, showing that even audiences today enjoy seeing something new.”

2010’s Inception is an excellent example of this idea. The film earned fantastic reviews from critics and audiences and made almost $850 million worldwide during its entire theatrical run.

However, the most relevant example at the moment would be the space thriller Gravity. The film operates on an original concept and has managed to earn rave reviews and make $472 million worldwide at the box office in a month!

Rarities like this spark hope that the game is not over yet for original ideas.