Hollywood has become a stagnant puddle of ideas the last 10 years, as evident by them constantly scraping the bottom of the barrel and bringing back beloved cult classic franchises from the archives of the dead. Most if not all of these franchises or one shot movies were not intended to have multi-million dollar reboots or start a new billion-dollar franchise. And let’s be honest with ourselves here as the movie-going public, has any of the reboots we got from Hollywood in the last 10 years brought anything new or interesting to the table? No. Do these movies have the same heart and creativity that the originals had when they were released? No. Are these reboots intended to be shameless cash grabs on nostalgia and the glory days of Hollywood? Yes.
Do we need these endless reboots and remakes? No. Are these movies going to leave a mark in cinematic history? Definitely not. And whenever I hear another cult classic movie being dug up from its grave I can help but feel disappointed. And I ask myself why try and re-create the same story, the same memorable sequences when the only thing Hollywood is capable of these days is shiny CGI, headache enduring dubstep score, staring overpaid talentless actors. According to Den of Geek, there are currently 105 reboots and remakes that are being planned by Hollywood. Some of the movies being rebooted aren’t even 5 years old for crying out loud.
It has become so bad that once a movie fails, there is almost immediately talks of rebooting it again. So let that sink in for a moment, Hollywood has at least enough reboots and remakes in the works to bombard us for the next 10 years. And this hasn’t become more evident with dismal failures of both the new Ghostbusters reboot that made a 70 million-dollar loss at the box office and Ben-Hur having the dubious record of 2016 biggest flop loosing over 120 million dollars. Not to mention the Fantastic Four reboot that made a loss of well over 60 million dollars. One of John McClain’s quotes from Die Hard 2 comes to mind:
“How can the same shit happen to the same guy twice?” If you cannot figure out the winning formula to make these reboots, then maybe you should not make them at all? And if Hollywood is still adamant when it comes to these endless reboots and remakes, I can dispense some great advice and it won’t cost them a 100 million dollar flop at the box office. Honor the source material, because the lack of knowledge has destroyed many reboots and remakes. And most important of all, market it to the fans. The fans are the ones packing the theaters and the fans are the ones telling others people to go see these movies. If you are going to market it to any other demography and insert politics into it, your reboot/remake will fail.
But not all the blame can be placed in front of Hollywood’s doorstep, the movie going public who goes out to see these movies are also to blame for this. Because by financially supporting these movies and buying tickets to go and watch them, it shows Hollywood that they can get away with these endless reboots and remakes. Hollywood understand only one thing and that is profits. Having said that I am glad the Ghostbusters, Ben-Hur and Fantastic Four reboot flopped. And I am hoping that the Magnificent Seven reboot follows the same route. Maybe then Hollywood running into the same brick wall for the 15th time would get the message. That the movie going audience want’s fresh new ideas instead of lazy cash grabs, that depend on the fame of iconic cult classic movies to make money.