So, I jumped online this morning and one of the first things that caught my eye was an article about an upcoming Oceans Eleven spinoff called Oceans Eight which will be boasting an ensemble female cast that stars the likes of Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Rihanna and Anne Hathaway.
Now before you call me a misogynist, sexist pig please keep in mind that I am a huge fan of most of the lovely actresses that will be featured in the film. 2001's Oceans Eleven was also one of my favourites growing up and I'm well aware that it was a spinoff of the 1960 movie Oceans 11. So I honestly have no problem with a well thought out spin off (the first time). Following the 2001 version they released two subsequent sequels that oozed of unoriginality and stank of desperation to make another hit, I already wish they had stopped at this point.
Haven't we ruined enough original movies already? I haven't seen the new Ghostbusters but I know that it's made $70m below its budget which would most likely come down to the quality of the film rather than a boycott based on the gender of the stars. I honestly believe that if it were another all-male cast in Ghostbusters starring the likes of Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Jason Sudeikis and Zach Galifianakis it would have sucked as much as the one pictured below. Seriously whats next, an all-female version of The Hangover?
Look, we get it, anything men can do women can do too. About half the time they can do it better as well, any reasonable person was already well aware of this. So this is what really grinds my gears, why are they continuing to rehash old films instead of writing new movies for women to star in? Why are they going for the easy option rather than creating a new story? Well I guess the answer is because it's trendy at the moment. The last few years we've seen heightened awareness to the plight of gender equality and the LGBTQI community. I think it's become a trend to take an all-male series and change it to all women, just to "prove" in a weird way that we are all equal.
Seriously, I'm not saying this movie will suck because women star in it, I think it will suck because the main motivation behind the movie is to bring an all-female cast to an original all-male series, not to create a great movie like the first two. It's not motivated by an excellent script or a completely new story like Oceans Eleven/11 was and even if they bought out another one with all men I probably wouldn't be happy about it. I already hate most spin offs and now I hate the fact that it's a trend to put women where men have been before to promote girl power.
I would prefer to see a totally original comedy heist movie that stars all women, instead of this heinous habit of repeating loved movies and changing the gender of the stars. It's incredibly painful for me to see that it's painted as a triumphant win for women when they've really just replaced males with females instead of coming up with a new hit.
Hollywood is undermining art for the sake of what's popular or edgy and this is why the upcoming Oceans Eight movie pisses me off. What I really see here is a missed opportunity to make an original all-female heist movie to mark the beginning of a new franchise. Instead it feels like these actresses have been handed down a previously successful series and told to run with it. I honestly believe that this movie would be so much better if they changed it to an original heist movie, the cast has heaps of potential and it could really be a great film.
PEACE!