Thursday, July 14, 2016

Is Hollywood Playing it Safe?

Let's take a look at what is currently playing at my local theater (this theater does not play independent films):

Ghostbusters*
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates*
The Secret Life of Pets
The BFG*
The Legend of Tarzan*
The Purge: Election Year*
Independence Day: Resurgence*
The Shallows
Central Intelligence
Finding Dory*
The Conjuring 2*

*Films either based off, a reboot, or a sequel.

From the list above, there are only three out of eleven films that are not a part of an existing story or franchise. I have a theory on why Hollywood mainstream films follow this pattern. 

Is Hollywood possibly releasing films that are based off of existing stories, reboots, and sequels since people are more likely to watch something they are familiar with? People know who The Fantastic Four are, people know the Peanut characters, so perhaps it is a guarantee that a lot of people will see a film they already know something about. Of course I am not saying that people will not see The Shallows or Central Intelligence because it's a new concept, but if you're a fan of the X-Men films like I am, you're more than likely to see the newest film of that franchise, an instant successful box office for Hollywood.

Now this is just my observation on the recent Hollywood mainstream films that have came out within the past few years, and this isn't the first time this trend has popped up in American cinema. I know that there are more creative films out there too and I am not ignoring independent films, but this is just what I have noticed with the mainstream films. Agree or disagree with me? Let me know!

4 comments:

  1. I totally agree with you. Hollywood is definitely making this to make more money. Like you said, people are more likely to go to the cinema and watch something they're already familiar with. Probably because you kind of know what to expect, and chances you're going to like it are higher than those of something you don't know a thing about.

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    1. It's nice to know that someone agrees with me! I wish Hollywood took more risks when it comes to ideas, I'm tired of reboots and sequels.

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  2. Agree. And it sucks. Hollywood is seriously lacking some original material but you're right, they won't take a chance. This also closes the door on new creatives too, not letting anyone new in to make some new stories.

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    1. I hope Hollywood changes this soon because I feel like the same movies keep coming out, even the ones not based off of something.

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