Hollywood: Unoriginal?

Movies have been a major part of pop culture since the 1800s and are still influencing many people today. The most notable home of the filmmaking industry is Hollywood. However, the public has been speculating whether or not it has been running out of ideas, due to the lack of quality in recent films produced in Hollywood.

Reboots and sequels are not new in Hollywood; according to StephanFollows, Hollywood has hit the jackpot with numerous reboots and sequels such as Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy, which made a grand total of $2,463,216,216 (click here for more information). Although producing movies with sequels was a key to success in the past, the percentage of reboot films have gone down—from 1 in 6 to 1 in 25 reboot films making the top ten.

In 2018, approximately 50 movies and TV shows were remakes, reboots or sequels. One of the more recently remade movies is Ocean’s 8. Hollywood remade the Ocean’s trilogy with a slight twist: an all-female cast.

One example of a failed reboot is 2015’s Fantastic Four. This movie not only displeased its audiences but it also gained the title for being one of the worst movies in 2015. The main cause of this movie’s demise with a whopping 9% on Rotten Tomatoes is due to its mature content.

Even though Hollywood has failed to be consistent with their success, there are still some reboots that have smashed the box office. One example of a very successful reboot is Marvel’s Spiderman: Homecoming. Spiderman has been rebooted 3 times in recent cinematic history: Sam Raimi’s trilogy, Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spiderman franchise and now, Marvel’s Spiderman sequel. This movie met the high expectation among audiences as many fans were excited that Spiderman would be finally a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It concluded with a 92% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Sophomore Josh H. says, “No matter what movie they decided to remake, it will always be compared to the original. In the past, many films have been remade for the better, and in my opinion, being unoriginal is perfectly fine. However, not all remade films succeed and surpass their original. Many people fall for the original movies for their storyline, which is why remade films have such low ratings on websites such as rotten tomatoes.

Comment your thoughts down below on the unoriginality of the film industry!