For my whole life I have been an avid fan of movies, sometimes for the escapism that is offered, such as watching The Expendables or to get caught up in a larger world in films such as Star Wars (referring to Episodes 1-7). But there really seems to be a trend in Hollywood as well as the culture at large: there are too few original stories and creators will instead take on established franchises or films that have been done ad nauseum and will simply ride those coattails to presumed success. As a result of this mentality, creativity has fallen to the wayside and instead we get more of the same pretentious crap every year or two. Now certain films and filmmakers are responsible for this than others and just a few of them will be addressed.
Disney Movies
These have been some of the worst victims of this particular trend, as it seems that every movie of our childhood is getting rebooted into a live action adaptation: Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, and The Jungle Book. Are we just going to see full scale reboots on everything? Where do you draw that line and ask yourself, "Shouldn't we come up with newer ideas?".
Ben-Hur
The 2016 iteration is the remake of a film from 1959. Currently, this film has a whopping 29% on Rotten Tomatoes. Granted, a Rotten Tomatoes rating should not be the sole arbiter of the quality of a film, but there is still something to be said about a film that has been unnecessarily remade. If you want to watch Ben-Hur, do yourself a favor and watch the one from 1959. It is a far superior film.
Ghostbusters
Hear me out on this one. Now I have no real opinion on Ghostbusters. When a reboot was announced with an all-female cast, I was reluctant and not for the reasons that people might think (i.e. I'm not a sexist for being indifferent to Ghostbusters). I was only reluctant about it in that I was not sure how it would be handled. And as I anticipated, it was handled pretty poorly. I haven't seen the film itself, but when you alienate the male fans of Ghostbusters, you aren't going to have the anticipated appeal. From what I have heard, it actually is not a bad movie, but where Ghostbusters fell short is that the director and the cast could not handle negative opinions of it even when those opinions were constructive criticism. Paul Feig really shot himself in the foot when he effectively alienated male fans of the original Ghostbusters, calling any man who criticized his film a misogynist or when Judd Apatow said haters were just people who be excited about a Trump Presidency. If you're going to use "muh nostaliga" to market a film and distance yourself from fans of the original, don't be surprised when it fails. Overall, this film was just a lazy cash grab.
Star Wars
I know I referred to Star Wars as being one of the bright spots of film, but at the rate in which Star Wars films are being cranked out and announced, I am seriously concerned that Star Wars movies will hit the "cash grab" status, a film that people will only pay to see regardless of if it is any good or not just going to see it because "Star Wars" is slapped onto it. Star Wars: Rogue One really has that cash grab vibe about it already and the announcement of multiple Han Solo movies has me BEYOND concerned about how this franchise might turn out.
A lot of action films as of late are more valued for their special effects than the substance of their stories and if we keep paying for this GCI-saturated shill, then that is all we are going to get. If we get to that point in cinema, then what is the point anymore? We aren't going to see a truly wonderful art form. What is going to happen is that films will soon be devoid of any real creativity and eventually they will just die out as a whole. That is, if nothing changes.
Now I am not saying that reboots or remakes are bad because of what they are. I am simply saying that those in Hollywood would maybe come up with more original ideas. The general public should not be effectively bombarded by a new reboot or remake every so often. In addition to this point, remakes should have something to really offer. These films should be more than "cut and paste" carbon copies of the original film.
