Comic books are awesome. Movies and TV made about comic books are equally as awesome (usually). Lately we’ve been getting a lot of superhero movies; this year alone we’re getting "Deadpool," "Batman v Superman," "Suicide Squad," "Dr. Strange," "Captain America: Civil War," and "X-Men: Apocalypse." That’s six comic movies in one year! On TV/Netflix we now have "Gotham," "Supergirl," "The Flash," "Arrow," "Lucifer," "Daredevil," "Jessica Jones"," Agents of SHIELD," and "Agent Carter," and those are just the live-action shows. It’s easy to say that comic book media is oversaturating the film market and that they’re preventing anything original from becoming a hit. Tons of great movies are released every year but they’ll never get the same media coverage and fan-base as something like "Avengers" or "Batman v Superman."
Last December, the new "Star Wars" was released alongside the Academy Award nominee, "The Revenant." Both were inherently great movies in their own right with a fantastic story to tell and an immersive world populated by memorable characters. At the end of the day, however, "Star Wars" is now the highest grossing domestic film of all time while "The Revenant" doesn’t even come close. Why is that exactly? Some might say that it’s because people know the "Star Wars" brand and are hopeful for what it might bring. Is "Star Wars" a better movie than "The Revenant?" That’s up to your interpretation, but to me, "Star Wars" is a million times more memorable because it brought me back to that world I loved so much growing up and made me appreciate it more as an adult. "The Revenant," on the other hand, transported me to a new world and made me see that humanity may not be as high up on the food chain as we all think. It’s a brilliant movie and deserves all the praise it’s been given, same goes to "Star Wars"; it takes a different viewer to enjoy each.
Is originality dead, though? Are we doomed to endure remake after remake from Hollywood? The simple answer is no, we won’t. In fact, it’s happened several times before in the industry when creators and audiences favor adaptations rather than original ideas. Some of the greatest films of all time came from someone else’s creation or life in general. Alfred Hitchcock’s "Psycho" is considered by many film critics to be one of, if not the greatest, film of all time. Did you know that it was a book adaptation? You wouldn’t think so because most people associate older films with originality and creativity and while that is usually true, you really have to consider where the ideas came from. "The Shining," "Stand By Me," and "Shawshank Redemption" are all based on Stephen King stories. "Midnight Cowboy," the winner of 1969’s Best Picture award is based on a novel. One of my favorite movies, "The Departed" is a remake of a Japanese film with the exact same storyline and similar characters. Movie musicals are just remakes of Broadway shows with the same type of sets and production values. Point being, originality is not where the idea comes from but how that idea is executed.
However, there are certain ideas that shouldn’t be touched or remade to any capacity, sometimes a movie is only meant for a certain time. Orson Welles’ classic film "Citizen Kane" cannot and never will be remade because nobody can handle that story the same way Welles did without recycling whatever he already accomplished. It’s a story that was completed and told in its entirety, something that doesn’t need future elaboration. The same rings true for movies that bring unsuccessful sequels like "The Hangover" trilogy. While each movie is okay in their own right one of the biggest issues with Part 2 and 3 were that they expanded a story that wasn’t too interesting to focus on. Furthermore, it was really impossible to make a new Hangover movie funny or relatable without rehashing what was already there. In a sense, this is a huge problem in Hollywood as big studios feel the need to reboot or redo classics like "Robocop," "Nightmare on Elm Street," or "Halloween." Most of the most anticipated films slated to release on Disney’s list are either live action remakes or sequels to popular projects. In many respects, it’s a horrible idea to touch these movies and try to change them; from another perspective it can often allow for new and creative thinking toward an idea. Yes, sometimes the films can be flops (both critically and financially) but other times remakes, reboots, or sequels really offer something special like in "The Dark Knight."
Ideas like "The Avengers," "The Justice League," or "Star Wars" deserve to be retold and go on infinitely because their stories have infinite possibilities. Originality isn’t dead because of the new life these creators bring into these old ideas. When you see the latest flavor of the week superhero film don’t think of it as a retread of the same tired ideas, instead think of them as the upgrade of an idea. What Marvel did a few years ago with the first "Avengers" movie was groundbreaking and has now set the stage for tons of old ideas to be made new again. These comic book heroes and epic stories are the American myths, the stories that some future civilization will study and laugh at thousands of years from now. Everything in our lives are derived from something else, we learn from the past and use that to look towards the future. Movies and storytelling are no different as they constantly upgrade to keep up with the times and provide with characters that may not always be original. Then again, when you really sit down and think about it, what is?
