I really love going to the movies. I am not terribly picky, and can enjoy mediocre films if the popcorn is hot and the drinks are cold. When I was a younger man I spent some time working as a manager of a theater. The pay was terrible, but I had unfettered access to movies, and nachos.
The most recent movie we saw was Iron Man 3. We liked it, but it is a great example of a trend that has been evolving over the past few years. A trend that is getting even worse.
A lack of originality.
Take a look at last year’s top 20 movies: (I purposely left out any reference to R-Rated movies, because we have been asked by the brethren not to see them. So we don’t.)
1) The Avengers: —>sequel—>comic book
2) The Dark Night Rises —>sequel—>comic book
3) The Hunger Games —> book
4) Skyfall —>sequel (as part of a franchise)
5) The Hobbit —> book
6) Twilight- Breaking Dawn 2 —>sequel—>book
7) The Amazing Spiderman —>remake—>comic book
8) Brave
9) Madagascar 3 —>sequel
10) The Lorax—>book
11) Wreck-it Ralph
12) Lincoln—>book
13) MIB 3—>sequel
14) Ice Age: Continental Drift—> sequel
15) Snow White & the Huntsman —> fairy tale
16) Les Miserable —>stage play—>book
17) Hotel Transylvania
18) Taken 2 —> sequel
19) The Vow—>true story
20) Life of Pi —>book
I enjoyed so many – most – of these movies – but look at the movies with the bolded titles. THREE. Only three of the top twenty movies last year were original in concept. The other 85% were based on another source material, or a sequel.
What about so far this year?
1) Iron Man 3 —>sequel—>comic book
2) Oz, The Great and Powerful —> book
3) The Croods
4) GI Joe: Retaliation —>sequel—>toy
5) 42—>true story
6) Oblivion—> comic books
You get the idea – but it is early yet – look at some of the big movies coming out this summer:
Star Trek Into Darkness—>sequel
Much Ado About Nothing—>remake—>play
Man of Steel—>remake—>comic book
Monsters University—>sequel
Despicable Me 2—>sequel
The Lone Ranger—>television show
Fast & Furious 6—>sequel
Red 2—>sequel
The Wolverine—>sequel (as part of a franchise)
The Smurf 2—>sequel
I will probably see, and enjoy, most of these (Not Smurfs 2). But did you notice, that of the 36 movies I listed FOUR were original ideas? 11%. ELEVEN PERCENT!
Did you notice that of those four original movies, ALL of them are animated, and aimed at kids?
What happened? Where did the creative spark go? Can’t anybody other than animation studios come up with anything new? I find it sad, because I’m sure there are wonderful, new, and creative ideas floating around out there that will never see the light of day. In the meantime, they will keep making more and more comic book movies. How many will they make? As many as they can.
It is just too risky. With a built-in audience, sequels are usually a safer bet – much safer than an original story. You don’t see the industry willing to take Star Wars, or Rocky, or Indiana Jones type risks much anymore – and why should they? – when Iron Man 3 can haul in a billion dollars in just a few weeks.
People get tired of hearing about how great Pixar is, but you must hand it to them for being willing to be original – and that originality and quality translate into $$$. (Even though they have now joined the sequel club with Cars 2, Monsters U, and Finding Dory)
If you dig deeper into the box office grosses, you will also see that there are a lot more original ideas in the R-Rated movie category. Sad, but true. Much of the creative spark nowadays lies in the creation of stuff that would be better left unwatched. TV is quickly following that unfortunate slide, and is becoming more unwatchable every year. Several times this past year we were excited about the creative premise of a new show, only to stop watching after the first episode because it was so..so…evil.
The best thing we can do to encourage creativity and decency is reward it with our money. Why is there a The Hangover 3 coming out? Because The Hangover 1 and 2 made so much money. How much of that money came from Mormons?
One of the grand ironies is that PG and PG-13 movies consistently out-perform R-rated movies at the box office, yet Hollywood cranks out more and more R-rated movies. Last year there were 3 R-rated movies for every PG rated movie – but they made the same amount of money. This irony is not lost on the people who own the movie theaters.
Just last month, the President of the National Association of Theater owners spoke at a conference and begged Hollywood to “make more family friendly films and fewer R-rated titles – Americans have stated their preference.” (Link here) I hope they listen, but I doubt they will. Hollywood has proven that it is interested in more than just the money…
Best thing we can do? Reward creativity and decency with our money. If you plan on seeing The Hangover 3, then you, my friend, are part of the problem.
Well, to be fair:
1. Rocky was allegedly based on Charles Wepner’s real-life bout with Muhammad Ali.
2. While Raiders of the Lost Ark was very original, it was a rehash of 1930s and 1940s serials. (Interesting note: Indiana was originally going to be named “Indiana Smith” but Spielberg objected and “Indiana Jones” was born. Also, “Indiana” was the name of Lucas’ Alaskan Malamute… so Indiana really was “named after the dog.”)
2. Star Wars was released as both book and movie, the book was ghost-written by Alan Dean Foster for George Lucas and published 6 months before the movie was released. But it was a truly original concept.
Perhaps it’s the Hollywood Directors and Producers that are to blame for a lack of originality? George Lucas spawned American Graffiti, then Star Wars, then the Indiana Jones franchise (with another legendary director: Steven Spielberg who likewise had very original hits like Close Encounters). Add JJ Abrams to the list of directors and producers who take risks with original ideas (e.g. Super 8, Cloverfield, etc.).
It’s probably very easy for a project to be based on a super hero or book because the story has already been vetted with the public – so success is extremely likely. When spending huge amounts of money on a Summer Blockbuster, Hollywood wants some guaranteed revenue – and superhero movies and movies based on best sellers deliver. The Napoleon Dynamite-style original movies are only made because they cost a lot less, so the risk to the studio is far less.
So it is about money – and I totally agree that voting with our dollars (and talking up good films so that our friends and neighbors can also vote with their dollars) is important if we want to send a message to Hollywood to resume making wholesome movies. If Hollywood sees a niche market for wholesome movies, they’ll make more of them.
Perhaps some LDS Directors and Producers will find success in the emerging markets of Netflix, Roku, Amazon, and other online sources that are now generating original content. Traditional Television is on its way out. Traditional Cinema may follow… once we rethink the cinema experience.
By the way – my wife LOVES your site – you’ve got some wonderful perspectives and she’s always sharing your posts with me and with our friends and family. It’s a marvelous work you’re engaged in! Keep up the great work!
Tell Wanda thank you, and that she is awesome. About the movies you mentioned: Rocky nowadays would have been “The Chuck Wepner Story”, and I see Indiana Jones as a homage, more than a rework..
I agree that new media will help. Those original projects are out there, and if you look, you can find them – they just never get the big hype and budgets.
MMM, I have some GREAT positive info from World Congress of Families coming out that talks about the media and movie industry from Ted Baer, a Hollywood producer at WCF Sydney. It may put a spin and positive twist on the thought that “only R rated movies do the best at the box office” which has been debunked by recent studies (wooohoo!) Watch this space (or WBHMW/Jocelyn’s Blog to be more accurate).
Unfortunately creative film makers are making movies for the academy who judges them by their art, not the movie goers who grade with easier to please measurements. Not a whole lot we can do with how populated with crappy people Hollywood is
There has been an article floating around facebook about networks trying to lower the standards for TV (allowing more nudity, profanity, drug use etc). Even though I don’t agree, I understand the natural mans curiosity in a show that allows more nudity or violence. I don’t understand the attraction to a show because it uses more X words in one episode. Or profanity all together. I don’t understand when a radio or TV host is complaining that they aren’t allowed to say some specific words. Will it really bring more viewers? Who are these people that are attracted to a movie/show because it can use more swear words? The same with drug use. Who are these people that they are trying to attract by allowing more drug use in an episode. What is the attraction?
Being a poor college student and his wife, we don’t have cable. Sometimes I feel like I might be missing something, but whenever I watch TV someplace else, I am reminded that the only thing I am missing is the sports. My husband just graduated, but I doubt any of our money will be going to the cable companies any time soon. I can get enough filth for free.
And ditto on Wreck-it Ralph. Super cute! Didn’t think it looked very good, but it really was.
Okay, enough on TV on a Movie post. Hit the nail on the head again, MMM.
Another issue is the elitism of screenplay writers. Try breaking into that industry. If you only have a handful of people writing all the movies, they’re gonna start to sound the same.
Truth about Christopher Nolan.
And (not to drop names here) but being related to and knowing personally the head of Pixar – creativity is indeed ENCOURAGED. There will always be the inevitable sequel, but young kids love a sequel. Other than that – the whole company is run to generate creativity.
I miss a good original my M. Night Shamalan
Amen to everything you wrote in this post.
I loved this post. I teach Primary for 10-11 Year Old Girls and this year they have been working on memorizing Articles of Faith. I wanted to go a step further from just what the primary wanted and we are talking about understanding each and every one of them. I haven’t talked about 13 yet so I am planning on taking some of this with me to share with the class.
ps. 3 of my girls are done memorizing and so I ended up splitting up the Proclamation to the Family into 12 sections and asked them to start memorizing that. With how the world is today, I feel so strongly that my girls need to fully know what they believe in and draw from that spirit that they know the truth. The primary has asked us to recite it as a group when we are done. I am working on it with them and currently a fourth of the way through it.
My kids imaginative play is amazing, entertaining, G-rated, and free. Society has it all backward. Pop corn and eat it in the sun with your children. Let Hollywood lurk in their dark theaters.
Give ’em time – they’ll grow out of it soon enough.
We just saw Wreck-It Ralph for the first time on Monday and were smitten! So original and creative. My husband and I were laughing and grinning from ear to ear the entire time. Consequently we bought it yesterday and watched it as a family again last night. They just don’t make those kinds of creative and original movies anymore, at least not like they should. Everything else is so predictable!
You forgot Airplanes by Pixar. It’s original but also a sequel to Cars.
Don’t forget that Pixar’s second big hit, A Bug’s Life, was not an original story. About the only thing missing was the Singing Bush and the Invisible Swordsman.
I’ve noticed the same lack of creativity in the soft drink industry. When was the last time a totally new drink came out? They don’t do that anymore – they remix Sprite, Mountain Dew, Coke, 7Up, etc. with all kinds of other flavors, but they rarely branch out to something completely different. Crystal Pepsi, anyone?
7 Samurai -> Magnificent 7 -> Bug’s Life
3 Amigo’s was a bit of a parody on the first 3
On the drinks, the Japanese have creativity and risk-taking down to an art form. I was at a 7-11 in Tokyo a few years ago, looking for my go-to beverage, and saw a bottle of “Pepsi Cucumber Ice” soda. I chickened out. When I went back a few days later to buy a bottle as a souvinier, it was already gone and off the market. Dang.
this is not a problem of this year or last year. This has been a problem as long as hollywood has been around. there are several movies that stand among the crowd in the past century, however if you look at those in their yearly context you’ll see that there has always been plenty of mediocre, time wasting movies.
I really liked a lot of the movies I listed… even the superhero ones!
While I get your point about sequel after sequel after remake after sequel…
Many, if not most, good movies start life as books. Sometimes great books; sometimes not. Often, movie goers are startled that the movie they just enjoyed is based on a book they never read or even heard of. Gone with the Wind, Ben Hur, African Queen, 2001, virtually every Disney animated classic, the Ten Commandments (ok, that’s a stretch to say it’s based on a book).
What the public wants is a good story told well. What studios want is a sure return on investment. Taking risks on an obscure or original story is a hard way to make a profit, so studios will churn out stuff already proven popular. Popular != quality, but you already knew that. How else can anyone explain Justin Bieber?
Exactly. If I were a studio head, and had the choice between making Iron Man 5, and trying out some new idea, I would probably chicken out and go for the money too – that’s my job. But it stifles creativity.
The only reason Christopher Nolan was able to make the amazingly creative “Inception” is because he had just made the studio a fortune by making the Batman remake, and he had some clout.
True, but I’d be ok with Iron Man 5.
Well, I would not put Lincoln and Much Ado About Nothing in the same category as other remakes & sequals, but I take your point.
I also don’t have such an issue with the move from books to movies.
But the endless sting of sequals gets tiring. Like a copy of a copy, the quality seems to slide as the franchise goes on. (Fast & Furious SIX??)
I agree with you about new TV shows. We’ve stopped watching after one episode (sometimes during the first episode) so often. (Maybe BYUTV will give us more new shows like Granite Flats…that would be cool.)
There’s an irony when the Hollywood folks tell us they prefer making R-Rated films because they are more sophisticated, given the total lack of sophistication in the whole R-Rated comedy genre.
I don’t have an issue with books to movies either. I prefer some of the movies over the books – recently “Life of Pi” for example. I also thought LOTR was a better movie trilogy than the books.
My point was that original concepts are fewer, and farther between.
I agree with what you both said. I’m really liking Granite Flats, and Studio C makes me gut laugh at least once an episode. And I’m ok if a lot of the originality is focused on the books first too.
I have to protest. Brave is bascially just a Disney Princess remix. There wasn’t much original about the core movie plot. In fact if Disney princesses quit making deals with “witches” there wouldn’t be much left of many of their movies.
And if Shakespearean protagonists would stop dying, there wouldn’t be any tragedies.
If we took away all repeating plot devices, we would have no movies at all.
I disagree with J Man — Brave isn’t just a Disney Princess remix. She isn’t “falling in love” with some random guy she just met and getting married at the end. I liked it MUCH more than the typical Disney Princess movies because it seemed more real. In the end, she isn’t crying over her ridiculous Prince Charming – she is crying over her mother. A much better lesson, and a much better story line that those other movies.
My husband (a BYU film school graduate) and I have lamented for YEARS that there are no new story lines that don’t involve some brand of depravity. The only movie I’ve seen in the theater since last summer is Life of Pi. While it was not an original storyline, the cinematography, directing and acting made it as beautiful as the book. I think originality in those areas can make up for a lot. I can think of no other non-animated movie released in the past year that lives up to the standards set forth in the 13th article of faith. Those standards have been my guide since I was a tween, and though I’ve taken a lot of heat for it (mostly from other mormons) I have never regretted my decision to be extra careful about what I view.
Oh, this post is genius. You make a great point!
Amen! Pg13 crosses the line on multiple occasions too. I saw one of the newer batman movies and had such a dark feeling after it I decided I wasn’t old enough to see the sequels! We have started only seeing movies I would let my kids watch. I’d prefer to have the spirit in my home over a popular movie
That’s interesting that the most creative and imaginative movies are being made for the most creative and imaginative age group. Maybe I don’t want to grow up after all.