With the success of Sam Raimi’s “Oz the Great and Powerful” come new ideas about the state of the film industry and the future of movie making.
The newly released Disney film, starring James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams, is a prequel to the beloved 1939 classic, “The Wizard of Oz,” and earned over $80 million in its opening weekend. It is also the latest in a series of films I’ve noticed following the same trend: remakes and adaptations are performing better at the box office than films with new worlds and characters.
We live in an age when producers and other film officials are hesitant to risk creating movies with original content, but rather build onto already established franchises. Just consider the recent Hollywood trend of superhero movies, each of which was based off of a comic book series with an already existing fan base: “Thor,” Christopher Nolan’s “Batman” series, “The Green Lantern,” and both of the “Spiderman” sagas, to name a few. And there are the remakes the studios are cranking out of older films, such as “The Great Gatsby” and the new “Star Trek” series.
Filmmakers creating stories around movies people are already familiar with appears to be a smart strategy. Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” a quasi-sequel to Lewis Carroll’s novel and Disney’s cartoon adaptation, grossed over $1 billion worldwide. “Footloose,” the 2011 remake of the 1984 musical-drama film of the same name, earned more than $15 million in its opening weekend.
It makes sense, considering the familiarity audiences have with these preexisting stories. Who didn’t grow up watching Dorothy trek to Oz in her ruby slippers or exploring Wonderland with Alice as she followed the Cheshire Cat? We already feel a connection with these stories from our childhoods, and it is a testament to the evolving art of storytelling that we can experience the same universes we’ve seen before in new, exciting ways. However, we cannot always be visiting the same universes with their old conflicts; we need new content, even though it’s financially insecure.
Of course, there are always risks that pay off. The Wachowskis’ “The Matrix” and James Cameron’s “Avatar” come to mind, but those are the works of directors with whom the studios have long-standing relationships who consistently produce profit. There are still original films that impress audiences, but it seems the number is dwindling as opposed to adaptations and offshoot movies. Every studio is afraid of producing a box office bomb, and nobody wants to deal with a “John Carter.”
Overall, the studios need to accept the risk and make awe-inspiring movies that no one has previously envisioned. Adaptation and remakes are successful and entertaining, but there is a noticeable lack of high quality, original films because of the emphasis on the former. Visiting old territory is nice; foraging new territory is nicer.
Leading in today’s Crimson White:
[Opinion] Alabama’s education reforms are a welcome reform to past failures
[Opinion] Student criticism at the Capstone must have a purpose
[Opinion] Ohio senator’s gay marriage reversal is a signal for impending legalization
