Have you noticed that most movies that have recently come out have not had an original plot? Whether it’s a remake of an older movie, or another sequel to a popular superhero movie, Hollywood has no problem re-doing it.
We keep seeing the same movies because they are more reliable money makers. When a remake of a childhood classic comes out, there are so many people who want to see a new adaptation. It used to be that these movies would occasionally come out and people would be excited for them, but there would still be original movies. Now these are the only movies that people get excited about which gives Hollywood an incentive to keep making unoriginal movies.
Movies like Wicked and Barbie did very well, making millions of dollars during the opening weekend. There was a lot of excitement around these movies which got to the theaters.
The internet is a big reason why everyone gets so hyped up for remakes. Influencers make a big deal about all these movies before they even come out, which is something they can’t do with a movie where they don’t know the exact plot. So the remakes and the sequels have guaranteed profits, while original movies get overlooked or forgotten.
Another big part of remakes and sequels is the nostalgia that comes with it. A certain film or play can make you feel nostalgic, which gets people excited for the remake, sequel, or prequel.
A recent article titled “Wicked: A Love Letter to Theater Kids,” describes how important the musical was to them as a child, and why the recent adaptation means so much. The author writes about how she was connected to the Broadway play, and felt like she could relate to it.
Another reason why this movie might connect to viewers is because of the popular co-star, Ariana Grande. Before becoming a singer, she was an actor. She acted in a popular television show, Sam and Cat, along with other shows, in 2013. Seeing her act again could be nostalgic for people who grew up watching her.
The movie could even be nostalgic for adults who grew up watching The Wizard of Oz as it is a prequel to the movie.
Just because remakes are more reliable money makers doesn’t mean they don’t ever lose money. Recent Disney movies have been losing money. The Marvels is a Marvel movie about how two superheroes mysteriously start switching places. Usually Marvel movies do well, but this movie lost $237 million! Disney CEO Bob Iger’s excuse for this is that it was filmed during COVID. “The Marvels was shot during COVID. There wasn’t as much supervision on the set, so to speak, where we have executives really looking over what’s being done day after day after day.” I think this is a bad excuse; if the script is good, and the idea of the movie is something people want, it should make money.
Another big loss for Disney was The Haunted Mansion, a remake of the same movie from 2003, a film inspired by the popular Disney ride. It’s about a single mom who hires people to help exorcise her new mansion after discovering ghosts in it. This lost $190 Million at the box office. So it may seem like any remake will make money, but that’s just not true.
A frequent pattern between original movies and unoriginal movies is that even though the remakes make more money, new movies have better ratings. Barbie made $1.4 billion worldwide and Oppenheimer made $912 million. Clearly, Barbie made more money than Oppenheimer, but Oppenheimer got better ratings. Barbie got a critic score of 88% and an audience score of 83%, while Oppenheimer got a critic score of 93% and an audience score of 91%. There was a clear difference between the effort in these movies.
Hollywood needs to stop playing it safe and have an original idea for once. Although some remakes can be good, most aren’t memorable, whereas a new movie could be much more rewarding.
