Hollywood's Waning Creativity - Infographic
We all know Hollywood lacks creativity these days. Almost everything we see is a sequel, a remake or a reboot of some sorts. There's very little original content being developed, and that's a sad fact. There are so many incredible original ideas out there, but most studios are looking to make anything that already has a built in market, so they have a better chance of making a profit. It's a sad truth that we have to live with.
Here's a great infogrpahic created by Short of the Week breaking it all down for us, showing us how by 2011 original movie ideas have virtually disappeared. I've enjoyed many of these movies that have been sequels or reboots, but I'd much rather see more original content. For example, I had a blast watching The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises, but the best movie I've seen so far this year was Lawless, which is an original film based on historical events.
I'm not giving up on original movies, I think we'll still see them, but not as many as we used to see. As you can see in the infographic Hollywood is shutting out original content in favor of anything that's a "safe bet", which usually means something that has been done to death.
Look over the infographic and let us know how you feel about all of the remakes and sequels that we're seeing these days!
Here's more of an explanation of the chart:
1. For the chart, I created 3 distinct categories of films: SEQUEL = characters/story from a previous film (sequels, prequels, remakes, franchises) ADAPTED = characters/story from a previous work (book, comic, play) ORIGINAL = new characters/story written for this film. Sure you could break the categories down further, but that becomes more difficult to read—what’s more ‘original’ a prequel or a franchise? This keeps it clear. Some movies are technically both adaptations and sequels (Harry Potter 8)—but let’s be honest, they’re sequels. If we’ve seen these characters and plot points on film before, it’s a sequel.
2. Don’t make the judgement that sequels = bad, original = good. There are great sequels (The Godfather Part 2, The Dark Knight) and there are some terrible original films (Kazam anyone?). The point of this article is that original theatrical films are becoming less and less popular. “Are movies getting worse?” That’s a different discussion.
3. Forget exceptions. This is a discussion about trends. Don’t bother bringing up that one film that bucked the trends that one year. Yes, Avatar was an original film that made a lot of money. But you’ll be ignoring the 7 other sequels and adaptations that year. Keep a broader view.
4. Why these years? Simple. I took the most recent year, 2011 and went back every 10 years as far as online databases would go. Data will be different for different years, but the broader view is not likely to change. If anyone wants to do the full 30+ year history, that would awesome…