Venting Hollywood Frustration

Hollywood has a surprising lack of creativity for an industry built on imagination. It has usually had to look outside itself for stories upon which to base its movies. This is why most movies are: based on books, sequels of other movies, or based on an historic precedent.

Now, it is understandable that more than one movie would be based on the same book. With time, the technology, the conventions, and styles change and a new take on a story can be justified. Certain historic events are always popular and have elicited new cinematic interpretations. And, when a movie makes a lot of money it is only natural to think that the studios will come up with new stories involving the same characters or building on the previous story. In many cases it is all about having a built in audience.

Nowadays there is a rather new development in moneymaking Hollywood-style: the reboot. Movie series and franchises have been around long enough to have petered out and the studios would rather bank on restarting the series rather than develop new ones. Bond, Friday the 13th, Star Trek, The Pink Panther etc etc.

Then there is the original idea. Every once in a while someone comes up with an interesting story or a new idea. Why does Hollywood have to insist on remaking perfectly good movies when they even admit they are not intending to change the story, but merely update the effects? The Never Ending Story (OK, based on a book) and Fright Night (a genre film) are just two perfect upcoming examples of this travesty. Both spawned sequels in their day but now are rumored to being remade. Supposedly it is to update the effects, but we all know the real reason… $$$.