Hollywood becomes less original than sequels

It has long been a critique of Hollywood that they just aren't original. They just do remakes and sequels.

Iron Man 3 is coming out next year, Despicable Me 2, they remade Total Rekall, etc.

And even "original" movies like The Hunger Games are so rehashed versions of The Running Man or a host of similar post-apocalyptic Dystopian fare that even the costumes felt retread.

The thing is...there is some value to remaking some old classics. True Grit was perhaps even better liked than the original John Wayne version...both are entertaining bits of movie making with a little something for fans of the Western genre.

Staying with the Western theme, 3:10 to Yuma with Russell Crowe was a very srong movie that takes nothing away from the stellar original.

Both have value. Contrast that with say...Guess Who, the horrifically bad remake of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Whereas the Poitier version addressed what were legitimate and serious social issues, the remake failed to even address the need for laughs in a comedy.

There is a reason, however, many remakes get made. The original was good, may or may not have held up well, but there is a whole generation of casual movie-goers who may have never seen the originals.

Yet there is value too to fresh work such as the aforementioned Despicable Me, I have heard great things about Argo and so forth.

Nor is it as if all the original content Hollywood throws our way is better than the remakes. If you wasted your hard-earned coin on Seven Psycopaths for example, you might have been much happier watching The Expendables II, a movie where the REAL plot was paying homage to the movies, catch-phrases, and over-the-top mindless violence of the 80s. And turning in, by the way, a very fine brainless but fun action flick. Not original in any way, shape or form...but entertaining nevertheless.


Well, apparently the strain of making original stuff using original ideas like Cars 2, Toy Story 3,  Fast Five, True Grit, and so forth was too much.

So Hollywood has gone even MORE original.

They just re-release actual movies from a decade or two ago. Yes, you once again can see in the theatre, just in case you missed it 25 years ago, have no access to a vcr, dvd, blue ray, Netflix, or friends, Jurassic Park. ET. The Star Wars prequel. Finding Nemo. Monsters Inc.

On the bright side, to make the movies more profitable with less originality, they are making them all 3-D. So movies you most likely have sitting on your media shelf at home (if you intend to see them) you can now pay an extra premium for to watch them again on the big screen.

I have to admit, I admire the genius of Hollywood. I thought they had plumbed the depths of lack of originality. I was way wrong.

I would finish this post but I have to go get in line for the 5th movie in the Die Hard series, coming summer of 2013.

And no, that release is not a joke...