During Memorial Day Weekend last year, the “Lilo & Stitch Live Action” movie was released and grossed around $145.5 million. In that same weekend, “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” also debuted, marking the highest-grossing Memorial Weekend to date. Both of these movies are continuations of well-known franchises, highlighting a recurring theme in Hollywood that prioritizes remakes and pre-established cinematic universes over new films.
With the movie theater industry in decline, Hollywood is investing heavily in familiar franchises as the safer decision. These large-budget films aim to bring people back to theaters and encourage them to experience these stories on the big screen. To create these types of films, hundreds of millions of dollars are invested in production and marketing, which creates a very risk-averse environment.
Well-known Hollywood studios, such as Warner Bros, Universal Studios, and Disney take on a lot of risk when creating content for a national and global audience. By prioritizing established franchises with a loyal fan base, there is an assumption of a guaranteed audience. People who loved the original will be inclined to come to theaters and see the remake, live-action adaptation, or sequel.
Disney has been doing this frequently with their live-action remakes. As seen with The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and many more, but quite frankly, I am getting tired of watching the same story lines and characters just retold. That being said, I did love Beauty and the Beast with Emma Watson, but I would’ve been completely fine with just the original.
Another popular fandom that I should tread lightly when mentioning is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With dozens of movies and millions of fans worldwide, people will show up, maybe in costume, to watch characters and stories they love. Although these franchise films can be entertaining and widely popular, the overwhelming reliance on them encourages studios to regurgitate formulas with prior success.
Alongside remakes and sequel franchises, the BookTok girlies are having their moment in the spotlight with an overwhelming amount of book series getting their turn on the big screen. Most recently, the Off-Campus series, though other famous examples include Twilight, Harry Potter, and The Hunger Games. As an avid reader, I have no complaints, seeing as it balances original storytelling with a cinematic twist. This technique, done by Hollywood studios, is similar to the remakes and live-action adaptations, where they stick to “safe” content that was already widely popular with an enthusiastic audience.
Furthermore, in a world that operates both in real time and online, social media plays a large part in the success of a film. Virality often generates a lot of hype to see movies, like the trend where everyone would go in suits to watch the “Minions: The Rise of Gru” movie or “Barbie,” which became a cultural phenomenon associated with pink, brand collaborations, and themed merchandise. If done correctly, social media and marketing can turn movies into a movement. They can create unite a group of people together and build a community of fans, all with one original idea.
That said, online public forums play a large role in Hollywood’s increasing risk aversion. Social media has a tendency to criticize everything, which can make studios more cautious and formulaic. There is pressure to have films be political but not too progressive, and diverse without feeling forced. Tip-toeing around sensitive topics in fear of upsetting a larger audience makes it hard for original storytelling to find its way in mainstream cinema.
Original films oftentimes have less marketing and struggle to compete with these franchise powerhouses. There is an emphasis on profitability over creativity, hence why movies are starting to feel more and more repetitive. But I still hold a lot of hope for the movie industry. With the rise of artificial intelligence, everything is increasingly impersonal. We go to the movies to feel something, whether it is laughter, empowerment, or a good cry. Cinema has the power to move people, and creativity is important now more than ever.
There are a good number of films that start as huge risks, but pushing through discomfort and fear of failure creates movies that are an integral part of our culture. Some of my favorites, like Disney’s “Inside Out,” Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s “Goodwill Hunting,” James Cameron’s “Titanic,” and Jordan Peele’s “Get Out,” all took a leap of faith. Using entirely unknown actors, presenting a never-heard-of idea, or gambling the most expensive budget at the time with no guarantee of success created some of the most iconic movies of the modern era.
While it’s easy to form an attachment to franchises, characters, and storylines, creativity in Hollywood is more important than ever. These films are profitable and popular, but are affecting originality and imagination. Bold ideas should be the norm, not the exception.