If you’re anything like me and you love watching films, you may have noticed that every new movie seems like a remake of an original movie or turns nostalgic cartoons into live actions. The Lion King, Lilo and Stitch, How To Train Your Dragon and Beauty and the Beast are among the many examples. Whilst it is a clever tactic to utilise and expand on movies we know are loved by the public, is this all it is, or is Hollywood facing a creativity crisis?
So, why do studios do it in the first place? Familiar titles feel like a safer bet, there is already a built-in audience who, regardless of the quality of the movie, will come and watch. For example, Barbie was based on one of the most recognisable toys in the world, and audiences had expectations before the first trailer had even dropped. It then went on to earn over 1 billion dollars in the Box Office, showing studios exactly why they keep turning to household names. For a studio, a familiar title lowers the risk, and in an expensive industry, it is hard for them to resist. Marketing is made easier too as people already know the name and the look that comes with it.
However, this cannot be the entire story. When studios keep returning to the same familiar titles, this leaves less room for new ideas, and original films struggle to get made, marketed or noticed next to a big franchise. Many remakes also feel like copies of the original, with the same story and a newer budget. This is where my creativity crisis argument comes from. If studios only support what has been made before, it’s going to become more and more difficult for original movies to receive recognition. The creativity crisis isn’t the whole picture either. Revivals can be done well. Some sequels and remakes add new ideas, bring a story to a new generation, or give a forgotten film a second chance. The problem isn’t that they revisit the past, but rather, that they rely too much on it.
So, is it a clever tactic, or a creativity crisis? I believe that it’s both, building on films we already love makes sense for studios, and there’s nothing wrong with a good revival. But if familiar titles crowd out new ideas, we lose the films we haven’t fallen in love with yet, and every classic was once an untested idea.