Recently I read an article on Joblo.com about Disney’s upcoming movie, John Carter. Paul Shirley, who wrote the article, had something interesting to say about the state of movie goers today. He wrote that while we often moan the current reboot/sequel trend in Hollywood at the moment, when presented with something new and original we often turn our backs and let it flop. This has happened in the past. Original movies such as Kick-Ass and Scott Pilgrim versus the world had large followings before release but failed to make an impact at the box office, whilst 9 out of the 10 highest grossing films of last year were sequels (Thor was the only exception). Based on that we have to ask ourselves what message are we sending Hollywood?
Regardless to whether we like it or not, movie making is a business and comic book movies in particular tend to be a very expensive business. We, the fans, like to look at filming making through the creative side of things, watching innovative and brilliant people who create worlds and stories without bounds. But unfortunately there is the crucial financial side to look at. Imagine you’re a business man looking for a new investment. There’s one investment that’s basically a sure thing because it made money before and you stand to make a lot more. Now there is another investment, it is unproven and you stand to make just the same amount as the first investment. Which one would you go for?
Admittedly that all sounds rather cynical but my point is the only real communication we have with Hollywood is the box office. They see us spending millions to go see Megan Fox in slow motion and they are going to give us more Megan Fox in slowlier motion. One might argue that we have the internet to voice are concerns about the future of cinema. This is true, but how much affect do you think that really has. As I had mentioned before the films like Kick-ass had major internet following but that didn’t amount to much in terms of gross.
John Carter is one of few blockbuster films coming out this year that is not a sequel or a reboot. Reactions to the film were initially frosty but lately with more footage been shown and early reviews being positive, people are coming around to the idea that the movie may well be decent. I sincerely hope that people see the movie. Not out of love for the source material or anyone involved in its production but because of what it will mean if it is not. John Carter’s budget was extremely large and that was just the production cost excluding the price of the movie's marketing. If the movie flops it will be a major loss to Disney and sends a direct message to all the other movie studios and the trend of sequels and reboots will not end.
So what do you think? Are we to blame for the awful trends in cinema? Or is Hollywood just lazy and unwilling to take risks?