jeff_goldblum
Full Member
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2011
- Messages
- 3,917
On the one hand, a gritty Casper reboot making money regardless of how shit it is is going to provide employment for a lot of doubtlessly talented people in the industry who don't have the luxury of choosing their projects. On the other hand, entertainment is a crowded market and throwing money and publicity at these cynical cash-ins on existing properties makes it harder for original storytelling to cut though. On top of that, whilst the artists, crew etc. will get a paycheck, most of the profit will go into some shareholder's investment portfolio and then into the next shitty cash grab.
I doubt there was ever really a golden age of cinema where most of the big films were original stories, rather than sequels, reboots, adaptations etc. backed by big studios, but it does feel a little ridiculous nowadays. If it wasn't for A-list actors who have made their names and money in Hollywood throwing their weight behind niche/indie productions as leads and/or execs, and technology giving us other ways to watch them other than going to the cinema, the industry would be in a pretty awful state.
In my opinion though, the biggest problem with the Marvel phenomenon is only partially about their domination of the listings. It's more about how the success of the style of movie they make has led to that style being copied to the extent that there's very little space or appetite for anything else. Again, it's not a new thing for something to work and inspire thousands of copycats. Almost every major western animated film of the last 30 years from Shrek to Moana follows the lead of Disney's decision to cast Robin Williams as the Genie in Aladdin and let him do Robin Williams-y things. It's also not a new thing for a successful film or films to come along and fundementally change a genre. Watching old films now I'm struck by the pacing, the amount of dialogue and lack of action etc. Something like Jaws would never be a blockbuster now because modern audiences have very different expectations. To take Star Wars as a high-profile example, the scene between Luke, Han, Obi-Wan et al. leaving Tatooine and arriving at Alderaan in A New Hope where they all just have a chat which reveals their world views, motivations etc. whilst they're in transit wouldn't get made now. It'd either be cut entirely or replaced by some back-and-forth quipping. I assume there must have been a moment in film where the shift started to happen and audiences responded positively.
It's the scale and scope of it that's different with Marvel over the last 15 years. After Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings there was a scattering of attempts to establish other big fantasy franchises, but there weren't several of them every year which copy and pasted the blueprint of those films right down to the timing of the comedic quips, the back-and-forth between the cast members etc. That's where we are now, in any given year a decent proportion of the top 10 films will be Marvel and half of the rest are people slapping the Marvel template onto whatever existing property they can get the rights to.
I doubt there was ever really a golden age of cinema where most of the big films were original stories, rather than sequels, reboots, adaptations etc. backed by big studios, but it does feel a little ridiculous nowadays. If it wasn't for A-list actors who have made their names and money in Hollywood throwing their weight behind niche/indie productions as leads and/or execs, and technology giving us other ways to watch them other than going to the cinema, the industry would be in a pretty awful state.
In my opinion though, the biggest problem with the Marvel phenomenon is only partially about their domination of the listings. It's more about how the success of the style of movie they make has led to that style being copied to the extent that there's very little space or appetite for anything else. Again, it's not a new thing for something to work and inspire thousands of copycats. Almost every major western animated film of the last 30 years from Shrek to Moana follows the lead of Disney's decision to cast Robin Williams as the Genie in Aladdin and let him do Robin Williams-y things. It's also not a new thing for a successful film or films to come along and fundementally change a genre. Watching old films now I'm struck by the pacing, the amount of dialogue and lack of action etc. Something like Jaws would never be a blockbuster now because modern audiences have very different expectations. To take Star Wars as a high-profile example, the scene between Luke, Han, Obi-Wan et al. leaving Tatooine and arriving at Alderaan in A New Hope where they all just have a chat which reveals their world views, motivations etc. whilst they're in transit wouldn't get made now. It'd either be cut entirely or replaced by some back-and-forth quipping. I assume there must have been a moment in film where the shift started to happen and audiences responded positively.
It's the scale and scope of it that's different with Marvel over the last 15 years. After Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings there was a scattering of attempts to establish other big fantasy franchises, but there weren't several of them every year which copy and pasted the blueprint of those films right down to the timing of the comedic quips, the back-and-forth between the cast members etc. That's where we are now, in any given year a decent proportion of the top 10 films will be Marvel and half of the rest are people slapping the Marvel template onto whatever existing property they can get the rights to.