Much has changed since the last time I talked to you guys, hasn't it? The DC Cinematic Universe is imploding, Star Wars is now going to become an annoying yearly affair, and even Disney's most cherished animated classics are being planned as live action reboots. I was willing to put up with the mediocrity that was the Summer of 2016 (aside from Civil War), until I learned that Jon Favreau (who had barely dodged ruining The Jungle Book) has taken it upon himself to make a Live Action retelling of The Lion King. Now, there are an almost incalculable amount of things wrong with this idea, but the biggest one for me personally came from one of the most unlikely of sources, at least for me: George Lucas.
During my drafting of this post, I happened to come across RedLetterMedia's review of The Force Awakens, which as expected was brilliant. But the most brilliant part of the review came from a borrowed interview of George Lucas, who had this to say about the way Hollywood is going:
"Only do something that's proven...Ya gotta remember, Star Wars came from nowhere. There was nothing like it. Now, if you do anything that's not a sequel, or doesn't look like one, they won't do it....it really shows a lack of imagination and fear of creativity, of an industry...The Movie business is exactly like professional gambling, except you hire the gambler...you give him $100 million dollars, tell him to go to the tables, and come back with $500 million dollars. That is a risk. Now, the studios don't want to think of it that way. They say, well, maybe if we tell him he can't bet on red, maybe if we tell him we did market research...they try to minimize their risks...you hire the kid to take risks, to do things that have never been done before...that is the complete antithesis of what a big modern corporation is."
Never has a corporate sellout understood us so much. When George Lucas is telling someone their not selling out properly, you know you're doing something wrong. When you really look at Hollywood, there are no Star Wars kind of films being made. Gone are the days of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Gremlins, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, The Lion King, The Sixth Sense, Up, and so many other original ideas and movies that touched our hearts when we saw them and in some cases, shaped us as who we are as people. The days of original content being enormously successful are completely gone, as this summer proved to me. When an almost flawless film like Kubo and the Two Strings fails to outgross something predictable and bland as The Secret Life of Pets or Angry Birds or a sequel film like Finding Dory, you know something is really wrong here. How is it that we almost never hear anything about the films that win Best Picture until Oscar Season, but we get commercials for Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Ghostbusters, or the eightieth Ice Age movie all year long?
And this epidemic is not just locked into one studio, though ironically one studio is doing the most damage. 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Paramount, Disney, Dreamworks, New Line Cinemas, and many more studios are releasing hardly anything that does not fall out of the category I cruelly call "safe films". "Safe Films" are films that tend to be either sequels, midquels, prequels, or films made in the same universe as previously successful content in a shameful attempt to get the most money out of a product as quickly as possible. Almost anything that was once successful, be it original or based on a preexisting story, is up for grabs. I even hear someone wants to make a Cinematic Universe out of the Hanna-Barbera content. Really? REALLY? Didn't we hate those films when they came out back in the SIXTIES?
Like Lucas said above, no studio executive is willing to take a chance anymore. Everything needs to be manufactured and pre-made and pre-planned out in order for it to be released and marketed by Hollywood. Why does this have to be? After all, without the filmmakers with visions or ideas, would there be a Star Wars? Or would we know how good directors Scorsese, Spielberg, or Tarantino are? No, there wouldn't be. Instead, we'd be re making films like Gone With the Wind, Ben Hur, West Side Story, or Willy Wonka constantly and nothing in Hollywood would be good. And this is something that is sorely lacking in Hollywood. Why is this? Where are all the creative people going? Where is the next generation of filmmakers and story tellers? I can tell you they're not in Hollywood. But I do know where some of them are...
1. Television
Like it or not, Television still exists as an important tool in our lives. We may watch these shows on Netflix, Hulu, or any other type of sharing network, but the fact remains that we still have these shows on TV. And while there will always be a dozen or so shows based off of preexisting content or a spin off or remake of an older show, the original content on television is also thriving. Let us not forget that shows like "Star Vs the Forces of Evil", "Steven Universe", among others exist out there, without the aid of previously worked on content. I mean, one of the shows I mentioned follows the adventures of magical feminine creatures made from various gemstones warring over how to utilize their clear advantages over the rest of the galaxy. There aren't any studio mandates in these shows, as they go where they want and do what they want. They will not shy away from topics like genocide, nationalism, pride, sexuality, depression, and the Illuminati. Would a Marvel film go in depth on a homosexual relationship between Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes? Or would a Disney film actually have the gall to have an openly homosexual relationship? No, and until homosexuality can make it past stereotypes we see in shows like "Family Guy", we won't see it. 2. Video Games
Yes, there will always be the standard Mario game, or the rehashed Call of Duty game out every year or so. But when it comes to originality within video games released, we have never been in a better era. For every three or four rehashed Pokemon or Final Fantasy game that comes out every year, you get a game like The Last of Us or even something as refreshingly original as Arkham City, even if it was based off of preexisting content. Let's face it, the idea pool for creating new and refreshing ideas is very slim. Hell, I keep finding that my own personal stories do have some similarities to other people's works and I am in the process of reworking and rewriting them. The key to creating original ideas if some are already used or borrowed, is to put a different costume on them. Sure, there's a new Mario platformer every year and sure the holidays will no doubt see another COD or Pokemon game. But if Nintendo or any of the other developers was simply rehashing the same game year after year, their audiences would be bored and stop buying the games. So, the developers know to introduce new mechanics, new level designs, or new special ops missions. This is why I have little to no problem with the immense amount of Lego games out there now (though Rock Band was pushing it). Sure they borrow story and gameplay elements from various movies and television franchises, but they let you put your own spin on it every now and then. Even game series like Kingdom Hearts and The Legend of Zelda often reuse certain gameplay elements while introducing new ones or further deepening the story.This does not happen in movies. The more I watch The Force Awakens, or when I have to sit through one of the live action Disney Remakes, the more I yearn to remember how good these stories were THE FIRST TIME I saw or heard them. Instead of watching a fancier version of A New Hope, why don't I watch the ORIGINAL A New Hope. Instead of going to see ANOTHER Spiderman film in theaters, why don't I just go watch the original?
The saddest part, though, is that there probably are a bunch of people out there with original ideas that don't get the funding or time they deserve to show how imaginative they can be. I ran into this problem myself personally. When looking for an agent, I happened to find one who represented a former bestselling author. He looked at me and him and chose to roll with him instead of me for his next book and I was left alone. The younger generation is always going to get scorned by the older generation, because we are not smart enough to make good films, but we're not hard workers because we haven't had the opportunity in filmmaking or publishing. It's a no win situation and shows why SO MANY people desperately need their YouTube or other media network revenue to make a living doing things they're good at without diluting the market for other things.
This is a problem that the Movie Moguls are going to have. Like all bubbles in Hollywood History (Shaymalan, Dark Fairy Tales, Tim Burton, etc.) this remake bubble will pop and result in bomb after bomb. We saw it already with Ghostbusters and Ben-Hur. Eventually, one of the bigger ones will fall, and if it's Lion King that takes the big hit, so be it.
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