How original are films? An investigation…
by Gregory McLinden
Originality in Hollywood is dead. Let’s be honest, that's something I think it’s fair to say every cinema-goer has thought at least once before. Most likely when you are stood in the queue to buy a ticket to see the 8th Fast and Furious film, or the 25th James Bond film, or another adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, or whatever it may be. You stand there staring off into space wondering when was the last time you were in this queue to see a film you knew nothing about, a film that wasn’t based off anything, or the next film in a franchise. You think long and hard, and often it is quite hard to remember. Admittedly for me it was Pixar’s Onward in early 2020, we can always rely on Pixar not to go too heavily down the sequel route and instead give us new and original content. But before this it would’ve been Knives Out.
Who doesn’t love watching an original film? One of my favourite films of all time is the comedy film Game Night, purely original. Going into the film, I had no idea what would happen beyond what I had seen in the trailer, this childhood like excitement is what cinema is all about. Get Out is also an incredible example, Jordan Peele has already solidified himself as a masterful writer of original content, if you are not left utterly speechless by the end of Get Out then you have done something wrong. The film is a masterpiece in telling a purely original story. Similarly Christopher Nolan, other than his Dark Knight trilogy and Dunkirk every film he has done is wholly original, take Inception for example, this shows the wonderful mind at work, bringing an idea from exactly that, an idea, to something on screen like no one has every seen before. This is also the same with Nolan’s new release Tenet, just watching the trailer alone you know you will be left speechless. It is also important to note that both Get Out and Inception performed incredibly well with critics and the box office alike, proving original films sell, people enjoy them especially the critics.
I think it is far to say we are living in the age of unoriginal content, and this is something I wanted to take a further look in to, so I launched an investigation.
Now I wasn’t going to look at every film released. I’m sorry but I would be here forever doing that. Instead I went to everyone’s favourite trusty movie sidekick: Box Office Mojo. I decided that I would take the 50 highest grossing films of all time at the worldwide box office and then categorise each of these 50 films into six categories: original, adaptation, sequel, reboot, remake and spin-off.
The result is the interactive infographic below. Click on any one of the clapperboards to see which film it is. You can also click any other colour boxes on the key to isolate each category.
I think it is clear to say: originality in the top 50 highest grossing films of all time is pretty scarce. Avatar of course is the most notable out of them all, being the highest grossing film since 2009 up until last year, when Avengers: Endgame took the top spot instead. Now, until the sequels come out we will never quite know if this is because people liked the idea of the film and wanted to go and watch it because the film interested them, or if people were interested to see this new film that promised a new version of 3D. Therefore, my personal opinion was the novelty more than anything that sold the tickets for Avatar but until the long awaited and long delayed sequels are released we won’t fully know the answer to this question, but I strongly suspect we may have some big flops on our hands with the four planned sequels.
Anyway this is besides the point. Originality is few and far between in the top 50 highest grossing films, and the problem with this is the current trend of franchising anything. At the end of the day the ultimate goal for film studios is to either: A) make money, or B) win awards - it’s highly unlikely, despite what they say, that any film studios will make films because they believe in the story. What is more likely true is that they believe in the story to the extent they can turn a profit on it. But that’s fair enough. We can’t blame them for wanting to do this in the most effective way possible and that means releasing a sequel if the first one sells.
I think one of the best examples of this is the ‘Fallen’ franchise with Gerald Butler and Morgan Freeman. The first film Olympus Has Fallen didn’t exactly hype the reviewers up, they weren’t best pleased with it with it only gaining a mere 47% on Rotten Tomatoes. Next came 2016s London Has Fallen with the number dropping either further down to a rather crap 28%. Then finally and most recently Angel Has Fallen which again got a critics score on Rotten Tomatoes of 39%. All considered to be “Rotten” by the website. So by all accounts, these films should not be getting sequels, they’re IMO crap. So why are they? And why did one of the producers of the franchise confirm plans for not only a fourth film but also a fifth, and sixth film as well as TV spin-off for a franchise that never gains any major critical acclaim, and it certainly isn’t winning any Oscars.
Why, money of course!
The first film made over $170 million worldwide, the second $205 million, and the third $146 million, based on budgets of approximately $50 - $70 million. When a film is making that much profit, it would be insane not to turn it into a franchise. And it’s at that point they’ve got you. Now I saw the first two films, and when the trailer for Angel Has Fallen came out I will happily admit I thought it looked sh*t, it looked extremely forced with lots of CGI action. Did I see it in cinemas? Yes I did. Why? Because I’d seen the other two films, so I wanted to see the progression of the story. However, based on the third, I can’t imagine I will be rushing back to watch the fourth.
Film franchises are a perfect way to hook people in, especially when they culminate in films such as Avengers: Endgame which require you to be familiar with all the other films before it. So it begs the question why film studios would look at this success and franchise potential of films such as the ‘Fallen’ franchise and instead invest this money in original content. There is no saying people will enjoy this original content, so why would studios take such a huge financial gamble in original films when they could invest this money in another sequel which they know will make money - well, quite simply, they won’t, and so we get stuck in the age of unoriginality.
When studios do make original films, it is very rare that it will be from an unknown director: for example, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet has a budget of over £200 million (approx. $260M USD) which is said to be one of the biggest budgets for an original film of all time, but Nolan has proved himself to the studio before as being reliable and bringing home the bucks (see also: Rian Johnson and Knives Out, and Edgar Wright and Baby Driver); in comparison Avengers: Endgame has an estimated budget of £356 million (approx. $465M USD), which it made back in its opening weekend in the US alone. When one film can earn it’s entire budget back in 3 days, why put this towards original content?
Of course Disney are the worst offenders here with the remake. Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, The Jungle Book, Dumbo, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Pete’s Dragon, Lady and the Tramp, Mulan, The Little Mermaid, and this is just scratching the surface. The live-action remake. Disney is obsessed with this currently, they take their old animated films that did well both commercially and critically, they then remake it using incredible CGI and make it live action. Personally, this feels like daylight robbery to me. People who are fans of the original films will pay the extortionate cinema prices to go and watch a film they have already watched loads of times but in live-action, but do you know what? It works. I myself think the live-action Aladdin and The Jungle Book are incredible, and what Jon Favreau did with The Jungle Book and The Lion King I have nothing but admiration, those films are masterpieces.
But originality is dying. In Hollywood, studios need to stop seeing franchise potential in films and instead focus on the script they have in front of them. Sometimes it is worth taking that risk and commissioning that entirely original script because when studios do that we get the likes of La La Land, Parasite, Get Out, John Wick, Zombieland, Inside Out, Inception and more.
I have no problem with sequels, remakes, reboots, spin-offs or adaptations. Adaptations for example is how we end up with films such as Jurassic Park, Black Panther, Hunt For The Wilderpeople, Shawshank Redemption, Forrest Gump, American Sniper, Titanic and so on. Adaptations have their place, they are often telling stories which may never get told, bringing attention to people who deserve so much more credit than they have ever previously got, especially when telling real stories: Hidden Figures, The Imitation Game, and The Theory of Everything being classic examples of this.
Taking a quick look at IMDb’s top rated films of all time it is clear to see originality is what people love to see. There are countless original films here, with original films likely outnumbering the sequels and adaptations in the top 100. People love to watch original films but the harsh reality is these don’t sell as well as sequels, adaptations, remakes, reboots or spin-offs. As humans we seem to love familiarity, we want see stories we know, and characters we’re familiar with.
There is hope. Now this piece might make it seem like no original films ever come out, of course they do. Living in the age of streaming, Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu seem to be two of the biggest drivers of original movie content. Netflix recently revealed that the Chris Hemsworth film Extraction is its most successful ‘Netflix original’ film ever having 99 million households watching this in its first four weeks on the service. Streaming services seem to be the home of original content, they don’t need to worry about selling seats the same way movie studios need to, the chances are even if a film is not critically well received people will still watch streaming exclusive, they have already paid for their monthly subscription, they can watch whatever they want, people aren’t going to care if it doesn’t have great reviews they aren’t paying any extra to watch the film (like they would have to at the cinema) so why not just watch it. If you don’t like it you can just turn it off, you won’t be losing any money the same way you would at the cinema. I myself have done this, I very rarely will look at reviews for streaming exclusives, if I like the look of it I’ll just watch it or “just give it 20 minutes” which is my catchphrase around the house when watching films. If we don’t like it, we turn it off, we haven’t wasted any money, just 20 minutes - so what?
Streaming services can take these risks, take these gambles, lest we forget they are receiving money every month regardless. During this whole pandemic for example, film studios will have taken a huge hit, they haven’t been any able to release anything; streaming services however would have seen a surge in people signing up, people are stuck at home all day with nothing to do, why wouldn’t they sign up? This money can then be plowed into creating original content whether this be film or TV, and do you know what? They can afford it, someone might sign up to only ever watch The Office on Netflix, they’re still paying the same amount as someone watching every single Netflix original. This might be why Netflix for example have confirmed they have nabbed Avengers: Endgame directors Joe & Anthony Russo for a film starring none other than Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling, described as James Bond meets Captain America: Civil War - a Netflix original there with a $200 million budget. Or Red Notice another Netflix original starring Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot.
Original content in Hollywood is slowly dying, we are living in a world where studios only try and see the franchise potential in something, only will an original film get made if it has franchise potential, or made by a bankable director. Streaming services on the other hand, they are giving original content the time of day they so deserve. Originality is dying, but we might just have a guardian angel to protect it.
What do you think? Take part in this poll , do you prefer original content over a sequel? Or do you enjoy watching adaptations and sequels? Let us know.