Ten years ago, the top movie at the box office was Primal Fear. The movie followed the tale of an altar boy accused of murdering a priest. Edward Norton won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar in his moving role as the altar boy, Aaron Stampler.
This past weekend, the top movie at the box office was Scary Movie 4.
Scary Movie 4 follows the tale of Cindy Campbell, a dim-witted woman who has to uncover the secret to an alien invasion of “TriPods.” Anna Faris, whose illustrious film credits include Scary Movie 3, Scary Movie 2 and the popular Scary Movie, has not been nominated for an Oscar.
Sequels and remakes have overtaken the box office for years now, leaving many movie fans to wonder what happened to the days of original film. Now when you go to the movies, you have the choice between a TV-to-movie, a remake of an old classic or the sequel to some subpar movie from six months ago.
“I think it’s an attempt by movie companies to make quick and easy money,” Medill sophomore Hillary Green says. “It’s an easy way out.”
The idea of a sequel is exciting. Many times movies end too early and audiences crave more interaction with characters they have come to love. Who didn’t want to see what happened to Spider-Man after he kissed Mary Jane and walked off?
“People have such a good experience with the first one, and they’re trying to re-experience that,” Weinberg senior Jodi Anderson says.
Still, I won’t be running around with Littlefoot in the 2004 video The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses or giving any money to Jessica Simpson for her “performance” in the remake of the Dukes of Hazzard.
What is it about these movies? Why can Crash win the Best Picture Oscar and make a little over $50 million, but Shrek 2 gross $436 million (placing it at third most successful movie of all time, behind Titanic and Star Wars)?
Speaking of which, Shrek the Third is well on its way. The next installment will premiere in 2007 and will feature the voice of Justin Timberlake as Artie, or the young King Arthur.
Why are sequels and remakes invading the box office, and why is the American audience letting them?
A Time-Honored Trend
The rising number of sequels is not a new development. Remakes and sequels have been a part of American cinema for over a century, says RTVF professor Jason Betke.
“I think there have always been remakes,” he explains. “They’ve been an integral part of filmmaking.”
For example, Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston, won the Best Picture Oscar in 1960. That version was actually a remake. The original came out in 1907, and there have been remakes in 1925, 1959 and 2003.
“Sequels are the same,” Betke says. “Back in the ’30s, Thin Man did fairly well, and because of that, (producers) made films based on Thin Man characters.”
In 1934, the original Thin Man led to four sequels, from After Thin Man (1936) and Another Thin Man (1939).
“I don’t think it’s a sign of unoriginality,” Betke says. “Studios just know when they have a good thing.”
Good things of the past have included The Godfather, Planet of the Apes and Star Trek.
“Plus,” Betke adds, “there isn’t a story or genre that hasn’t been told.”
The Plot Thickens
In large part, Hollywood seems to agree.
The Harry Potter series is a prime example of the lack of originality in today’s films. Based on the incredibly popular book series by J.K. Rowling, the four Potter films produced so far have all been box office hits.
“The movies have progressively gotten better,” Green says. “They have gotten darker and more interesting.”
The first two Harry Potter films, while major successes at the box office, tried too hard to stick to the text instead of taking risks, says Betke.
“The (first movies) were very literal, true to the book, and in that way I think they failed,” he explains.
“They were childish,” says Weinberg junior Phil Williams. “I went because I read the books and I really liked them.”
Williams says the turning point of the series was the change of directors for the third movie.
“The only good one was (Prisoner of Azkaban), because of the director,” Betke says. “Alfonso Cuaron brought a whole different feel to the movies.”
Prisoner of Azkaban grossed $93.69 million in its opening weekend in the United States. It was also nominated for two Oscars in 2005, for Best Original Score and Best Achievement in Visual Effects.
The third and fourth movies, though, have angered fans by omitting certain essential storylines (like the Mauraders in the third film and Rita Skeeter’s backstory in the fourth one).
“(The series) suffers because it needs to be all things for all people,” Betke says. “It needs to please the built-in audience of Harry Potter fans, but it’s difficult to squeeze all that text into a two- or three-hour movie.”
Pleasing the fan audience is a problem other sequels face, too. The age of superhero movies is upon us, and balancing the old fans and the new audiences is a big problem.
“They’re well known characters,” Williams says. “Everyone knows Spider-Man. Everyone knows Batman.”
Recently, we have seen every superhero from Wolverine to The Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four grace the silver screen. Ben Affleck even played the blind Daredevil, although we can all choose to forget that one.
This summer marks the return of the X-Men in their latest film, X-Men: The Last Stand. In the final installment of the X-Men trilogy, the mutants will battle once more for their existence. Also this summer is the release of Superman Returns, the fourth movie (there’s also that TV show on WB)
While superhero movies may add to the problem of originality in movies by just stealing pre-made characters, they have done particularly well financially (even The Hulk nabbed $60 million in its opening weekend).
“I think it’s another wave that’s going to go out of style,” Anderson says. “Before, we had the teenage-scary-movie trend, like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. Then there was the disaster trend, with tornado movies and Armageddon.”
The benefit of producing superhero movies is the already-existing fan base.
“You don’t have to create any new icons,” Betke says. “They have built-in audiences and have been shaped for decades, especially the big names, like Batman and Spider-Man.”
And Luke Skywalker. The lightsaber-wielding hero attracted international acclaim 30 years ago with the release of Star Wars: Episode IV
