“I think people are getting sick of it.”
Reclining on a chair in a room surrounded by Star Wars posters and records lying on the ground, senior Dayne Coker talks about the nature of film in the modern world. It made me think a lot about what’s going on right now in Hollywood.
A current trend in movie theaters is showing remastered rereleases of films. With the recent release of “Coraline,” “They Live,” “Oldboy (2002)” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, millions of moviegoers are going out to enjoy these classics.
As of right now, it feels like we’re going through a content desert. With most movies either being from big franchises, sequels, prequels or adaptations of other works; there are not enough good original movies. That’s where these rereleases come in; older movies and classics that were loved by so many people get polished and released for modern audiences to enjoy. It gives people a break from watching movies at home or on streaming, and lets them enjoy movies how they were made to be experienced– at a movie theater.
There are plenty of movies coming out that have heart, but with so many of them being made it seems just to make money; It feels like there’s a lack of good artistic vision. Not to mention the fact that these big blockbuster movies are taking up slots that could be filled with original, mid-budget and indie films. There’s not enough space for the smaller movies, so they have to move out to streaming services to get seen. The problem with streaming services though is that they don’t pay nearly the same as theaters, leaving the people who make these movies at a disadvantage.
These remastered movies are mostly coming out for anniversaries, which is a great excuse to retouch them so audiences can appreciate them more fully. As to why so many are coming out around now, it could possibly have something to do with the recent strikes happening in Hollywood.
On May 2nd of 2023 the WGA (Writers Guild of America) went on strike and along with them on July 14th SAG-AFTRA, an actors union, joined them. It was caused by their “refusal to guarantee any level of weekly employment in episodic television, to the creation of a “day rate” in comedy variety, to their stonewalling on free work for screenwriters and on AI for all writers” The WGA said through a press release on May 2nd. So, what better way to pass the time until Hollywood comes out of strike than to rerelease old classics so that people can still get their entertainment through this rough patch.
What we really need are more original movies. Ones that aren’t tied to big franchises or other big movies but are their own. Movies with their own message and own voice that don’t try to copy others. We already have some of those but since the big studios put out their high-budget spectacle movies there isn’t enough of a chance for people to experience these movies.
A return to form is what film needs. Movies can be made that have the opportunity to become classics and freshen up the moviegoing experience. Originality seems to be a scarce resource in this modern world of films that refuse to take risks.
