For years, many of us have complained about a lack of original ideas from Hollywood.
Week after week, we’ve heard and read stories about the latest comic book, toy line, video game, board game or tv show being mined for a new blockbuster in Hollywood. And that doesn’t even get into the rebooting of franchises or remaking of previously made movies or properties.
On our voice mail show, we’ve heard the cries of fans wondering why Hollywood isn’t doing something original or creating new stories for us to view.
And yet, we never stopped to think that it could be our fault.
Yes, it could be the audience’s fault.
Hollywood executives don’t care about artistic integrity or originality so much as they care about the box-office receipts a film can bring in. We’ve seen it over and over again–how a movie as creatively bankrupt as “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” can dominate the box office while a movie with a bit of originality like “Moon” doesn’t do as well and barely makes a blip on the radar.
And it appears that audiences are giving Hollywood a “thumbs up” where it counts most to them in their giving audiences products with a lack of originality. SlashFilm has an article that lists the top 50 grossing films of the last decade.
The site analyzes the returns to find that of those top 50, only nine of those were produced from original properties. Even more depressing is the fact that of those nine, five of the films came from Pixar.
Yes, there are some quality movies here, including the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “Dark Knight.” But as you look at the list, notice how few are original ideas. It’s confounding, it’s scary and it’s damning..not only of Hollywood executives but also of those of us who are the movie-going audience.
Here’s the list of the films:
1 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King New Line Cinema $1,119,110,941 2003
2 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest Disney $1,066,179,725 2006
3 The Dark Knight Warner Bros. $1,001,921,825 2008
4 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Warner Bros. $974,733,550 2001
5 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End Disney $960,996,492 2007
6 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Warner Bros. $938,212,738 2007
7 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Warner Bros. $929,022,922 2009
8 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers New Line Cinema $925,282,504 2002
9 Shrek 2 DreamWorks SKG $919,838,758 2004
10 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Warner Bros. $895,921,036 2005
11 Spider-Man 3 Columbia $890,871,626 2007
12 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Warner Bros. $878,643,482 2002
13 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs 20th Century Fox $878,615,229 2009
14 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring New Line Cinema $870,761,744 2001
15 Finding Nemo Disney / Pixar $864,625,978 2003
16 Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith 20th Century Fox $848,754,768 2005
17 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Paramount $833,229,011 2009
18 Spider-Man Columbia $821,708,551 2002
19 Shrek the Third DreamWorks SKG $798,958,162 2007
20 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Warner Bros. $795,634,069 2004
21 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Paramount $786,636,033 2008
22 Spider-Man 2 Columbia $783,766,341 2004
23 The Da Vinci Code Sony / Columbia $758,239,851 2006
24 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Disney $745,011,272 2005
25 The Matrix Reloaded Warner Bros. $742,128,461 2003
26 Transformers DreamWorks / Paramount $709,709,780 2007
27 Ice Age: The Meltdown 20th Century Fox $655,388,158 2006
28 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl Disney $654,264,015 2003
29 Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones 20th Century Fox $649,398,328 2002
30 Kung Fu Panda DreamWorks SKG $631,736,484 2008
31 The Incredibles Disney / Pixar $631,442,092 2004
32 Hancock Columbia $624,386,746 2008
33 Ratatouille Disney / Pixar $623,707,397 2007
34 The Passion of the Christ Newmarket $611,899,420 2004
35 Mamma Mia! Universal $609,841,637 2008
36 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa DreamWorks SKG $603,900,344 2008
37 Casino Royale MGM / Columbia $594,239,066 2006
38 War of the Worlds DreamWorks / Paramount $591,745,540 2005
39 Quantum of Solace MGM / Columbia $586,090,727 2008
40 I Am Legend Warner Bros. $585,349,010 2007
41 Iron Man Paramount $585,133,287 2008
42 Night at the Museum 20th Century Fox $574,480,450 2006
43 King Kong Universal $550,517,357 2005
44 Mission: Impossible II Paramount $546,388,105 2000
45 The Day After Tomorrow 20th Century Fox $544,272,402 2004
46 Madagascar DreamWorks SKG $532,680,671 2005
47 The Simpsons Movie 20th Century Fox $527,071,022 2007
48 Monsters, Inc. Disney / Pixar $525,366,597 2001
49 WALL-E Disney / Pixar $521,268,237 2008
50 Meet the Fockers Universal $516,642,939 2004
As the year winds down, we’ll be discussing this on upcoming episodes of Slice of SciFi and in our voice mail show. Feel free to call in with your thoughts on this or leave them here in the comments section.
Bronzethumb from Australia says
I could’ve told you that. I’m struggling to think of more than one film I’ve seen this year that wasn’t a sequel, adaptation or remake.
Melissa says
Originality in Hollywood.
What a funny notion.
Roger says
For # 4, what is “Harry Potter and the Philisopher’s Stone”? I’ve never even heard of that movie? Is that a parody, or something? Pretty sad.
Michael Mennenga says
The sad part here is that even if you take “Adaptation” off the list’s criteria, most of these movies still fall into the “Remake” category. The truly original stuff that has been done over the past 10 years has quietly died in relative silence.
lows says
I keep wishing for the grand old days of hollywood. Where studios took chances and risks in order to tell a STORY. Whether it is the state of the economy, the lack of any ideas, or the dumbing down of any good plots in order to get a younger audience into the seats, (not really buying the later, myself. kids don’t have money half the time, and will see anything. But what they won’t do is see a series over and over. No like we older geeks.) Hollywood has lost it’s soul. No longer will we see movies like Casablanca. 2001, taxi driver, ect. I am afraid those days are long gone. I think people like Robert Redford, and the folks at Tribecca (sorry if i butchered that.) saw this coming and went independent long ago. Could be they could not get the backing like they once did to do films that challenge the audience. Sad really when you think about it. Where we once has Prime rib, we now have baby food. One reason we have been seeing less and less films, and gotten back to reading and other things. Just not worth wasting money on the new hollywood blockbuster anymore. Only to wind up disappointed in the end.
Still, I do miss the popcorn.
Tim
Arkle says
Roger: You’re joking right? Philosopher’s Stone is the U.K. title. They made Rowling change it when she brought it over here because they figured Americans would be too stupid to know what a Philosopher’s Stone was.
I guess they were right.
Summer Brooks says
This really explains my apathy towards going to see movies in the theaters these past several years, even though the rage at the obviousness of the remake madness didn’t truly take hold of me until last year.
I’m gonna go watch some old 1960s westerns, some 1980s action and thriller pics, and good old-fashioned 1970s psychological horror movies, while curled up on my sofa, weeping for the final, belabored breaths of the Hollywood that used to deserve my love.
Then I’ll look for something new.
Mario says
The article you listed tends to indicated that the lack of originality is a bad thing. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Hollywood system is the show business, emphasis on the business part. Go back to some of the most beloved movies in its 100 + years history and 80 to 90 percent of them come from external sources; examples like Casablanca (play), Godfather (book), or even Titanic (remake).
Even something like the “original” Starwars was a rehash of an old Japanese movie (7 Samurai), with WW II war plane fights with cultish overtones.
When you are making investments in the 100’s of millions of dollars it helps to reduce the risk if you play to an existing audience. The popularity of the HP series, 007’s movies, or the comic book franchises are proof of that.
Pixar is proof that every rule has an exception. They are not a normal movie studio. They don’t deal with actors and director and financing in the same way they other studios do. They believe that story is key and are able to develop a project for several years until they are happy with the story.
Does this mean that the system is bad? IMHO, No. LoTR was a great story that waited over 50 years to find a group of artists who could bring it to the Screen, brilliantly. The 70’s films were made by a group of artist that created some of the most unique and far reaching movies in the history of films; Bullet, Jaws, Godfather and All the President’s Men are great examples of what came from that era. However, it takes talent, skill, will and luck to pull those things through the system. The best example is someone like Steven Spielberg , who has worked with in the system to give us both original (ET) and adapted material (Schindler’s List and Jurassic park). And Yes, lately he helped produce the robot porn know as Transformers.
Original material is generated more easily in the independent studios and/or foreign movies. The investment is much smaller and opportunity to tell an original story is better. But like all things, even here the Hollywood system helps to distribute and market many of these films worldwide. Some will become the basis for “new” stories for bigger projects from Hollywood the future.
Like all things, the system will change. The internet has already shaped the studios for good and bad, and will continue to do so. As for me, I will continue to read, chat with friends, and generally be informed about what movie is “good” to see in the weekend. Big or small, foreign or domestic. The source to me is not the most important, as long as the movie is good. Few things are better than Saturday evening seating in a theater with my tub of popcorn and waiting for the lights to dim and to be entertain along with thousands all over the world. All of those wonderful people in the dark.
Tom says
Wow, that’s close to $37 trillion made by these 50 movies over the last 10 years. We ( the movie going public, worldwide I assume ) has spent $37 TRILLION on movies (and merchandise) in 10 years. I can’t imagine. How much does it cost to find new energy sources? Or new medical technologies? Or provide an education to … any demographic? And where is all this money? I suppose in Bentley’s and Lamborghini’s and estates in the LA area and small islands in the Pacific. We see it when we watch “reality TV” shows about the kids of celebs and entertainment industry moguls.