Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
There are a reported 27 different sequels being released in 2011, five of which are part fives, both of which, surprisingly, break Hollywood records with 2003 being the last highest with 23 sequels.
Though this seems innocent enough, surely this says something deeper about not only the state of the film industry, but maybe also the public’s film watching habits. Are film companies ignoring new ideas and instead easily choosing to opt for a sequel?
Some sequels are planned even before the release of the first movie, and some sequels are canned before the first movie becomes successful, it is obvious that Hollywood values money more than artistic merit, it is a business after all.
Though it is common knowledge that Hollywood and the film industry, is exactly that, an industry and a business, that may talk about film and its artistic merits but in the long term, films are made to make money.
This, of course, would easily explain this year’s spate of sequels; film companies make sequels to the films that made them lots of money, and if that film makes lots of money, they make another sequel, until the well runs dry and the public is bored of the franchise.
However, this year sees the release of a record amount of sequels, and record amount of returning franchises e.g. Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Scream 4, Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part One, Fast Five, Final Destination 5, Puss in Boots, X-Men: First Class, Winnie the Pooh, The Muppets, Rise of the Apes, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.
This is quite a hefty list, made even more impressive when you think they are all continuations of an existing franchise, with two film franchises outnumbering the books on which they were based. One could argue that this is just another sign that Hollywood is an amoral money hungry monster! But what if one were to argue that maybe Hollywood is just giving the public what they want, and that we are to blame for the state of the film business today.
I do not want to imply that all the films released by Hollywood and their ilk are mediocre or plain rubbish, that wouldn’t be true, the point I am trying to make is that maybe Hollywood are simply resting on their laurels, a business which would rather make a sequel to a multimillion dollar franchise than make any true innovations in the field.
To further this point, one only has to look at the amount of reboots and remakes that produced in contemporary Hollywood, to see Hollywood’s lack of commitment to new ideas.
Although to film as an art form is dead would be a massive overstatement, as over 50 films and their distribution rights were bought up at the Sundance festival, and foreign cinemas continue to flourish with more film festivals starting each year, and the existing festivals becoming more popular every year.
But one has to ask why is that Hollywood takes very few risks? Christopher Nolan’s Inception, released in 2010 is a perfect example of such a risk.
A new, smart, exciting, and ground breaking picture which not only fitted the blockbuster label, but also had some meat on its bones, something worth thinking about, and discussing, and it had one hell of an ending.
FemaleFirst Joseph Weeks
Tagged in Pirates of the Caribbean Inception