Adaptations and Remakes: Visionary or Unoriginal?
Nowadays, all we see in the cinema or on TV are reboots or adaptations. It's pretty difficult to find something original on the screen nowadays. Just off the top of my head of what's currently in theaters or on TV, Knives Out, a Rian Johnson film, is the most original thing out there. Birds of Prey is a rehash of Suicide Squad, but with a focus on Harley Quinn because that's where the money is. Bad Boys for Life is a series continuation. Dolittle, starring the one-and-only Robert Downey Jr., is an uninspired remake and an adaptation at the same time. Lastly, Gretel and Hansel is another remake, but they switched the title around so it's completely original now.
(In my best Jerry Seinfeld impression) So what's the deal with adaptations and remakes? Well, they perform well. Franchises or IP's that are previously established, especially with a broad or committed fanbase, will almost always do well because that audience will single-handedly will the adaptation to success. Let me give a few examples.
The Cat in the Hat (2003) opened at number one in the North American box office on November 21st. For comparison, Elf, the classic Will Ferrell Christmas movie, and The Matrix Revolutions were also in theaters at the time. Elf is an original film and The Matrix Revolutions is the finale of the well-beloved trilogy, so why did The Cat in the Hat (2003) end up on top? Well, Dr. Seuss is well beloved (and so is Michael Myers) so the adaptation wins out.
This isn't a problem we've moved past. Disney has begun adapting their beloved animated movies into live-action (or CGI, looking at you The Lion King) films. We're revisiting stories that we watched just a few decades ago. That seems like a long time, but Disney is very popular and so are their movies. A lot of people own Mulan, The Jungle Book, The Lion King, and Aladdin on DVD and VHS, and those movies are available on streaming services as well. There are plenty of ways to access these films that bypass the coveted Disney vault, but Disney understands that they can make a boatload of revenue by remaking these beloved films, which many hate to see.
Original content in established universes are cool and can often present things we'd never seen in places where we'd love to see certain things (that was mouthful). For example, with the launch of Disney+ came The Mandalorian, a new series set in the Star Wars universe between Episode VI and Episode VII (Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, the end of the original trilogy and the beginning of the sequel trilogy). The show follows a new character with a new goal in a setting that people love. This is unique.
Netflix also has a habit of creating new adaptations. However, they're usually not that great at it. They often try and compete with anime streaming services like Crunchyroll by creating live-action adaptations of popular anime series like Death Note or Bleach. These films have not done very well, though they have very committed fanbases, so how does that work? The difference being the platform. Anime fans don't watch anime on Netflix, they use an anime streaming service.
This could very well be the reason behind the success of The Witcher. The Witcher is a Netflix original adaptation of the books and short stories by Andrzej Sapkowski. This is the second adaptation of The Witcher series, as a video game trilogy (soon to be 'quadrology?') began in 2007, with the most recent installment (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt) winning Game of the Year in 2015. Netflix recently revealed the show to be the most viewed in it's opening weeks out of all the Netflix original shows. It's strange how some things work out.
The main difference I want to address is originality. An adaptation can be good, or it can be bad. However, no adaptation is very original and I feel like Hollywood has sort of stagnated. Maybe the next generation of writers can create some unique worlds where we can share more stories.
Unless you believe there are only seven plots ever, then we're done for.
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