Flooding The Market

The recession has brought many problems to the United States.  It is obvious that people are pinching pennies and struggling worse than they have in a long time.  The same should be said for businesses who are trying to stay afloat.  My focus is on the movie industry.  Major production companies are showing signs of struggle.  This is not because they are failing to produce movies...it is because they are afraid to take any risks.  It seems that every movie being released can fall under a few categories.

SUPERHERO

Ryan Reynolds is the Green Lantern

There has been an extraordinary amount of superhero movies released in the past 5 years.  There have been 19 superhero movies produced in the last 5 years. One could argue that special effects give these films a reason to be made now.  I agree but I feel that production companies fear taking a risk on an original screenplay.  They would rather go with what has been proven hence the next category.

THE UNDEAD

Colin Farrel as a Vampire in FRIGHT NIGHT

Zombies and Vampires have stormed Hollywood.  It seems like every year more and more vampire/zombie movies are being produced.  From Twilight to Zombieland to Priest to 28 Weeks Later to I am Legend the movies about the undead were being produced in droves for decades but are only now in the major sphere.

SEQUELS AND REMAKES

                 

To bolster my point I left these for last.  If one movie does well Hollywood will make part two as fast as possible no matter how good the movie is.  It is unbelievable that films like Blade and the Hulk are being rebooted in less the ten years after their first release.  Some remakes are acceptable but only if they do the original justice.  As far as sequels go lets look at Hangover 2... an unnecessary sequel that was funny but obviously rushed.  

But time and time again Hollywood is vindicated by ticket sales.  Hangover 2 is #1 at the box office and it opened by making over $100 Million.  Their recipe for success seems to be working but it is keeping their audiences from new original ideas.  Hopefully when the economy recovers the ticket prices will go down and production companies won't be afraid to take a risk again.