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While reading /Film [pronounced Slash Film, in case you were fucking up reading that in your head] I discovered a startling piece of information.
Of the Top 20 Highest Grossest Films of this decade so far, guess how many of them were based on an original script?
One.
ONE FUCKING MOVIE that’s not a remake, re-imagining, sequel or adaptation in the last DECADE!
That is horrendous as a statistic. That means that in the first 10 years of the new millennium only one set of people with an idea all of their own has managed to make any significant amount of money at the box office. THAT means that the movie going public is much interested in seeing something they’ve seen before, many times, than in seeing something new.
My favourite movie of the year so far is Watchmen, which makes me part of the sorry ass group running around desperately trying to watch everything I’ve already heard of. HOWEVER... I feel I vindicate myself by having my second favourite movie of the year be Moon, the debut film by Zowie Bowie starring Sam Rockwell arguing with himself on... well, the moon.
Regardless of my personal choices, I’m a little upset that more people aren’t venturing outside of their movie comfort zones and slapping some sheckles on the counter to check out some untested entertainment. I’m upset, disappointed... but in no way surprised. This millennium has been typified by a distinct lack of originality. Think about it.
The 80’s revival has been going on for the better part of 6 years now. At this rate the ‘comeback’ will wind up lasting longer than the era itself. Popular music is largely based on what’s come before it, and in a lot of cases they’re just copying some 80’s band or group exactly. People are dressed like it’s 1986 and running around with neon leg warmers and whatnot... probably. If they tried to make a California Man style ‘time travelling fish out water’ style movie now, featuring a man frozen in the 80s and revived in 2009, number one everyone would go and see it because it’s already been done, but secondly it would just be the main character walking around town not noticing anything was different. He probably wouldn’t even realise he’d woken up in the future until about two thirds of the way through the picture when someone at a bus started screeching about how great their iPhone was.
Incidentally, the one solitary original movie since the turn of the century was Finding Nemo. Actually, if you extend the list out to the Top 30 Highest Grossing Films of all time, you only get one more original picture. Kung Fu Panda at #30.
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
After that it starts to get a little better, with #31, #32 and #33 all being original scripts. Still, two of those are 3D animation as well. It’s clear that what we all want to spend our money on, moviewise, is rehashes and the antics of computer generated talking animals... possibly who know Kung Fu.
I really hope that in the next ten years someone gets their act together and puts a stop to all these threequels and remakes and what have you, and I hope everyone else has the wherewithal to throw some coins down to see whatever comes up as a result.
In 20-X [the new cool name for 2010 is Twenty X by the way. Start saying it around the office, at the fair, or on the boat. Where ever good times are had] we can look forward to movies based on comic books [Thor, Iron Man 2, Captain America, Kick-Ass], Toy Story 3, remakes of both Nightmare on Elm Street and Predator [although Predator is being directed by Robert Rodriguez, which is possibly the best sentence I’ve ever written] as well as the Prince of Persia movie and a handful more sequels.
While I will probably see a lot of those flicks, and hopefully enjoy most of them, it’s unfortunate to think that if we were to look at the Top 20 biggest money spinners of 20-X, or even just the top 10, we’ll be much more likely to see the above mentioned titles than we would anything else.
Unless they do a Finding Nemo 2.
Money For Old Rope – Brought to you by Gazz Wood -