Why Hollywood Needs Innovation

movies

I believe that Hollywood needs new ideas and as far as I’m concerned, CGI and green screen is an overkill for today’s industry. I mean, it’s good to put on screen what we can imagine and what cannot seemingly be conceived by using simplicity to form a character who can for instance; change from one form to another etc. However, the industry needs to be more inventive instead of churning out films they know can be an easy way out just for financial gain, and what I mean by this is that, they are keen on reboots and wasting time on post-production special effects but, why not just shoot the damn thing and keep it original?

This is why I liked movies such as Inception and Interstellar. Yes, these are not brand new movies but they will end up to be an all-time classic. That’s by my opinion anyway. Now let’s talk about inception, as the director of photography Wally Pfister mentioned that the hallway scene was “the movie’s most technically challenging sequences.” Creating sets that were twisting, turning and rotating over a course of time was rather sagacious, and that’s what separates the men from the boys, using creativity; thinking outside of the box to create such effects that look like they’ve been propelled by CGI .

Hollywood, you just can’t trick everybody.

You see, these are original ideas where real intuition is manifested, not just a quick fix for some big bucks, sucking a large crowd into a make believe original design. They are authentic, it takes a little bit of thinking and although it can be rather time consuming, they serve a purpose to fulfil what we thought was never possible in this epoch. And this is what makes us feel that we can push even further beyond what has been achieved in the industry so far, it makes you feel proud, with a feeling of history of transformation.

Interstellar
Image source: io9.com

The industry seems like it’s eventually heading for a catastrophic meltdown in which most people will be unaware of the political disagreements from within, although, on the inside, many will be dodging the truth and those who are fighting for it will eventually overthrow what has been for such a very long time. To all those fighting for this; I am with you on this, believe me.

Anyway, while growing up watching TV, there was good sense of direction, movies held meaningful purposes, every movie had major differences from each other but now, things are just way too similar and it seems as if the industry has ran out of the good old design and implementation – they are not letting new talent bring new proposition to the table. So how long is it going to take for the industry to wake up? Or are they waiting for an unforeseen crash which they will sort out when the time comes?

As those questions cannot be answered by the general public, I still have hope, perpetual faith that one day it will change and I will forever hold onto my opinion that Hollywood is lacking inventiveness until I see dramatic amendments being made in the film industry.

Now let’s look at the amount of superhero movies being produced. Starting from the 1970’s, up until 1988, there were around one, two, and at most, three superhero movies being made. I guess there wasn’t much demand for these type of movies back in those days up until 1988. Then in 1989, there was a huge incline in production: The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, Batman, The Toxic Avengers Part 3: The Last Temptation of Toxie, and a few more. All the way through to 2004, the pace was steady. Putting things into perspective, as of 2005, there was a huge investment in DC Comics and Marvel comic movies,: the budgets increased, better technology was founded and we have movies scheduled all the way up to 2020 yet, here is the icing on the cake. The reboots and sequels of these movies, one after the other to meet public demand. Would you say that this is original? I certainly wouldn’t, it seems as if they’re scared to come up with new concepts and innovate. It’s like officials cannot be bothered to put the work in for a new direction. Who knows but maybe after 2020, they will have something up their sleeves, some other type of movies that will give movie fanatics and the consumers something to feed on.

Regarding budgets, it actually depends on the movie itself, the argument would somewhat be geared towards, how many people like similar movies, how much it costs to produce against the type of movie it is and whether it’s even feasible to make the type of movie. If they can see by cinema statistics that most consumers go for one type of movie then, they know what their best bet is to invest in. This can be changed but it will take a while for the risk takers to invest less in these type of movies, and say yes to more original ideas that can burst the bubble around a group of people and open their minds up to more fascinating genres.

So, investing in original property seems too much of a far stretch as they already know that the majority of consumers are like robots; hungry to see the next hero. As technology advances, we can see that it costs more to produce, and this means, less profit due to many years ago, the movies cost less to make giving a bigger margin of profit than of today, for some movies at least. Which gives the impression to investors that; investment is approximately three times riskier today than yesterday. To add to this, it doesn’t help to know that saying, “if you invest in a movie, the chances are you will never get your money back.” Is this the wrong notion to pass to these people? Well, that question’s debatable.

Hulk 2003
aussiewoodprops.com.au

Just for example, take the film Hulk which hit the screen in 2003, with a budget of $137,000,000 and a gross of $245,284,946. Then The Incredible Hulk with a budget of $150,000,000, and a gross of $263,427,551. The margin is tight in profit, and not one made a loss. They know that they can always count on these films for financial gain, no matter what year we’re in. I don’t think it’s purely about originality but more to do with what can make the most surplus regardless of what movie it is, however, most of the time, you will never see more original movies surpass superhero movies year on year, it’s just the way it is, and numbers don’t lie as well as, it’s an easy way out of constant pressure and headache to meet investor’s needs.

Do you blame Hollywood? Yes and no. For the money they make off of these movies, why not just put them out there while they can? Personally, I don’t think that they don’t care about the minority who want to fulfil their desires of deeper, meaningful stories on the screen to go away with and feel like they can relate with the characters but are more focused on what’s convenient in this present day and age.

And at the moment, I cannot see the next 5 years being any better in putting fresh, extraordinary, original ideas on the big screen that are purely authentic and not in any form of an adaption or sequel. But I do still think this leaves the question open to whether, if it’s purely based on original ideas, or whether it’s an adaption or sequel, would be the line we want to draw or if it’s budget and gross against the type of movie being produced.

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