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6 Reasons That Remakes, Reboots And Sequels Are Totally OK

You may have seen the infographic above posted in a number of places some time last year, lamenting the fact that high-grossing movies in today’s cinematic landscape tend to be attached to stories already in the public consciousness—that there is less quality, original filmmaking coming out for audiences to consume. The only way that may be true is of course if we eliminate the entire independent film system which thrives on the original screenplay and low budget production of original and often off-the-wall material. By that metric, there are more original stories being told on film than ever. The movies making the most money, however, are the tentpole pictures usually tied to a successful introductory film like Iron Man or Pirates of the Caribbean. Building on the success of a hit is obvious less work for a bigger payoff, aka the American Dream.

[h2]5) They’re bold and risky[/h2]

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Remakes or sequels carry a lot of weight with them, from people’s heightened expectations to others’ skepticism. Failure is almost the default expectation. So when a movie like J.J. Abrams’ first Star Trek came out in 2009, the impression that it captured the most beloved elements of the Star Trek universe and contemporized it beautifully was an overwhelmingly pleasant surprise, perhaps resulting in a response more positive that the movie would have merited in a vacuum. Trying to recreate that sense of triumph over such a challenge in the sequel Star Trek Into Darkness evidently proved too tall a task according to many, though it’s hard to blame Abrams for trying.

It’s a bit of a sliding scale where it can be more difficult in some ways to pull off a completely original story, but at the same time a portion of audiences will be pleased just by seeing something novel. Then again, while it may be perceived as easier to execute a story where the characters and even plot are already laid out, today’s savvy audiences are less confident in finding these rehashes satisfactory, so winning them over is a sign of real excellence, whether the first weekend box office numbers are evidence of this or not.

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