4 ms·

I can't read the article because of the paywall (signup-wall?), but I can think of at least one (more?) reason for this state of affairs: in animation, at least

by rob74 7mo ago

I can't read the article because of the paywall (signup-wall?), but I can think of at least one (more?) reason for this state of affairs: in animation, at least some of the films still have original ideas. Whereas live-action movies designed with mass appeal in mind are mostly continuations or reboots of long-established (and tired) franchises (MCU/DC Comics, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, Mission Impossible, Jurassic Park etc. etc.), or adaptations of video games, musicals or (if you're lucky) books.

czhu12 7mo ago
I notice I’m a huge hypocrite in this area. I always complain to people that there are too many remakes but then given a line up of movies in theatres, I end up begrudging paying for the remake. Sometimes due to peer pressure of the group I’m with, sometimes due to the fact that they’re guaranteed to be an okay time. The most recent non remake I watched was hamnet, and basically the whole thing went over my head.
- rob74 7mo ago
  Sure - it's called a "guilty pleasure" (if the movie actually turns out to be enjoyable). The last franchise continuation I truly enjoyed watching was Indiana Jones 5, mostly out of nostalgic reasons. And before that, I sat through all three of the "third trilogy" Star Wars movies, increasingly thinking "what am I doing here?! This is exactly the same plot as the first three movies, just with more CGI and a more diverse cast?!".
  - bananaflag 7mo ago
    > This is exactly the same plot as the first three movies Well I hoped with each one there would be a different plot. The only thing essentially different is the Reylo plot which is kinda spread between the three movies. It makes for like half of an original movie.
teiferer 7mo ago
I don't know which cinemas you frequent, but the movie world is much richer than the n-th instance of a MCU film or Star Wars. Of the 20 or so movies I watch on big screen every year, only 2 or 3 are of that type.
- rob74 7mo ago
  That's why I wrote "movies designed with mass appeal in mind" - there are luckily still independent movies, but those rarely can compete with the movies I mentioned at the box office.
Intermernet 7mo ago
I just watched "Good luck, Have fun, Don't die" and I'll put it up as an example of an original story. Definitely of the gestalt, but original.
pjc50 7mo ago
If I wanted to start an argument, I'd say that any movie where more than 50% of the frames are more than 50% CGI should be counted as "animation". Which covers most of those franchises.
- erichocean 7mo ago
  Saying CGI is animation is a bit like saying a photo printer prints paintings, because the latter uses pigments (just like painters!).
- jfengel 7mo ago
  I know you're not being serious, but "animation" and "live action with CGI" are different filmmaking styles. They live on opposite sides of the uncanny valley. One is meant to appear completely realistic. The other is intended to be stylized, and would be ruined by being realistic. It's one reason why live-action remakes of animated shows so rarely work. Humans can't act, move, or look like cartoons. The result is usually dull, not because anything looks wrong but because it looked so much better fully animated. When you watch CGI superheroes, they're supposed to trick you into thinking you're watching a real thing. The filmmakers would have done it live if they could; the option simply wasn't available.
laughing_man 7mo ago
I knew, sort of tangentially, a guy who wrote scripts for a living. He would write a script, then sell it to a studio. Usually it would just sit on the proverbial shelf and never get made into a movie. But a couple times they actually optioned something he wrote. What followed was a rewrite process involving no less than six other authors that were tasked with adding things the studio wanted into his script. No love story? Well, we'll just have to shoe-horn that in, because otherwise the women might not see it. Anything offensive to a major market, particularly China? That gets ripped out. Does it have merchandising? If not, we'll add characters, or robots, or whatever so we can sell toys and video games. Etc, etc. The script that actually gets made bears no resemblance to his original work, and more importantly, they turned his original scripts into Generic Hollywood Movies that were virtually indistinguishable from the others. The real problem here is for a couple decades nearly every well financed movie made money. So the studios analyzed just what a successful movie needs to have and created an assembly line to produce them. After awhile audiences were bound to look elsewhere for something new.
- rob74 7mo ago
  If you really want what you wrote to make it to the screen in a recognizable form, I guess it has a better chance if you publish it as a novel first and hope it has some success and gets made into a film...

by rob74 7mo ago

czhu12 7mo ago

I notice I’m a huge hypocrite in this area. I always complain to people that there are too many remakes but then given a line up of movies in theatres, I end up begrudging paying for the remake. Sometimes due to peer pressure of the group I’m with, sometimes due to the fact that they’re guaranteed to be an okay time. The most recent non remake I watched was hamnet, and basically the whole thing went over my head.

rob74 7mo ago
Sure - it's called a "guilty pleasure" (if the movie actually turns out to be enjoyable). The last franchise continuation I truly enjoyed watching was Indiana Jones 5, mostly out of nostalgic reasons. And before that, I sat through all three of the "third trilogy" Star Wars movies, increasingly thinking "what am I doing here?! This is exactly the same plot as the first three movies, just with more CGI and a more diverse cast?!".
- bananaflag 7mo ago
  > This is exactly the same plot as the first three movies Well I hoped with each one there would be a different plot. The only thing essentially different is the Reylo plot which is kinda spread between the three movies. It makes for like half of an original movie.

teiferer 7mo ago

I don't know which cinemas you frequent, but the movie world is much richer than the n-th instance of a MCU film or Star Wars. Of the 20 or so movies I watch on big screen every year, only 2 or 3 are of that type.

rob74 7mo ago
That's why I wrote "movies designed with mass appeal in mind" - there are luckily still independent movies, but those rarely can compete with the movies I mentioned at the box office.

Intermernet 7mo ago

I just watched "Good luck, Have fun, Don't die" and I'll put it up as an example of an original story. Definitely of the gestalt, but original.

pjc50 7mo ago

If I wanted to start an argument, I'd say that any movie where more than 50% of the frames are more than 50% CGI should be counted as "animation". Which covers most of those franchises.

erichocean 7mo ago
Saying CGI is animation is a bit like saying a photo printer prints paintings, because the latter uses pigments (just like painters!).
jfengel 7mo ago
I know you're not being serious, but "animation" and "live action with CGI" are different filmmaking styles. They live on opposite sides of the uncanny valley. One is meant to appear completely realistic. The other is intended to be stylized, and would be ruined by being realistic. It's one reason why live-action remakes of animated shows so rarely work. Humans can't act, move, or look like cartoons. The result is usually dull, not because anything looks wrong but because it looked so much better fully animated. When you watch CGI superheroes, they're supposed to trick you into thinking you're watching a real thing. The filmmakers would have done it live if they could; the option simply wasn't available.

laughing_man 7mo ago

I knew, sort of tangentially, a guy who wrote scripts for a living. He would write a script, then sell it to a studio. Usually it would just sit on the proverbial shelf and never get made into a movie. But a couple times they actually optioned something he wrote. What followed was a rewrite process involving no less than six other authors that were tasked with adding things the studio wanted into his script. No love story? Well, we'll just have to shoe-horn that in, because otherwise the women might not see it. Anything offensive to a major market, particularly China? That gets ripped out. Does it have merchandising? If not, we'll add characters, or robots, or whatever so we can sell toys and video games. Etc, etc. The script that actually gets made bears no resemblance to his original work, and more importantly, they turned his original scripts into Generic Hollywood Movies that were virtually indistinguishable from the others. The real problem here is for a couple decades nearly every well financed movie made money. So the studios analyzed just what a successful movie needs to have and created an assembly line to produce them. After awhile audiences were bound to look elsewhere for something new.

rob74 7mo ago
If you really want what you wrote to make it to the screen in a recognizable form, I guess it has a better chance if you publish it as a novel first and hope it has some success and gets made into a film...