by Tom Funk

Created on: October 15, 2009

Movie sequels and remakes have been around for quite some time, but it now appears that there are more and more of them coming to the local Cineplex than ever before. Movies that were once considered classics are being 're-imagined', television shows from decades ago are adapted for the big screen and Hollywood keeps churning out 'franchise' movies instead of stand-alone tales. Is Hollywood out of ideas? That answer is simple, no.

It is not that there is no talent or imagination left in Hollywood; it's just that movies have become a huge industry, driven by money. Sure, movies were always made to make money, but in today's economy, fewer studios want to take a risk with something original. It takes a lot of money to make a movie, and to put a lot into a movie, a studio needs to feel it's behind a fairly safe bet.

In these harder economic times, movie studios fear that the American public won't shell out hard earned cash to see something they're not familiar with. Each year, there's a new 'Saw' movie, a new Tyler Perry movie, a new superhero sequel, all familiar territory for an industry that once brought the public stunning fables and moving epics. Not only do Hollywood studios tend to go for the safe bets; the sequels, the remakes, they are leaning entirely too much on special effects.

Movies made a decade or two ago were slower paced, they developed story, character, relationships, tension. Now, movies start out with a BANG and jump right into ridiculous premises, over the top heroics and non-stop action. A quality action movie used to include characters one would develop a fondness for. Now, there's no time, the character does not get as much attention as the explosions, car chases and killer robots. Making movies used to be an art form, now it's reduced to a cinematic assembly line.

The originality that once existed in Hollywood is still alive, although it has been reduced dramatically. Small independent films are where the most original movies are now made. Without the backing of a studio, a lot of these films must be brought to the public via film festivals. It's like the minor league in baseball, should a movie do really well at the festivals, it might get picked up by a major studio for wide release. Unfortunately these directors, writers and actors that pour so much love and care into their craft lack the budget to bring it to life that they would if a major studio had picked up their idea to begin with. More of these movies go unseen by the majority

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