With an op-ed in Bustle last week, journalist Dana Schwartz ignited a debate over whether the current Hollywood trend of remakes, reboots, and spin-offs means the industry has run out of ideas.
According to Schwartz, “Hollywood isn’t out of ideas,” and franchise movies may actually now be the only avenue for artists to showcase their talent.
“Just because a film is based on a property that already exists doesn’t make the film itself inherently any less creative,” she writes. “Almost all movies are based on something. A book. A short story. A short film from another country. Am I supposed to enjoy You’ve Got Mail less because it’s based on a film that was based on a play? Must every film bro stop talking about The Departed because it’s a remake of a movie from Hong Kong?”
“Hollywood doesn’t work the way random people on Twitter think it does, where there’s an executive sitting in a room with two scripts — one that says GENERIC MARVEL MOVIE and one that says EDGY ORIGINAL STORY — and he’s so busy chomping his cigar that he makes the wrong decision every time,” she added.
Is Hollywood truly “out of ideas”? A recent episode of Honest Trailers mocking the Disney reboot “Cruella” makes it evidently clear that, yes, Hollywood has truly run out of ideas. In fact, as the episode demonstrates, not only has Hollywood run out of ideas, the industry has now resorted to mining the most insignificant and minuscule of details to create content.
“Since 1999, we’ve had quas-redemptive villain origin stories for Darth Vader, the Joker, Maleficent, the Wizard of Oz, Hannibal Lecter, Nurse Ratched, Norman Bates, Magneto, Saul Goodman, Godzilla, the apes from ‘Planet of the Apes,’ Venom, and the Minions,” the narrator in the episode says before highlighting the next insufferable wave of movies that will follow this undying trend.
“But now, before we get the quas-redemptive origin stories from Gru (“Despicable Me”), the Wicked Witch of the West (“Wicked”), the Targaryens (“House of the Dragons”), the bad guy from ‘Robocop,’ the Orphan from the ‘Orphan’ movie and Madea,” it continued. “Make room in your wallet for one more ‘Vilquel,’ cause here comes ‘Cruella.'”
On the very same day that Honest Trailers lampooned Hollywood’s obsession with reboots, BoundingIntoComics reported Disney’s latest announcement that it will be creating a “new ‘Beauty and the Beast live-action prequel musical series.”
“Disney+ announced that a new live-action Beauty And The Beast prequel series is in development,” reported the outlet. “The series, titled Beauty and the Beast, will see Josh Gad and Luke Evans reprise their roles as LeFou and Gaston from the 2017 live-action film. They will be joined by Briana Middleton, who will play Tilly, LeFou’s stepsister.
“As for what the series will be about, a press release explains, ‘Set in the iconic kingdom of “Beauty and the Beast” years before the Beast and Belle’s epic romance, the series will follow Gaston and LeFou as they set off with LeFou’s step-sister, Tilly, after a surprising revelation from her past comes to light, sending the unlikely trio off on an unexpected journey filled with romance, comedy, and adventure,'” it added.
Related: Bustle Op-Ed Defends Reboots And Franchises: ‘Hollywood Isn’t Out Of Ideas’