Hollywood Continues To Embarrass Itself With Countless Reboots
Tuesday, April 30th marks a day of absolute tragedy and despair: the release of the 2019 Sonic The Hedgehog movie trailer. In defense of the trailer, the plot appears that it is going to pay somewhat of a homage to the class video game. However, the horrific CGI monstrosity that is Sonic himself puts viewers in the “Is this the Sonic The Hedgehog trailer or a trailer for Alvin and the Chipmunks?” mindset. Thankfully, Sonic’s design is being changed, but it doesn’t change the fact that another lousy reboot of a franchise exists.
The concept of rebooting a franchise is a common trope within the film industry. Franchises such as Scooby Doo and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been rebooted to death. Regardless of the franchise, a reboot will always be met with a massive wave of criticism and outrage. Whether the reboot is mediocre or whether the garbage pile is on fire , there are several reasons why rebooting a franchise should be put on pause.
Original films appear to be a thing of the past for many audiences. Whenever the trailers roll around the internet for first viewing, it is noticeable that merely all new releases are either sequels or reboots of a beloved franchise. Do we seriously need a live action version of Aladdin? Is there any purpose for rebooting every single horror film in existence? There’s something about these unoriginal decisions that need to go back to the drawing board. There are many underrated storyboard artists and writers that work day and night to get into the film industry, but are overshadowed by Disney live action reboots and Minions sequels. When money goes towards too few franchises, it messes up the flow of money, preventing other deserving film makers from getting their fair share.
Another reason why reboots tend to be bad is because they are poor representations of the original franchise. Most reboots fail to capture the spirit and imagination of the original franchise. There was a reason why the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot spawned massive loads of hate and despair. It lacked the original mindset of the film and threw away actual quality for the sake of trying to be hip and cool with the younger audiences. Note to all Hollywood producers: gross out humor does not guarantee success. The Last Airbender film is considered one of the worst movies in history for a reason. This film is void of all light and enjoyment that is present in the original Nickelodeon cartoon. Multitudes of reboots including this one also tend to miscast characters and throw continuity out the window.
There is a reason why people today prefer nostalgia over today’s heaping pile of garbage. Hollywood used to be the home of original ideas before someone switched the reverse button. Today, Hollywood is nothing more than an insufferable cash grab and celebrities that pretend to care about the industry. That is not to say original films exist, but many “original” films tend to be slight rip offs or similar to other adored franchises. I understand why people tend to confuse The Hunger Games with Divergent.
For the love of films, please come up with something purely original, Hollywood, so we can have the same sense of Nostalgia 80s and 90s people have.
