The
film industry has been one of the leading hubs in entertainment throughout the
years. The public’s fascination in drama and stories of the unbelievable has been
due to the creation of worlds thought up
by Hollywood. At one time, more movies
seemed to equal more revenue but in recent years, Hollywood has found a way to
get more people to the theaters and increase sales with fewer movies
annually. The answer was sequels and
remakes. By producing films with
familiar themes and characters, more global movie-goers are lured to the
theaters by the promise of a superior film because they were satisfied with the
first. In a way, you could think of the first movie as positive advertisement
for the following sequels or remakes.
The
article “Hollywood Eyes Record 2013 With ‘Star Trek,’ ‘The Hobbit,’ ‘Hunger
Games’ Sequels”, highlights the fact that making films that attract broad
global audiences, like “action films, comedies, and historical dramas which all
broke $100 million in sales during the past year”, create the most steady
increasing revenue (Advertising Age). Top grossing films of the year included “The
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 which saw a long stream of success over the
past few years of release. Twilight fans
and Harry Potter fans, though different in taste, share the common
characteristic that they were successful long running sequels. They brought familiar characters and plot for
viewers to hold onto and become enamored with. The article “Movies, Myths, and Messages: How
Entertainment is Creating a Global Brand Culture” supports this idea with the
statement, “Simply put, movies are mythic messages that bond culture. They
imprint a dialogue of images on our emotions. We trade on their meaning. They
echo our existence, express what we see, think we know, or wish to be,” (Ken
Markman, The Licensing Journal). Esentially, the films become part of our
culture. They bond together fans
internationally with the common interest of these long running characters and
plots.
Aside
from ticket sales, Hollywood also benefits from sequels because movie
paraphernalia is produced and sold in mass quantities. The Harry Potter series
exemplifies this especially with not only the production of t-shirts, mugs, and
wands, but also a whole theme park at Universal Studios dedicated to the
story. The park only further creates
that global cultural bond over the film by creating a common meeting place for
all Harry Potter fans thereby equally strengthening the successful formula of
film sequels.
The
“Hunger Games” series is expected to soon follow a similar sequel success path
as Twilight and Harry Potter, its first film being the third top-grossing film
released in 2012. It similarly has taken on a huge fan base from the similar
tactics of its predecessors.
One
of the most influential and especially Oscar-worthy sequels has been The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The release of The Hobbit this year has furthered the success of the trilogy with
this sequel of a different sort. The
film essentially has many familiar characters yet follows a different storyline. By keeping the same setting and many familiar
characters, Time Warner has been successful in reaping the benefits of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Past fans have come again to the theaters to
continue the stories of the lovable hobbit characters which resulted in $84.6
million in box office sales in the opening weekend (Advertising Age).
Like
sequels, “reboots” of popular films have seen similar success due to
familiarity and character popularity. The remake of Spiderman brought fans of the superhero and the first Toby Maguire
film back to theaters to rate and reviews it in comparison. This method is also successful because it
causes fans to not only want to see if the film improves but also what fails,
and the subtle changes in plot. The New
York Times article “Familiarity Breeds Hollywood Sequels” notes remakes as more
successful in 2011 due to familiarity in film winning out. “One after another
the more original studio films in a variety of genres failed to draw a really
large number of viewers this year.” It continues on by mentioning though many
films like The Help saw great profit, they failed to break the top ten due to
popular familiar sequels and remakes (Cieply).
Though
the film industry will continue to turn out both remakes and sequels along with
original pictures, familiarity will most
likely continue to win out in box office sales due to a stready fan base
already established.
Works Cited
Cieply, Michael.
"Familiarity Breeds Hollywood Sequels." New York Times: C.1. Dec 29
2011. ABI/INFORM Complete; Hartford Courant; Hoover's Company Profiles; National
Newspapers Core; New York Times; ProQuest. Web. 8 Mar. 2013 .
"Hollywood Eyes Record
2013 With 'Star Trek,' 'Hobbit,' 'Hunger Games' Sequels, Record 2012 Comes
Despite Continued Improvements in Home Viewing." Advertising Age (
December 2012): Blackboard. Web. 8 Mar. 2013.
Markman, Ken. "Movies,
myths, and messages: how entertainment is creating a global brand
culture." The Licensing Journal, June Vol. 25, Aspen Publishers. Academic
OneFile. Web. 8 Mar. 2013.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that Hollywood has discovered the secret to making fewer movies but gaining more profit. Sequels and remakes is what draw the crowds in to the theater. I know personally I would be much more likely to see a movie in theaters if it was a squeal or a remake of an older movie. The sequels draw people back in because they feel a connection to the stories and the characters. I think the movie producers have realized these types of movies are what will make them the most profit, so they try to come up with a good story line that will have a loyal following.
“Hollywood Eyes Record 2013 with ‘Star Trek’, ‘Hobbit’, ‘Hunger Games’ Sequels discusses how even though the studios are making fewer films they are focusing on making characters who will produce a global appeal to attract broad audiences (Advertising Age). I think this is a smart idea because the movies that can appeal to a broad and international audience are obviously going to do well. Movies such as the Twilight series and Hunger Games series are known all over the globe and have a huge fan base. The film industry has been successful with their sequels, remakes, 3-D, and theater upgrades (Advertising Age).
The major studios know that they have to make movies with popular characters from books and comics to attract the fans to films, such as Disney’s “Marvel’s The Avengers”, Time Warners “The Hobbit”, Lions Gate “The Hunger Games” and “The Twilight Saga” (Advertising Age). These movies produce massive ticket sales which show when the fans wait outside for hours in all types of weather for the midnight premiers.
I think if the film industry continues to make movies in series or remakes of older movies that will keep crowds interested and will draw them into the theaters. Of course, there have been some fantastic films this year that were not part of a series or remake, which attracted many people and did great in the box office. I just feel these series and remakes is what causes fans to come back because they get so connected to the characters and their stories.
Some fans feel as if they can relate to the characters on a personal level so they want to continue to watch these characters grow and change and evolve. These movies not only make profits with ticket sales but as you said everything else that comes along with it, such as the variations of merchandise. These movies become brands and almost industries themselves.
Works Cited
"Hollywood Eyes Record 2013 With 'Star Trek,' 'Hobbit,' 'Hunger Games' Sequels, Record 2012 Comes Despite Continued Improvements in Home Viewing." Advertising Age ( December 2012): Blackboard. Web. 8 Mar. 2013.
Kim,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that consumers tend to flock towards familiarity, especially when it comes to the film industry. The numbers show that sequels and franchises make the most money.
According to the article “Hollywood Eyes Record 2013 With 'Star Trek,' 'Hobbit,' 'Hunger Games' Sequels”, The Avengers and The Dark Night Rises were the two films that grossed the largest amount of money and both feature comic book characters. One thing I find interesting is that comic book movies continue to gross the largest amount of money and attract the largest amount of people, yet the comic books and the characters in them were written so many years ago. Few original characters have been created, nonetheless succeeded in drawing a fan base. This further proves that moviegoers prefer to stick to familiarity. With theme parks like Universal Studios, the characters become more than just part of a movie – they become a ride, an action figure, a stuffed toy – they appear on shirts, and you can buy their weapons and outfits. Also once a movie becomes popular the studio begins to capitalize on that by producing the paraphernalia to go along with it. For example even though the Harry Potter books were a huge hit it was not until the wide success of their movies until Harry Potter World was made at Universal Studios and until almost every Harry Potter fan could own their own wand. Furthermore each movie after the first allowed the fan base to grow. Both the Harry Potter franchise and the Twilight franchise split the last movie in their series into two parts in order to capitalize as much as they can on the money the movies had the ability to make.
I think another reason that there is such a large number of sequel movies and franchise movies being made is because of their obvious success in the box office. Movie studios can feel comfortable putting extremely large amount of money into the production of these movies and making them better the next because they are confident in the fact that there is a fan base out there. It all comes down to the fact that they don’t have to take a risk. On the other hand there are the movies like Life of Pi, whigch are a huge risk for studios to invest in, but they too can sometimes be successful according to the article “Overseas slice of 'Pi' flips Hollywood formula.” The article talks about the “Hollywood formula” which is based on American ideals. The movie Captain America is a perfect example and its focus on American culture is evident even in its title.
Society’s obsession with familiarity is also seen with the success of movies based off television shows. Since the television series Entourage became an obsession for many there has been a lot of talk about it being made into a movie after it went off the air. A lot of shows from Nickelodeon have also made it to the movies including Spongebob, the Rugrats among others.
I believe that Hollywood will continue to capitalize off familiar characters and plots. Furthermore I’m curious to see where creativity can bring Hollywood as they have to develop more extravagant plots using the same characters.
"Hollywood Eyes Record 2013 With 'Star Trek,' 'Hobbit,' 'Hunger Games' Sequels, Record 2012 Comes Despite Continued Improvements in Home Viewing." Advertising Age ( December 2012): Blackboard. Web. 8 Mar. 2013.
Germain, David. "Overseas Slice of 'Pi' Flips Hollywood Formula." Associated Press, 17 Feb. 2013. 19 Mar. 2013.
Kim,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post, I have to admit that I completely agree with everything you said. It seems like in this day and age, Hollywood is almost completely dependent on remakes and sequels to keep the movie industry alive. Clearly it has been working, but another aspect that goes along with that is that they use favorite characters to keep drawing in audiences.
In the article titled, Hollywood Eyes Record 2013 With Sequels, it says, “Disney, the world's largest entertainment company, will put out 10 movies next year, including two Marvel sequels, "Iron Man 3" and "Thor: The Dark World"; one Pixar sequel, "Monsters University"; as well as pictures based on "The Wizard of Oz" and "The Lone Ranger." The original “Monsters Inc” came out over ten years ago in 2001. “Monsters University” is going to be a sequel of an animated movie that has been a favorite movie of audiences for twelve years now. “The Wizard of Oz” came out in 1939 which was over 80 years ago and Disney is still able to create movies based off of it because the characters and story lines are still fan favorites.
The fact alone that the largest entertainment company in the world is almost completely dependent of fan favorites to continue their success makes you wonder if entertainment companies will ever be able to create hits on their own.
Another thing that has given the movie industry a chance to re-use old hit movies is the new craze of seeing movies in 3-D. In the article, “Theatrical Market Statistics 2011,” it says, “Of all U.S/Canada moviegoers, half (51%) viewed at least one movie in 3D in 2011.” This means that for any previous movie that is re-released in 3-D, about half of all moviegoers will go out and see it in theaters in 3-D. For Disney to be able to re-release classics like “Finding Nemo” in 3-D, it gives the movie a second chance to make just as much money as it did the first time it was released. Not only does it bring in revenue through the actual movie in theaters, but it generates excitement about it again. People that may have loved it the first time around and forgotten about it will be reminded and that could encourage them to go out and buy merchandise that relates to the movie.
The same thing can happen with a movie similar to “The Avengers” which generated the most income this year. This movie had a mash-up of all Marvel superheroes that have been popular since they were created in comic books. Most of these characters also have their own individual movie, or in some cases, their own sequels as well. By creating a movie that incorporates all of these already popular characters together, it generates a lot of excitement and interest in the movie, each character’s individual movies, and any merchandise like comic books and memorabilia that relate to the movie as a whole, or the individual characters.
Hollywood may not be creating as many original blockbuster movies these days, however, they have definitely adapted to the changing industry by creating sequels that incorporate both recent and classic fan favorites.
"Hollywood Eyes Record 2013 With 'Star Trek,' 'Hobbit,' 'Hunger Games' Sequels, Record 2012 Comes Despite Continued Improvements in Home Viewing." Advertising Age ( December 2012): Blackboard. Web. 8 Mar. 2013.
“Theatrical Market Statistics 2011.” Motion Picture Association of America. Blackboard. Web. 19 March 2013.
Kim,
ReplyDeleteWhile it has become extremely obvious in the most recent years, and has even been proven that movie sequels and series do surprisingly well in the box office, I still find myself questioning this data. As you mentioned, “Harry Potter”, “Twilight”, and of course, “The Lord of the Rings”, are all series of movies that have fortunately gained a lot of success from expanding their movie into a whole series of movies. Over the years these movies have acquired incredible fan bases that keep coming year after year to the latest movie premiers. However, this is what I question. I believe it is a constant struggle in the film industry to create such relatable, inviting characters, that keep the viewers coming, movie after movie, and you should consider yourself lucky if your movie is able to transform into a series of movies. Even Rory Bruer, Sony's president of worldwide theatrical distribution, said in an interview, “It was one of those years where the majority worked" (Advertising Age). He is even acknowledging that not every year the sequels are at the top of the charts.
In the article, “Theatrical Market Statistics 2011,” they had a “Top 25 Films by U.S./Canada Box Office Earned in 2011” list, where we can see sequels did well in 2011. Within the top fifteen films of the year, we can see there are four sequels (Motion Picture Association of America). However, the first sequel on the list, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, Part 2,” who stole the top spot, has an extremely dedicated fan base, whereas the other sequels fell further on the list because they do not have as many followers.
As The “Hunger Games” won the hearts of many viewers across the U.S. just last year, the sequel, which will be released later this year is predicted to do extremely well in the box office, yet again. Why? Because they have gained that strong foundation of followers that provides success and allows them to keep making the sequels and eventually a full movies series. But as I have mentioned, the fan base is what really makes or breaks movie sequels and series. For example, “Harry Potter” and “Twilight” have for the most part had positive feedback regarding their series of movies, because of their strong support from viewers, whereas the series of “American Pie” movies has not had as much dedication and devotion from fans, and that is why you do not see them at any of the top movie lists from recent years, although they have continued to produce their movie series.
While fans might go to a movie theater to catch the “part 2” of a popular movie, causing ticket sales to increase, they might not react to the sequel positively, landing that movie at the bottom of many lists. It is important for producers in the film industry to create a friendly, well- liked character that viewers can not resist, to gain that fan base that is needed to make a successful movie series.
"Hollywood Eyes Record 2013 With 'Star Trek,' 'Hobbit,' 'Hunger Games' Sequels, Record 2012 Comes Despite Continued Improvements in Home Viewing." Advertising Age ( December 2012): Blackboard. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
“Theatrical Market Statistics 2011.” Motion Picture Association of America. Blackboard. Web. 18 March 2013.
Kim,
ReplyDeleteYour post abut the popularity of films that were sequels or remakes was interesting. This phenomena demonstrates that people enjoy films in which familiar themes, plots and characters are present. People want to see what they like and sequels and remakes are just re-imaginings of movies that consumers previously discovered that they liked. It is almost a guarantee that a film studio will have a semi-successful movie with a sequel or remake.
I think it is notable that many of the films you mentioned have a written component that ties in with the movie. Many of them were originally popular book series (The Hunger Games, Twilight, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit) or comic books (Spiderman, The Avengers). The characters of these films had already garnered established audiences before they were made into feature films. And if people were not full-fledged fans of these characters, many were at least familiar with the characters before going to see the movie version of these books and comics. Lastly, these films were not introducing new concepts, but reiterating stories and characters that were already somewhat woven into popular culture.
The article "Hollywood Eyes Record 2013 with 'Star Trek,' 'Hobbit,' and 'Hunger Games Sequels" discusses the recent success of the film industry. It states, "The $152.5 weekend debut for 'The Hunger Games,' with Jennifer Lawrence as the teen heroine Katniss Everdeen, marked an all-time high for March." The success of the Hunger Games is unique to many of the other films mentioned because it is the first film in a series. It is not a sequel or a remake. The article "Who needs an Oscar? Hollywood basks in industry's comeback" mentions that Hunger Games did have "an aggressive online marketing push" with a "near-constant use of Twitter and Facebook, a Tumblr blog, a YouTube Channel, and a live streaming of the premiere on Yahoo" to credit it for some of its huge success. I do believe that this progressive online marketing campaign certainly helped to hype the film, but I also feel that the fact that "The Hunger Games" was a successful and currently popular book series also led to the film's colossal box office success. It already had a place for itself in the pop culture realm. Groups of fans were already discussing the book series online before the official online social media profiles were created. Fans were already role playing "The Hunger Games" on Tumblr before the official Tumblr blog was made about the movie. One could make the argument that the film was used to further extend the brand of "The Hunger Games". The marketing campaign helped to solidified its place in pop culture and therefore officially cement the brand.
It is hard to know if "The Hunger Games" would be as popular and successful of a movie without it also being a book series. It may still have been successful because it has familiar themes, such as girl power (which we discussed as being prevalent last week) are found throughout many other movies. But I believe the fact that "The Hunger Games" already had a huge fan base helped to make it the blockbuster that it became. Overall I feel many of these successful movies, such as Twilight and The Avengers, owe a lot to the books and comics that came before them.
Grover, Ronald. "Who Needs an Oscar? Hollywood Basks in Industry's Comeback." Reuters, 22 Feb. 2013.
"Hollywood Eyes Record 2013 with 'Star Trek,' 'Hobbit,' and 'Hunger Games Sequels." Advertising Age, 28 Dec. 2012.
Kim
ReplyDeleteI’ve noticed the trend of sequels and remakes in the film industry for some time now. I remember the first time I noticed this was during the previews to X-Men: First Class, which happened to be another film that is part of a huge franchise, that every single preview was either a sequel, spin-off, or adaption of another story. Then I started looking closer at the big blockbuster films, and not one of them was entirely original in content and story. Your article clearly highlights why it is that I’ve been noticing this trend. I find it very interesting, yet unsurprising, that the general audience is more attracted to films with a history they already know and understand, rather than jumping into a completely original film that they know nothing about.
Hollywood Eyes interestingly state “while studios are making fewer films, they are focused on characters with global appeal that attract broad audiences. Action pictures, comedies and historical dramas all broke $100 million in sales during the past year, and theater upgrades that include 3-D, digital projection and more comfortable seats have lured guests back, executives said.”
Looks like Hollywood found their secret formula for capturing the attention of the general audience. It is no secret that the film industry has been struggling in recent years with all the options viewers now have at their disposal right from their home, so experimentation was a must. I am not entirely sure, but it sounds like Hollywood began by increasing the number of films made a year hoping that it they would, quite logically, increase revenue if they had more movies. Even if the movies themselves did not do particular well, maybe more films would inevitably increase overall ticket sales.
Well, I could have told them that this was a bad idea. Making films aren’t cheap, and going by the anthem of quantity over quality should not solve the film industries problems, I would hope.
The solution it seems is that they do not necessarily need to put out masterpieces left and right, but as a long as they are capturing a dedicated and loyal audience through sagas and plenty of sequels, they can pretty much guarantee an audience. Not too mention that this opens up plenty of alternate opportunities to profit on the films popularity through other sources of sales like roller coaster rides and memorabilia.
Looking to the future, it does not look like Hollywood is veering away from their mantra that sequels are almost a guaranteed form of success. An article that mentions 95 movie sequels that are currently in the process of production notes “as has long been the case, sequels are a reliable way of making plenty of cash from recognizable names. They've been a part of the Hollywood filmmaking process for decades, and as this list of 95 sequels currently in the works proves, will continue to be so for as long as we stump up the cash to go and see them” (Den of Geek).
Some of the titles on the list include “300 2” and “Piranha 3DD”, just an example of how desperate some of these projects look. It is pretty clear that producers feel much more comfortable producing a sequel of questionable potential that will yield a safety source of revenue, than venture off into new territories where waters could potentially be very rough.
From an artistic perspective this may be quite upsetting, but there are still plenty of quality movies that aren’t relying on 3D man eating fish to bring viewers into theaters, but, for now, it looks like these sequels are going to continue to be the film industries main source of revenue.
Ryan
Sources
"95 Movie Sequels Currently in the Works." Movie Reviews, Cult TV, Games & Comics Reviewed, Discussed & Appreciated. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2013.
"Hollywood Eyes Record 2013 With 'Star Trek,' 'Hobbit,' 'Hunger Games' Sequels, Record 2012 Comes Despite Continued Improvements in Home Viewing." Advertising Age ( December 2012): Blackboard. Web. 8 Mar. 2013.
Raquel Doering
ReplyDeleteKim,
I found your blog on the success of film sequels and remakes, as well as this week’s readings, extremely informative. Of course, I have seen many movies that would be considered sequels or remakes, but I never realized the immense amount of sequels and remakes produced or the overwhelming success of sequels and remakes.
As you mentioned, by producing films with familiar characters and storylines, the film industry has enticed moviegoers to the theaters with a likely chance they will enjoy the sequel or remake since they enjoyed the original.
According to the “Theatrical Market Statistics 2011,” the top ten films in the box office in U.S. and Canada in 2011 were all sequels or remakes (“Theatrical”). Some of the movies such as Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1, Fast Five, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 were the fourth, fifth, and even seventh sequel, respectively. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, the top box office grossing movie of 2011, earned a total of $381 million (“Theatrical”). According to Advertising Age’s “Hollywood Eyes Record 2013 With 'Star Trek,' 'Hobbit,' 'Hunger Games' Sequels,” the sequel trend continued through 2012 with The Hunger Games and Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (“Hollywood”).
One of the key ingredients to the success of sequel movies are the familiar characters. According to the Advertising Age article, production studios focus on characters, such as Harry Potter or The Hunger Game’s Katniss, to assure that they have a “global appeal that attracts broad audiences” (“Hollywood”).
Furthermore, many of the popular characters in sequel movies have been adapted from books and comic books (“Hollywood”). It is common knowledge that both the Harry Potter series and The Hunger Game Series were the inspirations for the original films and sequels. Similarly, The Avengers is a “mashup of Marvel comic super heroes” released by Walt Disney (Grover).
Remakes of older movies, such as Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Captain America are also extremely successful. According to “Theatrical Market Statistics 2011,” they both made the top ten highest grossing movies of 2011 (“Theatrical”).
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRaquel Doering (continued)
ReplyDeleteAlthough successful, the sequel and remake trend does have disadvantages. Because the film industry is consumed with sequel and remake movies with globally appealing characters, fewer movies with original content are being created from the main production studios (“Hollywood”). Continually using the same characters and overarching themes hinders the film industry’s originality and creativity. If the film industry continues to mainly focus on sequels and remakes to assure increased theater attendance and comfortable profits, we may be deprived of extremely original films in the future. We may miss out on the equivalent to Slumdog Millionaire or Life of Pi. According to David Germain’s article “Overseas Slice of 'Pi' Flips Hollywood Formula,” originality will prevail, but it will be a “gradual thing” (Germain). Germain asserts that the film industry must be “more open different types of filmmaking,” because people enjoy more than just sequels and remakes (Germain).
Thus, while sequels and remakes were an extremely successful strategy to get people excited about the newest releases and back into movie theaters, they have a downside. By relying on repeating characters and overarching themes, the film industry is lacking originality and creativity. If the industry depends too much on sequels and remakes, we may miss the success of some wonderful, intriguing movies that are created with a more unique type of filmmaking.
Works Cited
Germain, David. “Overseas Slice of 'Pi' Flips Hollywood Formula.” Ap.org. Associated Press, 17 Feb. 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
Glover, Ronald. "Who Needs an Oscar? Hollywood Basks in Industry's Comeback." Reuters.com. Thomson Reuters, 22 Feb. 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2013
"Hollywood Eyes Record 2013 With 'Star Trek,' 'Hobbit,' 'Hunger Games' Sequels, Record 2012 Comes Despite Continued Improvements in Home Viewing." Advertising Age. Crain Communications, 28 Dec. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
“Theatrical Market Statistics 2011.” Mmpa.org. Motion Picture Association of America, Inc, 2012. Web 18 Mar. 2013.
Kim,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your topic and I thought you discussed some great points that were very interesting.
I agree that Hollywood has found an easier and smarter way in making a profit by reproduction of films and sequels. To me it’s a genius idea, you can see how successful the first movie makes and based on its sales Hollywood now has the ability to easily begin plotting for another successful movie. I can admit I am one of those fans that love the on-going movie after movie sequels. When a popular movie comes out like “Twilight”, “Saw”, or “Final Destination”, I am that person that becomes obsessed and has to see the next film. It’s just a great way to lure back in those old viewers and bring in more revenue. I believe Hollywood came up with a great approach to make their sales rocket. Its smart and easy, they just have to basically continue with the same storyline and throw in some more characters with a twist.
According to the article “Hollywood Eyes Record 2013 with ‘Star Trek’, ‘Hobbit’, ‘Hunger Games’ Sequels explains the concept of Hollywood’s approach to be successful with less movies and gaining more of a profit. It goes into detail explaining “while studios are making fewer films, they are focused on characters with global appeal that attract broad audiences”. I think this is a great idea especially going off of previous films, the remake and sequel can bring even a greater success. Sometimes I realize the main characters in the films become a greater hit than the movie itself. With diehard fans, they want to follow up on the character to see what’s going on and what’s going to happen next.
In relation to what you said about Hollywood benefiting from sequels and remakes, having movie paraphernalia is crucial to diehard fans. I know tons of people that go crazy over T-shirts, posters, and just little nick-knacks because they are such a fan of the movie. This is definitely a great point you brought up because it’s so true. Especially the example you used with Universal Studios promoting certain movies throughout their theme park. I honestly think their whole park is based on luring in those diehard fans. Not only is it profitable to the film industry and theme park itself it gives the fans a greater experience than just watching the movie or show.
For some reason this topic reminds me of Comic-con, just how a diehard fan can live on even without a new production of a film, show, or character. I believe this concept with be great in the future because using my example with Comic-con there will always be that fan that will never get tired of a character, show, or movie. And with the ability to remake movies and create sequels and trilogies it can be an on-going thing that brings a lot of success because of its past history.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that I realized with the film industry is that they are great with construing the same movie into the idea that the next will be better, when it’s the same movie. In which I mean 3D films. Out of nowhere the production of 3D films have sky-rocketed and it has just become the next big thing in movies. It’s just so funny to me because it’s the same movie maybe with better graphics and objects coming at you. In the article, “Theatrical Market Statistics 2011,” it says, “Of all U.S/Canada moviegoers, half (51%) viewed at least one movie in 3D in 2011.” This just goes to show you how convincing and promising the film industry can be to diehard fans. It would be the same movie that was previously out but re-released in 3D, and according to the charts majority of those previous viewers will watch it again but in 3D. Personally this concept is pointless to me if I already have seen the movie, it doesn’t really matter if it’s in 3D or not but for the film industry they were some real geniuses to target those viewers back again.
"Hollywood Eyes Record 2013 With 'Star Trek,' 'Hobbit,' 'Hunger Games' Sequels, Record 2012 Comes Despite Continued Improvements in Home Viewing." Advertising Age ( December 2012): Blackboard. Web. 8 Mar. 2013.
“Theatrical Market Statistics 2011.” Motion Picture Association of America. Blackboard. Web. 19 March 2013.
In the recent years we have seen a steady increase in the amount of movies that have a second or third part to it. these sequels in recent years have done incredibly well in the box office, big name hits like The Lord of the Rings, Harry potter and Star wars have all had atleast two successful movies after the original. Some of the fan base for these movies were built in with the books like the Lord of The Rings and Harry Potter. There are many movies made every year but only a select few go on to make great sequels that keep the audience wanting the story to continue. This is an extremely daunting task that many film makers don’t get right. Even in the past two years there are sequels to movies that have done significantly worse than there predecessor namely Hangover 2 and Ghost Rider.
ReplyDelete“Theatrical Market Stats 2011” was an interesting article that brought some numbers to light I wasn’t expecting. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows is an amazing book (im a huge harry potter fan) and the movie itself was good, but not great, and definitely not better than the first movie. I think its here we see how the numbers may be skewed. Because the movie made a lot of money doesn’t mean it was a good film. The fan base behind Harry Potter is huge which in turn is going to drive sales.
I did not have a chance to see the Hunger Games although it was raved about by the film industry. Its set to release a sequel in the coming years and has very high expectations surrounding it. I believe that these expectations come from the elustrious fan base that was generated by the book. Not saying that the first movie isn’t driving non readers to see the sequel, but the people who have read the book are driving sales. We see movies like the matrix which had HUGE box office opening and yet the sequels to that are considered some of the worst. Its an easier task to adapt a book into a movie because of the fan base and the story lines are long and descriptive. A great example of a comedy that did big things when it opened but failed as sequels is American pie. This series has 5 movies now, and the only successful theatre opening was the original. The popular comedy Anchorman starring Will Ferrell is set to release a sequel in the coming months. I for one am very concerned with the content of the movie. The first was great but when you make a disappointing sequel it can almost ruin the original. In todays era of film making a successful sequel is extremely hard to come by, especially when people are remaking movies. The spider man series with toby mcquire was a failure besides the first movie. The sequels were hated by fans and not accepted well in theatres. Heres when we see people taking a failed series and starting it again. The Amazing Spider Man which premiered this year did well in the box office but people are nervous for the sequel. I don’t think sequels are becoming more accepted but I do think books are becoming the best movies in our cinema.
"Hollywood Eyes Record 2013 With 'Star Trek,' 'Hobbit,' 'Hunger Games' Sequels, Record 2012 Comes Despite Continued Improvements in Home Viewing." Advertising Age ( December 2012): Blackboard. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
“Theatrical Market Statistics 2011.” Motion Picture Association of America. Blackboard. Web. 18 March 2013.
Kim,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that although original content is still being put out, consumers will be more likely to flock to a movie that they are already familiar with.
With film remakes, people remember these shows or movies that they loved when they were younger. Older generations tend to feel a sense of nostalgia and want to bring their families and friends to see a film that meant so much to them back in their day hoping that they too will love it. This happened with the film "21 Jump Street." This film was based upon an 80's television series. Individuals growing up in that generation loved it. Therefore when the film remake hit the box office last March it made 13.2 million on its opening day. The film was also in the number one spot for two weeks.
According to the 2011 Theatrical Market Statistics, the top 10 box office films were all sequels, remakes, or were comic books turned movies. These movies ranged from the old comic book "Thor" to the all to exhilarating "Fast Five," which was a "Fast & Furious" sequel. There were some original movies on that list but because of the familiarity factor, they did not make top ten. At number 11 was the wonderful film "The Help." Although this was an original movie, the book had become so popular prior to the movie that almost everyone was familiar with it unless they were living under a rock. It was a New York Times best seller for more than 100 weeks.Oprah even had it read in her book club.
ABC's television series "Once Upon a Time" is also a prime example of producers capitalizing on familiarity. This show takes characters from various fairytales such as Snow White and RumplestiItskin and places them in a real world town. This show debuted as the season's highest-rated drama among Adults 18–49 and was ABC's biggest debut in five years. The show continues to make it on the top 20 every week.
According to the "Hollywood Eyes 2013" Article "Major studios have relied on popular characters from books and comics to attract fans to films, such as Disney's "Marvel's The Avengers," the year's top-selling movie at more than $1.51 billion worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. At No. 2: Time Warner's "The Dark Knight Rises." Hollywood has caught on to what makes top dollar and as long as these familiar films are still making money, there is no need to change the formula. However, maybe things such as crowdfunding, discussed in Quinn's blog, can help change this.
Works Cited
"Hollywood Eyes Record 2013 With 'Star Trek,' 'Hobbit,' 'Hunger Games' Sequels, Record 2012 Comes Despite Continued Improvements in Home Viewing." Advertising Age. Crain Communications, 28 Dec. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
“Theatrical Market Statistics 2011.” Mmpa.org. Motion Picture Association of America, Inc, 2012. Web 18 Mar. 2013.
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ReplyDeleteKim, I agree with your thoughts on the recent movie series and remakes we have been seeing in box offices recently. I found it interesting that Advertising Age reported that “Top grossing films of the year included “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 which saw a long stream of success over the past few years of release” (Advertising Age). Twilight has recently become the hottest new movie series taking over the spotlight from Harry Potter films. I agree with you that Twilight and Harry Potter fans are similar but also different. The movies are different in their cast, plot and theme, obviously but they have similar fan followings. Both movies being long running films have brought on such a large fan following that they can be considered similar in that sense. Film series lately have become more popular than some television shows which surprises me. When I was in high school I felt like everyone was obsessed with the newest episode of Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill. But with television series ending and movie series continuing the popularity of movies rises as television falls. Nevertheless fascination with movies is still a large part of society and drives conversation and popularity among communities today.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that Advertising Age also reported that” One of the most influential and especially Oscar-worthy sequels has been The Lord of the Rings trilogy” (Advertising Age). In comparison to the other movie series that we have seen taking over the box office lately, Lord of the Rings does not stick out in my mind. This could be because I am not a fan of the books or movies. I have however been more interested in the release of the recent movie, The Hobbit based on The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I feel that the Hobbit has received more recognition for its success in the box office than the Lord of the Rings did back when it first appeared in theaters. This success I feel is due to the fact that the trilogy has been out of theaters for quite some time and lost its popularity. I agree with you that the release of The Hobbit this year has furthered the success of the trilogy and the Lord of the Rings fans have now reconvened to appreciate the spin-off of the trilogy movie. I think that this was such a smart decision on the filmmakers part because it brought all the fans back together to appreciate the movie series that they were once enamored with. This also gives some people the chance to watch the trilogy before seeing The Hobbit, giving them something to look forward to.
ReplyDeleteThe remaking of movies is another brilliant way to bring massive audiences to the box office. Two remakes that stick out in my head are King Kong from 2005 and Star Wars from 1977. King Kong I had the opportunity to see in theaters. I appreciated the remake of this movie because I would never have seen King Kong had it not been remade into a major motion picture in 2005. I had heard of the film before the remake but had never had an interest in seeing it. This was another smart decision for filmmakers because not only did it drive more people to come to theaters to see an old, classic movie but it most likely increased rental sales of the old King Kong movie. The same is true of Star Wars; it brings people to the theaters to see a film they never would have thought to watch. This then creates new fans and a resurged appreciation for a classic.
Finally, the emergence of 3D movies has been a brilliant idea to incorporate to the film making industry. According to Theatrical Market Stats from 2011, “Half of all moviegoers and nearly one third of the general population attended a 3D movie in 2011, similar to 2010” (Theatrical Market Stats). Movies like Toy Story 3 and Nightmare Before Christmas 3D were two popular films that have had high popular in theaters for their 3D feature. By producing a film in 3D film-makers are allowing fans to reconvene and come back to theaters to see their favorite film in 3 Dimension. These fans are mostly young people according to Theatrical Market Stats: “Age- based trends continued to reflect broader market trends. Young people in the 12-24 age group were the most likely to attend a 3D movie in 2011, more than 50%. Less than 15% of all people in the 60+ age group attended a 3D movie”” (Theatrical Market Stats). It blows my mind that someone had the idea to incorporate 3dimension features to the movie theaters and I am excited to see what filmmakers will come up with next. The movie industry is bound to endure another ground breaking change soon.
Works Cited
"Hollywood Eyes Record 2013 With 'Star Trek,' 'Hobbit,' 'Hunger Games' Sequels." Advertising Age. N.p., 28 Dec. 2012. Web. 17 Mar. 2013.
“Theatrical Market Statistics 2011.” Motion Picture Association of America. Blackboard. Web. 19 March 2013.