In the first episode of the Apple TV+ comedy series The Studio, “The Promotion,” Seth Rogen’s Matt Remick grapples with creating a movie about the Kool-Aid Man, because IPs are so hot right now, baby!
If Matt does it, he receives a promotion at Continental Studios; however, even Matt knows how silly the thought of a Kool-Aid movie is – and it is, easily falling into the 10 dumbest ideas of all time. Matt tries to pull a fast one by slapping the title Kool-Aid over a Martin Scorsese movie about the infamous Jonestown case, but he’s forced to betray Scorsese for the studio’s commercial and family-friendly vision of Kool-Aid: The Movie in the end.
It’s a funny episode – and The Studio is a show that everyone should be watching – but it turned out to have some weird Nostradamus quality. A few weeks after it aired, A Minecraft Movie – which is effectively a version of Kool-Aid: The Movie – was released and made mega money. The worst part of it is that it’s an absolutely nonsensical and terrible film, but it’s emboldened Hollywood to invest more in brands – any brand, really. This means movies are only going to get worse, scraping the bottom of a barrel that’s already moldy and smelling like crusty underwear.
Look, as much as we complain about the number of superhero films or reboots, it’s understandable why Hollywood gravitates toward these kinds of projects. They’re often about established characters that the audience has an attachment to, and they have impeccable track records at the box office. It’s an easy, risk-free win – and in an era when box office success isn’t as likely as before, no one wants to gamble with millions of dollars.
It’s exactly what Final Destination creator Jeffrey Reddick said in our interview with him, “Because corporations have taken over most of the studios, and since they want to make their shareholders money, you find that most of the people that run most of the studios, that’s their mandate: We have to make our shareholders money, not we have to tell great original stories. That’s why you see a lot of remakes, sequels, reboots, and things based off of huge-selling comic books or huge books.”
However, in a bid to gobble up all the possible brands to make movies about, studios may have lost their minds in the process. Did you know there’s a Monopoly movie in the works? Or even a Matchbox one? It’s getting to the point that if there’s name-recognition value to something, a studio might consider turning it into a movie in some way, because people might be curious enough to check it out. For heaven’s sake, even Pop-Tarts received a “biographical” movie thanks to Netflix’s awful Unfrosted, which should be sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against creativity.
Think back to a few decades ago and all the original films that Hollywood created. Alien. Star Wars. Indiana Jones. Back to the Future. These were all stories created for the screen and since they turned out to be so popular, they were only then expanded into franchises. They were novel ideas that sucked the audience in and made cinema (and pop culture) history.
Now, look back at the last decade or so and ask yourself this: How many new original franchises could be considered in the same league as those previously mentioned? Maybe John Wick. Perhaps a handful of animated films like Moana and Inside Out. Aside from those, it’s a bleak picture looking at the top 10 earner list of every year.
The point is that originality is dying – if not dead already – in the big studio system. It’s the smaller studios and distributors taking gambles with unique projects, but they’re also suffocated out of the marketplace by the marketing muscle of films like A Minecraft Movie.
In the same week that A Minecraft Movie was released, Hell of a Summer also debuted. It’s an original horror comedy that pays homage to slashers and features an established star in Stranger Things‘ Finn Wolfhard, who also co-wrote and co-directed the film. Sure, Hell of a Summer doesn’t appeal to the traditional four quadrants, but it’s still a much better film than A Minecraft Movie. But do you know how much money Hell of a Summer made? Only $1.8 million in its opening weekend, while A Minecraft Movie made over $160 million domestically.
In fairness, Hell of a Summer required less at the box office to turn a profit and it’s likely in the green through its distribution rights, but it should concern everyone how the big studios are obsessing over the most asinine brands rather than investing in more original ideas. How can you create the next Star Wars or Indiana Jones if you’re making movies about Monopoly and Pop-Tarts? Right now, it’s a race to the bottom, and everyone will be worse off in the end as the inevitable Kool-Aid movie enters production in the next few years. For the love of cinema, please stop making stupid movies.
If Matt does it, he receives a promotion at Continental Studios; however, even Matt knows how silly the thought of a Kool-Aid movie is – and it is, easily falling into the 10 dumbest ideas of all time. Matt tries to pull a fast one by slapping the title Kool-Aid over a Martin Scorsese movie about the infamous Jonestown case, but he’s forced to betray Scorsese for the studio’s commercial and family-friendly vision of Kool-Aid: The Movie in the end.
It’s a funny episode – and The Studio is a show that everyone should be watching – but it turned out to have some weird Nostradamus quality. A few weeks after it aired, A Minecraft Movie – which is effectively a version of Kool-Aid: The Movie – was released and made mega money. The worst part of it is that it’s an absolutely nonsensical and terrible film, but it’s emboldened Hollywood to invest more in brands – any brand, really. This means movies are only going to get worse, scraping the bottom of a barrel that’s already moldy and smelling like crusty underwear.
Studios are investing in strange brands
Look, as much as we complain about the number of superhero films or reboots, it’s understandable why Hollywood gravitates toward these kinds of projects. They’re often about established characters that the audience has an attachment to, and they have impeccable track records at the box office. It’s an easy, risk-free win – and in an era when box office success isn’t as likely as before, no one wants to gamble with millions of dollars.
It’s exactly what Final Destination creator Jeffrey Reddick said in our interview with him, “Because corporations have taken over most of the studios, and since they want to make their shareholders money, you find that most of the people that run most of the studios, that’s their mandate: We have to make our shareholders money, not we have to tell great original stories. That’s why you see a lot of remakes, sequels, reboots, and things based off of huge-selling comic books or huge books.”
However, in a bid to gobble up all the possible brands to make movies about, studios may have lost their minds in the process. Did you know there’s a Monopoly movie in the works? Or even a Matchbox one? It’s getting to the point that if there’s name-recognition value to something, a studio might consider turning it into a movie in some way, because people might be curious enough to check it out. For heaven’s sake, even Pop-Tarts received a “biographical” movie thanks to Netflix’s awful Unfrosted, which should be sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against creativity.
Where have all the original ideas gone?
Think back to a few decades ago and all the original films that Hollywood created. Alien. Star Wars. Indiana Jones. Back to the Future. These were all stories created for the screen and since they turned out to be so popular, they were only then expanded into franchises. They were novel ideas that sucked the audience in and made cinema (and pop culture) history.
Now, look back at the last decade or so and ask yourself this: How many new original franchises could be considered in the same league as those previously mentioned? Maybe John Wick. Perhaps a handful of animated films like Moana and Inside Out. Aside from those, it’s a bleak picture looking at the top 10 earner list of every year.
The big studios need to champion novel movies
The point is that originality is dying – if not dead already – in the big studio system. It’s the smaller studios and distributors taking gambles with unique projects, but they’re also suffocated out of the marketplace by the marketing muscle of films like A Minecraft Movie.
In the same week that A Minecraft Movie was released, Hell of a Summer also debuted. It’s an original horror comedy that pays homage to slashers and features an established star in Stranger Things‘ Finn Wolfhard, who also co-wrote and co-directed the film. Sure, Hell of a Summer doesn’t appeal to the traditional four quadrants, but it’s still a much better film than A Minecraft Movie. But do you know how much money Hell of a Summer made? Only $1.8 million in its opening weekend, while A Minecraft Movie made over $160 million domestically.
In fairness, Hell of a Summer required less at the box office to turn a profit and it’s likely in the green through its distribution rights, but it should concern everyone how the big studios are obsessing over the most asinine brands rather than investing in more original ideas. How can you create the next Star Wars or Indiana Jones if you’re making movies about Monopoly and Pop-Tarts? Right now, it’s a race to the bottom, and everyone will be worse off in the end as the inevitable Kool-Aid movie enters production in the next few years. For the love of cinema, please stop making stupid movies.