In Which I Examine How Movies Are No Longer Original Concepts

This post has been spurred by a project that I have to do for a class. I was thinking about how there is practically nothing original coming out of anything lately. We have prequels for sequels of movies and remakes of old movies and reboots of not-so-old franchises and books based off of other books and just, none of it makes sense. Where's the originality? What's happened to the world that there's no such thing as originality anymore in the media industry?

Let's take a look at film. Movies. We love them. I love them. Heck, my favourite movie this year was a movie based off a comic series. But in terms of original movies? What was there? Looper, perhaps. Pitch Perfect, though that seemed more like a grown-up Glee movie.

Consider the top ten grossing films of the year:

1. The Avengers
2. The Dark Knight Rises
3. Ice Age: Continental Drift
4. The Amazing Spider-Man
5. Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted
6. The Hunger Games
7. Men in Black 3
8. Skyfall
9. Brave
10. Ted

When we look at these, what do we see? Perhaps two "Original" movies (Brave & Ted), FIVE sequels (TDKR, Ice Age, Madagascar, MIB3, Skyfall), and then four films based off of other works (Hunger Games, Spider-Man, Batman, Avengers). 

A new trend in the film industry is to take every YA book that even LOOKS like it could be translated to film and DO IT. And sure, we can blame this fully on Harry Potter, but at least the Harry Potter movies were GOOD. Hunger Games was by far one of the worst movies I'd seen this year. So, let's look at some YA franchises that are going to be turned into films, shall we?

1. Twilight. Finishes this year, but it comes out this year so I'm counting it.
2. Catching Fire (2nd Hunger Games movie, and then the 3rd THG book is going to be split into two films. That's right. They're copying off of Twilight who copied off of Harry Potter.)
3. The next Percy Jackson film comes out next year.
4. The Mortal Instruments.
5. The Maze Runner has been optioned for film and has a director.
6. Beautiful Creatures is being filmed currently. 
7. The Selection is a book that's being turned into a damn TV show.
8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower was turned into a movie.
9. The Host is now going to be a film (a weird-ass one, from the looks of it)
10. Divergent is going to be a movie
11. Before I Fall has been optioned for film by Fox
12. Ender's Game is going to be a movie

I mean seriously, the list goes on and on. Why? Why are so many YA books being turned into films? It's not like they're any good (the movies, not the books. Many of the books are stellar), but with the release of Hunger Games I just lost all creative interest in it. When I see a movie based on a YA book, I want a MOVIE. Not the book in movie form. Does that make any sense? I love Jennifer Lawrence so much but she played Katniss like a cardboard cutout of the girl from the book. Katniss is obviously NOT the most wonderful character in the world but she was so BORING to watch in Hunger Games.I got NO emotion from her, compared to say, Emma Watson as Hermione Granger. Just go watch the scene where she's all emotional over Ron. THAT is an actress EMBODYING the character she was told to play. 

Sorry. I just really hated the Hunger Games film.

FURTHERMORE, with the success of Marvel's Avengers, even more comic books are being turned into movies, which I'm okay with, for the most part. There are some things that I'm not going to be cool with, I'm sure, but we shall see how it all ends up. 

This has turned into a rant about how much I hate movies based off of books. Let's steer away from that and back to the originality/sequel concept. Let's talk about movies that came out this year.

1. Bourne Legacy: a movie based off a former trilogy with the same name but different characters. Yeah, the movie was great, but ... what?
2. Total Recall. A remake of a movie. Okay. Sure. Let's throw Colin Farrell in there because let's face it, dude's hot. But it wasn't new. Sure, we got all kinds of high-tech views and some new ideas, but we knew what was supposed to happen.
3. Taken 2. TAKEN AGAIN.
4. Skyfall. Okay, aside from the fact that this movie was mind-numbingly perfect, it's still a sequel. And while it was a great Bond movie, this is probably the only franchise that I'm okay with movies still being produced. That and Avengers. And while we're at it....
5. Avengers technically was a sequel to a whole bunch of other movies.
6. The Dark Knight Rises. Again, another fantastic film, but a close-out to a trilogy. 
7. Wreck-It Ralph. Another great movie. But based off a game?
8. Breaking Dawn Pt. 2. I think the "part 2" gives it away
9. Red Dawn: A remake....
10. This is 40: A spin off of Knocked Up?

Again, I could go on and on. So, what has been original this year?

Bueller?

Bueller?

Off the top of my head I've got Looper and Ted. And yeah, I'm sure there are more, but my point here is that originality is dead.

And that's just plain sad, when you look at the future of film.

Just for fun, let's look at what's coming out next year in terms of movies that are sequels or based off of books:

JANUARY:
Texas Chainsaw 3D
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (dark spin on a fairy tale)

FEBRUARY:
Beautiful Creatures
A Good Day To Die Hard
MARCH: 

Jack the Giant Killer
The Last Exorcism 2 (isn't that title a little redundant?)

Carrie
Oz: The Great and Powerful

GI Joe Retaliation
APRIL: 

Jurassic Park 3D

Scary Movie 5 (5. SERIOUSLY.)
MAY: 

Iron Man 3
The Great Gatsby
Star Trek into Darkness
The Hangover Pt. 3
JUNE:
Man of Steel
Monsters University

Kick-Ass 2
JULY:
Despicable Me 2
Independence Day 3D

Grown Ups 2
The Wolverine (I count this since we already have Wolverine)
The Smurfs 2
AUGUST:

RED 2
300: Rise of an Empire
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
The Mortal Instruments
SEPTEMBER:
The Little Mermaid 3D

Cloudy 2 (??????)
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones 3D

OCTOBER:
Sin City: A Dame to Die For

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith 3D (did not know this one)

NOVEMBER:

Ender's Game

Thor: The Dark World
Catching Fire
DECEMBER:

The Hobbit 2.

So, there you go. Twelve months in the year, and 36 non-original movies.

Originality. It's not a thing.