It seems that all you see in the movie industry nowadays are sequels, remakes and reboots that are not very high quality and are just screened to get you to buy the ticket — nothing more, no nuance.
Don’t get me wrong, there have always been good and bad films. Still, these low-quality, shallow films from major studios that get massive marketing campaigns and sweeping accessibility across the globe are poisoning the industry.
“Movies are now about moments, not stories. These moments are fueled by nostalgia and audience expectations. We are waiting for the moment we always see coming,” Vincent Cotroneo wrote for MovieWeb in April 2023.
To elaborate on Cotroneo’s point, I’ll say this: the leading film studios want a payoff without any buildup or effort, so for big-budget studio releases, quality and depth are irrelevant. What matters is the characters they can bring back, what actors they can include and what intellectual property they can use to attract more viewers. As the major studios see it, as long as you’ve already paid for the ticket, it doesn’t matter what happens afterward.
A good example is last year’s “Deadpool & Wolverine.” The success of that film hinged on the return of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, along with many other actors. As long as the film delivered on that celebrity aspect, then there would be butts in seats regardless of the film’s quality.
Of course, a movie can be a great film while still having moments like these, but major studio films focus on these kinds of two-dimensional attractions instead of on writing, visuals and general quality.
There will always be great movies that push the boundaries and take risks coming out year after year, but the mainstream, big-budget studio movies are what run the industry at the end of the day.
Unfortunately, these major studios are being reactive, not proactive.
The track the industry is currently on is not sustainable, and they will have to change their ways. Eventually, people will stop going to the movie theater due to a lack of creative risk and mutual respect between the film and the audience.
They will actively seek out better experiences, of which there are plenty. If mainstream films keep getting more insubstantial, they will soon lose money because of it, which will no doubt get the attention of the industry.
I don’t know what will happen when that time comes, but it will either be the beginning of a golden age or the fall of cinema.
I wouldn’t worry about it, though. These things usually work out. Regardless, please go out of your way to search for original and inspired films that are being released every day; they are not far below the surface.
Cole Jersek is a sophomore world cinema major from Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. Cole can be reached at [email protected].
