Here's a nice facts to put out there.
In 2007 only three of the top 20 grossing movies were original plot lines.
Unfortunately these movies were created by Pixar.
Seventeen of these movies were either sequels or based off their literary counterpart.
What a shock that movies currently reflect the modern societal values of America.
We want fluff in our news, fluff in our schools, so why not fluff in the theater?
Apparently we can.
The movies have become an escape from reality.
Not that they haven't always been, but as stormydawn pointed out, movies offer more societal influence then we can comprehend if harnessed correctly.
Look at the past.
Movies sold war, sex, cigarettes, societal norms, government propaganda, etc.
And now they have been reduced to Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.
...Seriously? That's the best we could come up with?
Wait...they're making a SECOND one?
Come on. America is selling us shit and we're eating it so they assume we want more.
Even some of the greatest contemporary movies were based off of graphic novels: 300, V For Vendetta, Spiderman.
Did we run out of screenplays so quickly that producers had to go digging through their old comic book collections?
Where's the morals? the substance? the suspense?
THEY ACTUALLY GOT AWAY WITH MAKING A FANTASTIC FOUR!!! TWO!!!
THE FIRST ONE WAS TERRIBLE!!!
They revamp Hairspray, Nightmare Before Christmas, and The Longest Yard for the new generation, but are they really so insecure about their own abilities that no one can come up with an original idea in our modern society?
Has imagination be squandered that much?
Does anyone have an original idea for a movie they would like to share?
Please tell me there is hope
once told an interviewer that he wished the movie biz was more like a really large supermarket. Right now, it operates like a smaller store. It only offers the things it knows everyone will want (for the small store cigarettes, milk, candy bars, for the movie producers cheap comedies and sequels) A large, well stocked store has things like pickled beats, rare cheeses, and other items not in popular demand.
It's a bit of a jumbled metaphor, I know, but I can't find the original quote.
the point is, the movie producers are afraid to invest in things which might not pay off, so originality suffers.
"when you hold a pen, you are at war" Attributed to Voltaire