For the average person walking into a movie theater at any time this year, the top movie showing is probably Marvel, Disney, or some other cliche.
Franchises are continuing to take over Hollywood. The film industry’s lack of originality is driven by franchises and producers that obsess over success. It is no secret that movies are made by people who want a guarantee on their money.
According to Teen Vogue, the film industry suffers from “franchise fatigue” and “sequel-itis.” The most popular movie productions are not only from mainstream franchises, but they are also a continuation of past trending plots. Producers dedicate too many resources into once-popular movies, meaning they drag on the story rather than simply producing new ones. The most watched and highest-grossing franchise is a popular brand known as Disney. Now owning both Marvel and Star Wars, Disney pushed for the production of sequels such as “Thor: Love and Thunder” and “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” Even with expired characters and plots, producers still attempt to revive the series’ for money. According to New York University, the most common cliche is the “minority side-kick trope” in Hollywood. This is also known as the person of color (POC) best friend that producers use as token characters for diversity. Examples of this include Rory and Lane from “Gilmore Girls,” Peter and Ned from “Spider-Man,” and even Captain America and Falcon. Hollywood’s false illusion of inclusivity continues to reinforce harmful stereotypes through mainstream entertainment.
Franchises are guilty of recycling actors from trending films. A noteworthy example of this is when Marvel released who was cast as Dr. Doom for their upcoming movie. Robert Downey Jr. is an iconic actor, most famously known for his role in “Iron Man.” Although he previously played as Tony Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he was inevitably cast again. According to Forbes, social media users actually managed to predict in a sarcastic post that Downey would be cast as Doom. The same source stated that Reddit users would comment on how they were “unimpressed” by the casting. They called out Marvel for falling back into the same “desperate nostalgia” as another attempt at generating more views. It’s not just actors that are reused, it’s also characters. Great films have had great character development that attract an audience. For example: “Deadpool.” As of July 22, the latest trending movie is “Deadpool and Wolverine.” This crossover raised some controversy since franchises create more sequels, prequels, remakes and live-action adaptations.
Although it is true that the cheesy cliches make money, Hollywood has officially lost its originality. Producers solely care about generating money, so they only produce what sells. Disney made its own platform, Disney +, where users can watch all movies Disney owns for a subscription price. This inevitably led to movie theaters losing business since everything is available online.
Hollywood needs to invest in less cliche, actual representations rather than subtle stereotypes for mainstream works. Ultimately, a producer’s job is to make more money, so it is not a surprise that they focus on producing movies that sell. Producers persist in using tired tropes that limit directors’ artistic freedom, further forcing films controlled by franchises into an unfortunate lack of originality. Franchises should produce original content, especially since they already hold great influence over the film industry.
