Many good books have been made into bad films, and some have even been made into good films. Yet, it seems like this repackaging of content is happening more than ever, and I’m starting to feel quite short-changed.
We all like to complain about the number of repeats shown during the Christmas TV schedule, but what about the number of repeats being shown at the cinema?
Remake after remake, dotted with the occasional sequel or, if a studio decides to flex its imagination, a prequel. They’re all repeats in essence.
Game to film, app to board game
This has always been frustrating, but recently things seem to have gone a little topsy-turvy. The tolerated procedure used to be that a good book would be turned into a film or, in more recent years, a video game.
Nowadays we see video games being made into films, with Resident Evil being a case in point. There are even plans for Halo, Uncharted and God of War films. To me, this reflects the shift in power from films to games as the most dominant form of entertainment.
What surprised me, however, was when I saw a board game version of the top-grossing app, Angry Birds. It’s clearly an attempt to cash in on a well-established name, but the transition from digital mobile platform to physical cardboard and plastic doesn’t exactly mirror society’s technological advances.
And so we come full circle, as Hollywood director Ridley Scott is talking about shooting a video adaptation of the Monopoly board game. Whatever next? Monty Python being turned into a musical? Oh wait, that’s already happened.
Why not pay half price?
In the age of austerity we’re all looking to save money, and I guess media moguls are too. But how much does a little creative thinking cost? Perhaps it isn’t the money-saving approach that’s being taken, but the guaranteed money-making approach.
I suppose that with the huge risks involved in making a film, releasing one with a name you know will succeed financially is more important than releasing one that you know will be highly-acclaimed.
I can’t help but feel like we’re being somewhat ripped off. My proposition is that, to compensate for this lack of creativity, remakes and spin-offs should be half-price. Likewise, cover versions of songs should be half-price too – but even then I still wouldn’t buy them.
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