Over 120 films released in the last five years from Hollywood have been reboots and 200 announced/ released sequels. Not to mention the TV series reboot titles that have either blossomed or have been cancelled after a single season and faded away. Come April 2023 and WarnerBrosDiscovery announces that they have ordered for a 10-year long HarryPotter TV series to retell the books more ‘exhaustively’. A so called faithful reboot of the beloved HarryPotter books. Now, I’m a fan of the Wizarding World and I didn’t like this news one bit. Elsewhere, Disney announced a quiet unnecessary live-action MOANA, that was received with mixed expectations but Hollywood seems determined to dusting off old IPs and tapes for a more ‘fresh’ take. The question is, do we need these REBOOTS? Let’s get into it.

WHY THE REBOOTS?

a. Safe Gambles

The fundamental purpose of any business is to make as much profit as possible and Hollywood studios are always on the search for the next box-office hit. The now ‘billion movie club’ is the epitome of a ‘film success’ and Game of Thrones’ viewer numbers , the standard for TV shows. Over the years, trends of what film genre to release have evolved from the western-cowboy flicks, Historical Epics, romantic comedies to Superheroes movies and now it seems the dust has settled on REBOOTS – SPINOFFS + SEQUELS and the occasional GAME or BOOK adaptations. Whatever brings in the money is what studio executives will green light. A safe Gamble in the dynamic and cutthroat industry where executives have board members looking over their shoulder and waiting for dividends. The pressure is high to avoid a box office flop or order for a tv show that no one watches.

The HarryPotter films grossed close to 8Billion dollars on a 1.2billion dollar budget, and that is as close as a guaranteed profit for the newly merged WarnerBrosDiscovery to a brand new risky idea. It’s a beloved franchise and even though am not over the moon over the Harry potter reboot idea, I will surely check out that series when it’s released. It the safe gamble for big money strategy that has birthed this self-cannibalising era.

‘I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread‘ Bilbo Baggins tells Gandalf in the Lord of Rings.

This is the kind of statement that intellectually defines what Hollywood is going through extending stories into bloated projects with reboots, sequels and spin-offs. some are welcome but most are simply unnecessary.

b. Social Media

Gone are the good old quiet days when film producers didn’t have to deal with every single persons’ opinion publicly. Today, ticket buyers and anyone who hasn’t watched a single frame of a movie has an opinion and they will aggressively air it out. That opinion garners support then boils into a #hashtag then starts trending and eventually studio executives are pressured into questionable decisions.

Too many cooks spoil the meal. Creative decisions should not be surrendered to the mass group. Reason: not everyone knows what they are talking about, and predictably they are the same people who will turn around and criticise the idea if it does not work out. Unfortunately, some studios have fallen prey to this assertive group prior to production. I say, put out the movie and then listen to social media opinions but rely on fellow professionals to craft and mould a good product during pre-production.

Films are made for the people but not all people have the skill and artistic temperament of creating blockbuster ideas.

c. No new good ideas?

Some have argued that a brilliant idea comes once in a hundred years, but I’m skeptical that there are no new film stories to tell. The highest grossing film of all time, AVATAR was a risky new ‘story idea’ and so are the many other blockbusters that have emerged from unknown IPs and have turned into gold. So, is it a question of studios shying away from taking risk or are there really no new ideas? Are we stuck with recycling old tales and expanding what we already have? Maybe or maybe not.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

a. Expand don’t reboot

If there are indeed no new ideas and studios will not take risk on non-IP stories, then instead of rebooting old films, expand on the story. I don’t mind a sequel or a spin-off. It gives me a chance to explore the world set-up in my favourite movie. This actually works much better, i.e The JohnWick movies spinning off into Ballerina, Fantastic Beasts for the HarryPotter films, House of the Dragon for Game of the thrones. (You get the idea) Let’s venture into the past or future whilst maintaining the respect and status of the original material. Reboots are always going to face comparison to the original, and if you are not much, much, much better, then you are doomed! I would have loved to hear a new Wizarding TV show based in Durmstrang, Illvermorny or any of the other wizard schools but a reboot? Really?

b. A 30 and more year rule

It takes at least 30 years for major technological advancement and probably a renewed interest in an old story that will look fresh to a brand new generation. So can Hollywood have a rule that no movie can be rebooted until at-least after 30 or more years? This way, you are actually giving the audience something afresh. So please skedaddle away from these needless safe bets. Please.

CONCLUSION

I strongly believe that a HarryPotter reboot was unnecessary and I wish they ‘WarnerBrosDiscovery’ would have just expanded on the Wizarding World. There are other more schools to venture into and more characters yet unseen. This was a missed opportunity and I’m not sure if it will be the success executives hope it will be. Until then…

ABOUT ME:

I have been working in the Ugandan media industry for over ten years now and am thankful for the experience, the people I’ve met and the modest living I’ve earned along the way. Thank you for reading this blog. You’re a unicorn. So continue being awesome and kindly share with a friend, leave a comment to continue the conversation and let’s get talking. See you next time.

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