Not another remake, not another sequel

This post was inspired (instigated?) by a post I saw this morning on The Movie Blog about a Little Shop of Horrors remake.

I don't have anything against Little Shop of Horrors but what bugs me is the amount of remakes and sequels that Hollywood keeps churning out. I know that they make money and that they're popular, but what happened to original stories?

A lot of the movies that come out now are adaptations from some other media (novels, comic books), remakes, or sequels. While many of those movies are good, I miss movies that were made to be movies. What happened to the likes of The Breakfast Club, The Goonies, and Back to the Future? Hollywood isn't coming up with new stuff so much anymore. It's like some screenwriters don't have to write anymore -- they just have to able to turn an existing story into a script.

Off the top of my head, these are the most recent movies I saw in theaters: The Dark Knight, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Watchmen. They're all based on something else, but they're still great movies. My point is, I'm not saying that movies based off something, sequels, and remakes are bad. I just notice that there seem to be less movies written specifically for the screen lately.

I was interested to see how many of the most recent movies were new ideas, so I made a list based on box office numbers and opening movies at Rotten Tomatoes. I looked only at U.S. releases.

The top 10 at the box office this week:

Hannah Montana: The Movie -- based on a TV show
Fast & Furious -- fourth movie in a series
Monster vs Aliens -- new (Dreamworks is good with new stories. Pixar is better.)
Observe and Report -- new
Knowing -- new
I Love You, Man -- new
The Haunting in Connecticut -- based on a true story
Dragonball: Evolution -- based on Japanese manga
Adventureland -- new
Duplicity -- new (reminds me of Mr. and Mrs. Smith but I'll count it as new)

6/10 new idea movies = 60%

The movies opening this week:

17 Again -- technically new, but similar to 13 Going On 30 and Big (not counting it as a new idea)
Crank: High Voltage -- sequel to Crank (2006)
State of Play -- film adaptation of a British TV series by the same name
American Violet -- based on true events
Is Anybody There? -- new
Goodbye Solo -- new
Sleep Dealer -- new

3/7 new idea movies = 43%

Overall new idea movies: 9/17 = 53%

My list isn't representative or scientific, but just based on the movies from last week and this week, roughly half of them are new ideas for movies and the rest are adaptations, based on true stories, or sequels. That makes me sad, like the movie industry is slowly giving up on originality.

Cross-posted on the ning.