Everything Old is New Again

by Ray Morton

If you have been keeping up with Hollywood's development and production slates, it's pretty obvious that original material is not much in vogue these days. While the number of original spec scripts has plunged to the lowest point in a generation, it seems that almost every day one or more studios announces plans to remake an old film, produce a sequel to a recent one, or reboot a moribund series. One explanation for this is certainly the general lack of creativity that seems to have infected all areas of pop culture over the last decade or so. But the primary reason would seem to be that – with production and release costs on a seemingly permanent upward spiral and with the entertainment companies' corporate owners becoming more and more obsessed with the bottom line, the studios are desperately searching for sure things – properties that will automatically attract large audiences without having to spend the millions of dollars to raise audience awareness that original material requires. To the studios' thinking, remakes, sequels, and reboots are the perfect vehicles for this because the original iterations have already proven themselves to be successful and so it stands to reason that new versions and additional installments will also be popular.

The Punch-Up Guy: Matt Walker

by Marc D. Allan