Studios Don't Care What Consumers Want, They'll Keep Forcing Reboots, Remakes, Etc. On Our Eyes
I make and hear the same pleas from people all the time, “stop the reboots, remakes, remasters, adaptations, etc.” It often feels like the only media we get these days are ones recycling or building upon properties. Many beloved shows are getting remakes that a very vocal group are displeased with like Powerpuff, the live-action The Powerpuff Girls show from The CW. Others are being spun-off for other audiences like Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. Those are but two small examples. Does this mean that no one wants to tell original stories anymore?
I hope you already have realized that the answer to that question is no. Now, I’m not going to speak for every artist/creator out there. This is a big generalization that I’m going to be making throughout: artists want and have original stories to tell, executives are too greedy to let them even if they have a good track record.
One example of this is Craig McCracken. This is the brilliant mind behind The Powerpuff Girls, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, and Kid Cosmic. It was announced a couple of months ago that he’s working on projects related to some of his previous works, but that’s not necessarily what he wanted to do. McCracken shared on Twitter that he pitched 16 original new projects to Netflix, and they shot every one down. That’s ridiculous to me! Kid Cosmic was a crazy amazing show that was on Netflix. Critics (myself included) loved it!
In addition, Adam Conover spoke several months ago before the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice about how large corporate mergers are a huge disaster for consumers and artists. I highly recommend watching the entire video, but in short, consumers pay the same or more for less content and creators have fewer options for selling their projects and get paid less now. This is one of the reasons why I’m still furious about the Warner and Discovery merger. This is why I wasn’t hyped for Disney’s acquisition of Fox. As Conover states, all of the media we consume is now owned and controlled by about 6 companies.
In a recent article, Variety noted that reboots and spin offs are among the top trends for entertainment. I’m frustrated by this. I think movies like Knives Out and Everything Everywhere All At Once become so well liked is because they are original ideas and we are being starved for that kind of content. I think Jorge R. Gutierrez (The Book of Life) summed up perfectly, why we need more original content.
This is the part where I’m supposed to come back and share how we might fix this. Unfortunately, I’m not sure what can be done unless millions of people will all agree to and then follow through on boycotts. Another idea is that creators and artists must band together and really fight for things to change. A third idea is for someone to start up a new studio where these projects can come to life and thrive. These ideas are all highly unrealistic. I think the most realistic solution would be, although I know many won’t like this, to get the government to break up the oligopoly. We can sit here and complain about how studios need to do better, but as long as the studios make tons of money from reboots, remakes, etc., the studio won’t care. If you have a realistic idea or thought for actually getting studios to support more original projects, please share them in the comments below.