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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   30380 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of May 8, 2023

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1939 is widely considered to be the best year for motion pictures in history. But nearly all of the films (Gone with the Wind, Wizard of Oz, Wuthering Heights, Of Mice and Men, etc) were based on a novel or other previously published material. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is the one of the few notable original works. I suspect that truly original works have always been the exception rather than the rule, but it is the exceptions that stand out. I suspect that the number of sequels/reboots has increased while the numbers of films based on written media has declined, rather than cutting into the original works. But just a guess without digging into it.

Or take 1999, another "great movie year". What were the top-grossing movies?

  • Star Wars ep. 1 - existing IP

  • The Sixth Sense - original

  • Toy Story 2 - existing IP

  • The Matrix - original

  • Tarzan - existing IP

  • The Mummy - original

  • Notting Hill - original

  • The World Is Not Enough - existing IP

  • American Beauty - original

  • Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me - existing IP

50% of the highest-grossing movies use existing IP, 40% are sequels.

What were the best movie award nominees at the Academy Awards that weren't in the top 10?

  • The Green Mile - existing IP

  • The Insider - existing IP

Best director award nominees?

  • The Cider House Rules - existing IP

  • Being John Malkovich - original

A cult classic that wasn't initially liked neither by the audiences nor by the critics?

  • Fight Club - existing IP

  • Office Space - it's a stretch, but existing IP

  • Ghost Dog - original

The Mummy - original

This only strengthens your point, but I think The Mummy was a remake or reimagining of an older film from the 30s.

I think using a source novel is distinctly different from what we're seeing now, where an IP is stretched for dozens of movies which are themselves the source material.

Yeah, a lot of Kubrick's movies were really just novel adaptations, and much of Kubrick's body of work are considered classics. Markedly changed from their source material a lot of the time, sure, but adaptations nonetheless.

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