It’s Official: Hollywood Is Out of Ideas
By Norm Schrager at May 29, 2008 | 12:50 pm | Print
Two of today’s news items are sure signs there may be nothing creative or unique to ever again come from a big studio.
:: 1. Paramount has set Eddie Murphy’s Beverly Hills Cop IV into motion, with Brett Ratner directing
:: 2. Michael Bay will direct a film version of Ouija Board. Yes, as in the Hasbro board “game” that made us all seance artists as kids.
Of course, you never know when movies like this will yield great material and breezy fun. But Paramount has already gone to the well — an awfully old well — to deliver us a sub-par Indiana Jones film, they’re readying G.I. Joe for 2009 (see Channing Tatum, right), and they’re part of the massive conglomerate bringing Transformers 2 to your local theater. (At least Rainn Wilson has been added to the Transformers 2 cast. Yay, Dwight.)
Thank goodness Paramount Vantage is responsible for films like Son of Rambow, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood. (And yeah, I know the latter two are based on books. Books ain’t board games and action toys.)
As the American attention span shortens — mine included — sequels and non-original ideas will continue to rule. Last year’s top grossers prove it: Spider-Man 3, Shrek 3, Pirates: At Wit’s End. These days, we need guarantees of familiarity for our entertainment dollar. It’s exactly why revivals work incredibly well on Broadway. Theatergoers want to hum the songs on the way in, as well as the way out.
Last thing: This will be Ratner’s fifth sequel after Rush Hour 2, Rush Hour 3, Red Dragon, X-Men: The Last Stand. Is he becoming the go-to guy for pre-existing material?
