Dear, movie and/or tv producers, before you even consider rebooting a beloved sleeper hit or cult classic, do the audience a favor, and don’t.
I know all you guys see is dollar signs, but trust me, you, the producer, will hire the wrong group of writers, cheap out on special effects and be met with an audience who felt that their sense of nostalgia has been violated and you will ultimately lose money due to low ratings.
A recent article by CNN has announced a “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” reboot in the works. Now for those of us who have seen the show, we are all aware that it was not an Emmy winner by any standard and I’m not against a diverse cast with women of color at the helm, hell, we need it, but the original series did what it needed to.
As the cliche goes, “let sleeping dogs lie.” Let these cult shows and movies rest, they were entertaining while they lasted but it’s time to turn the page and instead of beating dead horses give aspiring show creators and screenwriters a chance to provide something new to the table.
A perfect example of such reanimated abominations are Cartoon Network’s series “The Powerpuff Girls” and “Teen Titans Go.” We all know why it’s bad, if not, just find a clip on YouTube and you’ll see what I mean.
No child of the 2000s woke up one day and proclaimed, “You know what? I want to see a live-action movie of ‘The Rugrats’ because that went so well for the Spongebob Squarepants franchise!”
Just because a movie or show is rebooted doesn’t make it better, writing, cinematography and casting all play an important role in determining what makes or breaks a production.
Film production company, Cannon Films, was a testament as to why those aspects of filmmaking are imperative for a good movie.
Notice the use of the word, was. The company failed in all those aspects and produced terrible quality movie after movie with only a few movies hitting the cult classic mark, which is a very low mark to hit in the first place.
The documentary, “Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films,” which can be found on Netflix or YouTube will provide more information on what I am referring to.
So instead of current producers and film companies trying to emulate past movies, they should alienate themselves from those films.
It essentially all boils down to money, the film company needs money and we, the audience, have it.
In order to stop the onslaught of unwanted sequels and reboots we must stop going to watch the damn things.
If the film companies notice there is no longer a market for bad remakes then they will stop producing them and seek fresher material from aspiring writers who will give us diverse characters who aren’t tropes or stereotypes, inventive writing and the “think outside of the box” mentality.
Cult classics were bad movies or shows to begin with and if they are being rebooted solely for profit and not in attempt to perfect the movie, why not save your money for a film made by an aspiring filmmaker, person of color or member of the LGBTQ community, where their creativity is being expressed.
Why do we insist on contributing to big film companies instead of independent companies or filmmakers who would benefit from our audienceship the most?
