Has anybody done an analysis of how much of Hollyweird's output consists of remakes, in comparison with earlier eras?
I'd like to see a decade by decade breakdown of remakes as a percentage of total output.
It seems to me that the percentage of remakes has shot up in the last two or three decades, but that's just my subjective perception.
Not letting that stand in my way, I hypothesize that the requirement for political correctness having trumped the requirement for talent, they just don't have very many of the kind of creative people they need to make good movies.
The left has always practiced far more blacklisting than was ever directed at them.
The rise of the re-makes is in direct proportion to the rise of budgets. Whenever big money gets involved there soon follows people who try to quantify the process with "rules" and "formulas" for success.
The one exception to this -- and let the flaming begin -- was Miramax. The Weinsteins, for all of their faults, genuinely loved movies and were capable of taking big risks.
A good number of this year's movies are remakes, sequels, or based on something that's been done before:
War of the Worlds
The Longest Yard
Herbie
The Dukes of Hazzard
Revenge of the Sith
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Batman Begins
Bewitched
Fantastic Four
The Honeymooners
The Amityville Horror
No one is putting out any original ideas anymore. Why do they expect us to spend top dollar to go see something that's already been done?