With the recent film addition to the Hunger Games franchise, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” there has been a resurgence of popularity for the book and film series. Those who and were old enough to see the original trilogy when it was playing in theatres have playfully said that it feels like they have regressed back into their middle school selves. This same sentiment has been said for those who went to see the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” film that released this past October. The film is based on the video game of the same name that had its peak in popularity during the early 2010s where it developed a very large, passionate fandom. With these examples and many more in mind, many movie-goers have commented on the lack of original storytelling in recent films that do not rely on an existing piece of media.
There has been an abundance of film remakes and additions to existing franchises within theaters in recent years. While this has always been a phenomenon in the film world, many have spoken on how they feel there is currently an alarming oversaturation of these movies. This brings forth the question of if these adaptations and sequels are intended to be easy cash-grabs because of their already existing fanbase. If this is the case, many worry that these projects with unpassionate intentions take away opportunities for new narratives to be made. These concerns are not to say that the actors and directors involved in making these films are only in it for monetary reasons; more than likely they are fans of the franchises themselves. The qualms of audiences are more so directed at big Hollywood executives who reject original stories from smaller creatives, due to the risk of the film not being a big box office hit.
