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Spin-offs, remakes, prequels and sequels: Has Hollywood run out of ideas? In the midst of a geometric growth of the platforms, the new fictions resort to old and well-known formulas. Is it part of a fad or a phenomenon that is here to stay?

Spin off, sequels, remakes and prequels, Hollywood out of ideas?

There was a time when cinema surprised us for good. He proposed fresh narratives that broke the status quo of flat scripts, subject to the good guys and the bad guys and gave us complex, risky and innovative plots. There was a time that was beautiful, yes. But it is enough to look at the latest series and movie titles to sound the alarm on a current scenario of fiction in which Hollywood seems to be running out of ideas.

Surely at this point everyone we are familiar with terms like remakes, prequels, aftermath, spin offs and its derivations. These are terms that define new fictions that seem novel but contain a trap. Twists of the screw that start from an original story, and often refer to the apparently infallible formula of what would have happened if… or repair to describe the childhood of a popular character or imagine what the protagonists of our endearing stories will be like in the future… already invented.

Top Gun: Maverick brought us back to Tom Cruise in the skin of the aviator many years later

It is no coincidence that the two highest-grossing films this year are part of this format. We refer to Top Gun: Maverick (sequel to topgun, 1986 original) and Minions: A Villain Is Bornthat dives in the origin of Gru- sequel to Minions and prequel to My favorite villain.

Something similar happens in the environment of the series. With the announcement of HBO of arrival for August 21 House of the Dragonspin-off of the mega successful game of Thronesthe project of another series based on Jon Snowthe character he played Kit Harrington in the aforementioned series.

The spin-off series seeks to recover HBO’s most acclaimed production with this new story.

Many speak of spin offs like a fad, a trend that could be joined by the true crimes (productions that relate true crimes) or the biopic, based on the biography of famous people and sometimes not so much. But it is true that they are a reading of the time and for something in recent years this genre exploded in the way it did.

The question that arises is whether all the stories deserve to be told again or which are the characters whose stories deserve to be revisited. A good exercise is to think about what happened to the universe of Disney villains, who moved us from hate to love with maleficent (starring Angelina Jolie). Even Loki of the Marvel Universe reached the same category, when his series reached the platform of Disney+.

From the hand of remakes (also called reboot) arises the need to include topics that were previously unthinkable. So, for example, the third version of the father of the bride, featured an almost entirely Latino cast (Andy Garcia, Adria Arjona, Gloria Estefan, Diego Boneta, Isabela Moner, Macarena Achaga) and the LGTBQ+ theme was suggested, although it was touched on tangentially. Let’s remember that the version of the 90s had a ridicule of gays with the character of the organizer of the wedding (a great Martin Short) and the rest of the cast was almost mostly white. These are also some of the points where this revisionism is necessary and it became almost a must within the new fictions of the industry. The dilemma will arise when all the films of the past have been revised or radically change the plots are attempted, such as the new version that postulates a female 007 agent).

Bob Odenkirk says goodbye to the character after two incredible series and the definitive consecration.

Each of the series that we watched in our childhood, at a certain time and by air channel, had attractive characters and often made us want to know more. The Ingalls family, for example, it had only one episode that recounted the time when Charles and Caroline met as teenagers. But not much else. Would a prequel about Charles’s childhood have been possible? What would his lives be like in that unknown universe forever?

breaking badconsidered one of the best series of all time, had a spinoff and a sequel with mixed results. The first is the great Better Call Saul, which premiered shortly after we sadly said goodbye to Walter White. The series worked wonders with the character of the lawyer Saul Goodman -either Jimmy McGill his real name – and now he gives us his final episodes in Netflix. and the sequel The waywas in film format and focused on the life of the young man Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) from the end of breaking bad. Was this story necessary? For the fans, yes. But to create new stories, no.

The definitive meeting of all the former Karate Kid in a story that already has its own flight.

A sequel that worked wonders when touched by the magic wand of Netflixwas the series cobra kaiwhich deals with the history of Danny Larusso Y Johnny Lawrence of karate Kid. The plot showed us how these two rivals of the dojo of karate after 20 years. Nostalgia did his job and both the generation that had seen the saga and the new audience enjoyed every confrontation between good-natured Danny and sleazy (but not so bad) Johnny.

The derivations of each fiction can be infinite and the question leads us to the initial statement. Is Hollywood running out of ideas?

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