Sienna Stone | News Editor & Sarah Houston | Writer
September 10, 2024
Movie watchers have been long deprived of a 1990s Brad Pitt and early 2000s Jake Gyllenhaal, yet the issue of nowadays’ fruitless cinematic releases is not current actors, but rather the stagnation of the directors. The likelihood of creativity in masterpieces such as Fight Club (1999) and Donnie Darko (2001) resurfacing in the film industry in this era of cinema has reached an all-time low. Of course, the renowned geniuses of Hollywood history– including but not limited to Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford– produced some of the most original and finest works movie watchers could have possibly laid their eyes upon whilst simultaneously structuring the foundation for the future of film. Surely their influence was not lost upon current directors.
However, in this current era and near future for the film industry, American cinema seems to focus its production on previous movies, such as the remakes of The Crow and Twister that have hit theaters this year. Along with this is the production of a plethora of sequels to beloved pictures, such as continued stories of Beetlejuice, Deadpool, and Inside Out. With this ongoing trend, we can only predict a downfall in American cinema based on this current presentation of a lack of originality and new ideas.
A local movie theater employee of the San Clemente Outlets’ Metrolux, Arwen — , claims that the only “popular movie this summer was Deadpool & Wolverine and it was only popular for a week.” With such a lack of originality in the film industry, the only appeal to current moviegoers seems to be the presence of Ryan Reynolds on screen and not the promise of inventive plots or creative concepts.
Even with this production, many film reviewers find it to be an exception to the modern film industry’s downfall in quality, such as avid Letterboxd user, SCHS Junior Talani Camacho, who claims that the film hardly “count[s] because Marvel has always been creative,” and its individualistic ingenuity holds no bounds to specific periods of time, unlike the struggle of numerous present directors.
The closest the Hollywood film industry has been to rekindling hit creativity was during 2023, when Barbie and Oppenheimer gained a reputation for their popularity and quality, which caused a massive surge in movie theater attendees. According to popular trends, the attendees bolstered the popularity of the films by arriving at theaters dressed in thematic bright pink or clad in wide-brimmed hats and mid-1900s suits.
However, since then, it is evident that there has only been loss after loss for box office revenues and Hollywood has been scrambling to produce cheap unoriginal sequels to make easy money rather than take the time to come up with and create something experimental and new.
Movie theater employee Arwen –, again explains that there has been an “obvious decline in movies since Barbie and Oppenheimer,” apparent through Metrolux’s significant decrease in customers, sales, and profit.
Talani Camacho also wholeheartedly agrees in this aspect, pointing out that since this era of film, “movies have not really been that good,” a common comment of feedback most movie-lovers possess as well in the disappointment of the continuous unoriginality of cinematic production.
Cinema as an art form has reached a nadir, and it is clear through declination of revenue and popularity that it is not getting any better. Movie lovers alike are not pleased with the new adaptations of everyone’s favorite classics and the onslaught of popular actors that do not contribute to the plot in any way. It is a desire felt by most that the Hollywood directors stop listening to the saying “don’t fix what’s not broken,” and attempt to make a new film that does not lack originality and plot.
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