Harry Potter and the Unoriginal Previews
Kelly and I had a chance to see the latest Harry Potter installment recently. It is the first time I'd been to the movies in many months. I enjoyed the movie despite its cliffhanger ending and having to wait a while to find out what happens. (I only read the first book and I've managed to avoid most spoilers somehow.) It was nice getting out to the movies, just the two of us, and I think we both enjoyed the film.
But something disturbed me before the movie even started: the previews.
I can't remember how many previews we saw, but as for the ones I do remember: Green Hornet, Green Lantern, Yogi Bear, Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Little Red Ridinghood. I'm fairly certain there was one other and it had the same thing in common as the first five previews. Have you figured out what it is yet?
They were all previews for movies that are based on something originally in print form: comic books, novels, stories. It made me wonder: is there any original storytelling ability left in Hollywood? Or are they now completely and utterly dependent on us writers for material? I suppose as a writer one might see that as a good thing, but I the movies made from previous material are rarely as good as the original material and just about everyone knows it. But I imagine that they are generally cheaper than coming up with an original idea, and cost-effective since there is already an audience base for the original work.
Seems pretty lazy to me, and I'm not sure what disappoints me more: the sheer laziness of Hollywood, or the sheer laziness of audiences who would rather see the original twisted out of form on the big screen than read it in its original from the library. (I count myself in the latter group; as I said at the outset, I only read the first Harry Potter book, but I've seen all of the movies.)
