ilikegreen

Cinema is officially dead. I don't think there will ever be an original film to be the highest grossing film again. This marks the end of an era and quite frankly I don't see things getting better. Not that I was an Avatar fan, in fact one of my main critiques was that it plot felt kind of thin and it lacked proper character development. But REGARDLESS of how you feel about Avatar, this should be alarming for any true lover of film because the signs have been pointing to what has been gradually happening to this industry for a while now. I guess keeping the tradition that the highest grossing film through out history were always original film was the last beacon of hope I had for an industry that has throughout the years become increasingly corporate and devoid of soul. I think the shining light in all of this was that there had always been that belief that even if original big-budget films were a risk, there was always that chance that you might make the next ET or Titanic. At a time when all the big-budget fare is superheroes, sequels, and franchises; at a time when mid-budget films are being financed less and less frequently with each passing year; at a time when certain genres of film are flat out on life support (i.e comedies and dramas)...it was refreshing to know that there was at least SOMETHING that motivated Hollywood to still search for that next fresh and original idea. And, yes, often times they failed but every once in a while they found magic and something like Star Wars would be born and take the world's imagination by storm. The public has spoken: Corporate products SELL. Safe and familiar SELLS. Inoffensive family-friendly fare SELLS. Is it sad to see this happening? I'm not going to lie, for me, it absolutely is but at the end of the day things will unfold the way they unfold. Just like how the newspaper came and went, maybe this too was always the trajectory for film and I'm grateful I got a chance to experience some of that magic growing up. The tradition of the all-time record being held by an original film was the canary in the coal mine of a rapidly changing industry...and that canary is dead.