The state of the film and television industries is rife with unoriginal and uninspired reboots, remakes, sequels, prequels and adaptations.
The reason for this is one box office dud can destroy an entire career and the safest bet is to put your money in a project with an already built in audience, such as comic books, the reboot of another movie, and best-selling books.
But we have seen many classics destroyed by their rebooted successors like the all-female Ghostbusters: Answer the Call; The Amazing Spiderman; and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014). Although two of those did get a sequel, that’s where the reboots ended because they underperformed – usually they aim for a complete trilogy.
And now another franchise – which began in the late 1970’s – could be coming to an end because it underwhelmed and disappointed viewers in its opening weekend at the box office.
Digital Trends reports:
“Ridley Scott’s acid-blooded xenomorphs mauled their way to the top of the box office over the weekend with Alien: Covenant, but it wasn’t the sort of premiere 20th Century Fox hoped for from the film.
Scott’s follow-up to the polarizing 2012 prequel film Prometheus underperformed in both its opening weekend numbers and reviews, earning just $36 million in U.S. theaters and receiving just a ‘B’ grade on audience-driven survey site CinemaScore.
For reference, audiences gave recent films The Great Wall and Ghost in the Shell the same grade, so it’s not exactly a ringing endorsement from ticket buyers.
The news wasn’t as bad from professional critics, who currently have Alien: Covenant sitting at a 73-percent ‘Fresh’ rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes (although audience scores on the site are a bit less enthusiastic about the film).”
Although the critics’ reviews were mostly positive, regular watchers and avid fans of the Alien franchise had wildly different expectations and thoughts.
Imdb user reviews beat up the movie.
Here are some examples of their ratings of 1 out of 10 stars and the title of their review:
Kuuk3 gave it 1 star: “Nonsensical plot and stupid characters ruin it all.”
Dom_ti2000 gave it 1 star: “Ridley, it’s time to retire!”
Alex Pickard gave it 4 stars: “Immensely Disappointing Film That Shouldn’t Be Praised For It’s Mediocrity.”
Viktor D gave it 2 stars: “Where no idiot has gone before… apart from in Prometheus of course!”
Fabz gave it 3 stars: “An incompetent crew sent to colonize space.”
Humphreywashere gave it 1 star: “RIP Alien”
And those are just the user reviews from the first page.
Sometimes fans scratch their heads and wonder just what movie the critics thought they were watching – and this is a perfect example.
So with all of these franchises with underperforming sequels and reboots, where does Hollywood go from here in giving you original content?
Indiewire wrote:
“Let’s face it: Relying on sequels as easier worldwide sells is starting to cause serious issues in domestic results.
And since most of these are as or more expensive as their series continue, even the more stable foreign grosses don’t guarantee making up the difference.
The overarching problem is, what if some enduring franchises are in decline? What will replace them? Increasingly, Marvel, most D.C. Comics, top animation from Disney, Pixar, Universal, Dreamworks, 20th Century Fox, and an annual Star Wars entry should keep things close to steady. What happens if they don’t?
‘Pirates’ next weekend will test the revised interest in that series after a six-year break, and a reimagined ‘Baywatch’ as a more adult venture should give some comfort. But less and less is guaranteed, with each week providing potential pitfalls.”
But this cycle seems to be infinite and unbreakable, regardless of having a few duds.
Next up for Disney’s ‘Pirates’ franchise with an aging and recently irrational Johnny Depp will most certainly be a reboot. Why? It’s because they know you’ll probably go see it regardless of how bad it is.