Originally published May 27, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
Anghus Houvouras on our insatiable appetite for more…
Like any good column, I was hoping to create a discussion on the topic of our collective box office obsession. Something that has seeped into the groundwater of film fanaticism and poisoned the well. It’s not enough for our movies to be great anymore. They must also be seen as a financial success in order to justify their existence. It was said many different ways in many different forums, but the universal response to the question ‘Why does box office matter?‘ was met with this answer:
‘Because we want sequels.’
There it is. The plain, in-your-face answer that seems so obvious. Financial success means we’ll get more. It’s part of our wonderful world of entitlement. We can no longer be happy with the movie we just watched. Our appetites were just satisfied and already we’re demanding more.
Movies have become chinese food. Two hours later and you’re already hungry for more.
I’m not sure if I just loathe that answer or I find it completely repulsive. I find that kind of childish need ridiculous, especially when coming from adults. Or at least people pretending to be.
There’s so much talk of how Hollywood has turned into a franchise factory. A cold, lifeless machine churning out copy/paste sequels, reboots, & re-imaginings. A world where Terminator 5, Furious 7, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Fantastic Four 2.0 and Marvel Cinematic Movie #14 duke it out for cinematic dominance. Film fans were fed up. They wanted to rage against the machine. Mad Max: Fury Road was the movie they pointed to and said “more films like this!” More movies that use less CGI and feature strong characters like Furiosa. And the collective box office obsession from fans of the George Miller action masterpiece is because they want a sequel?
Talk about completely missing the point.
If sequels are all you want, you can have them. Let’s just wring all the creative fuel out of Mad Max. Let’s do another two more so we can have another trilogy. Or better yet, take one story and stretch it out into a three-part epic and turn it into a nine-hour experience. Mad Max: Fury Road – The Desolation of Thunderdome.
I could almost buy the weak-ass excuse of Mad Max fans caring so much about the box office because they want to feel validated. But if it’s nothing more than wanting to cross a particular threshold so that George Miller can get another installment, then you’ve lost me. This is not the kind of behavior we should be endorsing.
Maybe film fans, fanatics, and fanboys are a lost cause. We blame Disney for buying Marvel Studios and turning it into a three movie per-year intellectual property distributor. For taking Star Wars and delivering voyages to a galaxy far, far away every year. Everyone talks about how the Marvel movie model has forever changed the blockbuster paradigm… but this is what people want.
Even the Mad Max fans who claim to believe in some kind of superior Summer blockbuster. Don’t you want to see George Miller do something different? The man has shown he is well capable of directing other kinds of movies. Do you want him shackled to this franchise churning out installments until his inevitable demise? Do you want George Miller to suffer the same fate as Peter Jackson? Saddled to a tired franchise, churning out lifeless, lamentable installments?
Yes. I think you do.
All you want is more of the same. This sick, unquenchable thirst for the same thing over and over again. A vast, unending hunger that consumes you all. This is the film industry that you want. Where Pacific Rim gets five more installments. Where Vin Diesel will be doing Furious movies in a N0S powered wheelchair. Where Star Wars is in cinemas, on television, and on your gaming console of choice simultaneously.
Everything, everywhere, all the time. A fan base constantly gorging themselves from the franchise conveyor belt. A diet of empty calories from familiar films. Movies served in disposable white paper cartons to be consumed and discarded before immediately wandering ‘when can I have another?’ It’s disgusting, and frankly, disappointing.
Anghus Houvouras is a North Carolina based writer and filmmaker. His latest work, the novel My Career Suicide Note, is available from Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.
https://youtu.be/OhIX4mwDwtM?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
