Why Is Hollywood, Like, So '80s Right Now?

By Dodai Stewart  |  March 19, 2010 | 6:30pm
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In fashion, the ’80s have been back for a while; in Hollywood, the ’80s are here to stay. Forthcoming reimaginings (this year alone) include The Karate Kid, Clash Of The Titans, Tron and Wall Street. Innovative!

Have people forgotten than much of the ’80s sucked? For every heartwarmer like Breakfast Club and ET, there were clunkers like Jason Takes Manhattan and the Garbage Pail Kids Movie. That’s what happens when you value dollars over talent.

As Gina Piccalo writes for The Daily Beast:

Surely nostalgia is largely to blame for all this recycling. Generation X is now middle-aged and ready to revisit its formative years. Or so studio marketers hope.

Clearly movies are a business, and relying on tested formulae is easy money. But some movies which did well this past year — The Hangover; Avatar; Julie & Julia — were not remakes, or retrofitted, or based on childhood toys. (Unlike, say, Star Trek, Transformers, GI Joe and Alvin & The Chimpmunks.)

But isn’t Hollywood is most magical when it’s creative, unexpected and new? Isn’t it wonderful when stories like Precious and The Hurt Locker rise above the 12th version of Friday the 13th? Obviously filmmaking is a balance between art and commerce. And maybe you’re thinking, it’s not that bad — even though Lethal Weapon 5, Battleship (based on the board game), and a 21 Jump Street movie are in the works. But remember the old saying: You can’t have a future if you’re stuck in the past. Oh, and Jennifer Lopez in a remake of Overboard? Huge mistake.

The ’80s, Part II [The Daily Beast]
Jennifer Lopez goes ‘Overboard’ [The Hollywood Reporter]

 
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