Chief Thoughts
In a world where the same movie is released in theatres over and over again, with the same formula and same plot line, people still line up around the theatre to see these overhyped movies. This isn’t a trailer for the newest summer blockbuster, however, this is happening in real life.
Who can save the people from paying for the same movie over and over?
The people, that’s who.
Avengers: Age of Ultron opened in theatres in the United States over the weekend to much hype from advertising, commercials, and from our friends across the pond in Europe who got the film a few weeks earlier. Despite the majority of my friends making time over the weekend to see the film, I declined to do so. Why is that, you might ask?
Because it’s the same film as the first Avengers movie! In fact, all the Marvel movies, and other superhero based movies that have been released over time have followed the same exact formula time and time again.
Here’s the formula and you tell me if this doesn’t sound like every superhero movie ever made. The movie starts off with a villain terrorizing the city or homeland of the superhero. The superhero then undergoes some internal conflict with their family or superfriends or goes through a human-like conflict, such as developing a love interest, or feelings for somebody or something. Despite all these odds, the superhero finds a way to overcome them and defeats the villain saving the day…for now, all crammed in a two and a half to three hour “epic”.
Sound familiar? Sounds like the basic plot for every superhero movie I’ve ever seen. It’s a tried and tested formula that has stood the test of time and has proven successful time and time again.
Age of Ultron earned about $188 million in its opening US weekend in the box office, which is about $8 million more than what boxer Floyd Mayweather collected in his “fight” against Manny Pacquiao last Saturday. Age of Ultron is projected to have the second highest opening weekend ever, behind the first Avengers film in 2012, which made about $207 million according to CNN Money.
Even though the formula still works, although it seems to be slipping a little bit, it still is the same movie with a different costume. And I am fed up with it. I’m tired of seeing the same superhero movie being made over and over; I’m tired of pointless remakes, reboots, and rehashes constantly being made. I miss the originality of movie scripts.
There are plenty of creative writers in this world that can develop fresh new content that will entertain the public masses. Since the Marvel name isn’t attached to it, it won’t be shoved down everyone’s throats in our media.
Will people begin to realize this soon? It’s possible, as evidenced by the box office numbers, but that’s still a lot of money being spent for an over glorified kids movie. Maybe people will get the hint when the next 37, yes 37, superhero movies are released in the next 5 years, or when the next Avengers movie comes out in 2018, and again in 2019 because they needed to split it in half to milk the cow for all its worth since two and a half hours isn’t nearly enough for the same film we’ve seen before.
If they make a superhero movie with a different formula and plot, I might be more inclined to see it, but at this rate, I’m completely done with this movie genre.
