Hollywood original films present a more appealing production all around compared to adaptive movies.
Adaptive movies are films with characters or storylines based on previously published books, television shows or even other movies. Original movies, however, require an innovative screenwriter to create unique ideas that have never been seen before in order to build an outline for the production.
Senior sociology major Rashad Harris prefers original movies to movies based off of books. “Original movies spark a trend and will sometimes be duplicated or advance into a sequel,” Harris said.
Original productions are more creative because they involve more work. Directors, actors and producers of new films are responsible for examining their audience’s interests so they can catch the viewer’s attention from the beginning. Adaptive films simply follow another author’s already famous work.
When people watch movies, they instantly turn into movie critics. Adaptive films will always invoke negative feedback. Rarely do viewers find a movie better than the book. For example, no matter how captivating the movies are, fans of the series “Harry Potter” will always voice concerns on how the film series left out important details or events.
Some authors refuse to have their books turned into movies, and others allow adaptations but are frustrated by the results. In an interview with Stacy Conrdt on the book “I am Legend,” author Richard Matheson said, “I don’t know why Hollywood is fascinated by my book when they never care to film it as I wrote it.”
Instead of delivering a fascinating, authentic movie, directors of adaptive films steal the basic storyline from authors and modernize the details to attract more viewers. Original movie producers, however, focus all their attention on alluring their audience, since the production comes with no prior expectations.
Also, unless the films are brilliantly gratifying, movie lovers express boredom when sequels continue in a never-ending cycle. The first original movie is, more often than not, claimed to be the best one. “Shrek,” for example, was released in 2001. The film received high praise, but the fourth movie, “Shrek Forever After,” received little attention because people believed the sequel had gone overboard.
“Movies based off a successful novel tend to be more popular, since they already have an established fan base,” said freshman biology major Waqas Ahmed. “Personally, I do not care; when I go to the movies, I watch the one with the best plot line.”
Original movies are challenging in many ways. The production of an authentic film requires creative minds, visionary directors and well-equipped actors to compete with adaptive works. That said, original films often are structured with great thought and deliver a more engaging screening.
With Hollywood now being filled with sequels and movies based on books, due to the lack of creativity, original movies are hard to come by. Nevertheless, when the entertainment industry releases an original film, viewers won’t be disappointed. When deciding between the two, one should always pick an original work.
