Are Remakes, Sequels, and Reboots Lazy Creativity or Demand Response? EP33

Episode 33 Transcript

What's up everybody? This is Chris Kubbernus. Hold on, that's my friend over here. This is Jason Donnelly today on the Marketing Combat Podcast. We have a fun one and I am excited to hear what Chris's take on this is. So Chris, please introduce today's show and tell us what we're fighting about. Thank you so much, Chris Kubbernus. I am Jason Donnelly. no, now we're in opposite world. This actually kind of can, you might be a remake of Chris Kubbernus, because that's actually what we're talking about today is like remakes, sequels.

prequels in the film industry world, in the media world, are they any good or are they just bankrupt creative ideas that nobody wants to see, nobody's interested in, and we just want original content back? So that is the debate today. I'm gonna say that remakes, sequels, prequels are amazing. They are the best thing on the planet and we should have more of them. We should absolutely have more of them and...

less original content. And I'll tell you why we should have more remakes. So I know Jason, I gave you the easy one. Listen, the reason why we should have more remakes than sequels and prequels is because everything always was a sequel, remake, prequel. They might be wrapped in an IP and a property, but the reality is is that us as consumers, we've made this happen. It's not by accident. It's not like, the movie studios have like, they're shoving this stuff down our throats.

No, we're buying these things. So they've recognized very rightly that, when we do a remake, when we do a prequel, a sequel, people buy, people go to the cinema, they watch it on Netflix, they download it, they're interested in the trailers, they're interested in the hype around it, and people are not interested in original content. Because if this wasn't the truth, they would switch strategies. They just wanna make money. And we forced their hand and just bought tickets to these things. And so it's our fault as consumers.

We haven't supported independent cinema. We haven't supported new creative ideas. And as a result, the studios will only give us those remakes, those guaranteed box office hits, because we stopped going to the cinema. Netflix, Disney +, all of these solutions, those, I mean, Disney +, those have been reactions to us mindlessly gobbling up Netflix from home instead of getting our asses off our seats, going down to the cinema and watching movies and sub

supporting an industry that we want to see original content from and going to those cinemas and seeing original movies and supporting that. No, we're a lazy bunch of sons of bitches. We sat at home watching Netflix, watching remakes, watching sequels. And when we did go to the cinema, it was remakes, it was sequels. So the industry reacted and said, okay, if we're going to make any money here, I guess we better do this because movies are not cheap. Advertising's not cheap. All of these things.

Actors are not cheap. Everything's got more expensive, including production. And as a result, we need to do this. So that's why I think remakes and sequels are good and will continue to be good because they're safe bets. They're what we want, apparently. And until we switch our behavior, until we start to actually support original content and stop turning, turn off Netflix and go to the cinema, we'll continue to get this. And that's, you know, our own damn fault if we think that sequels and prequels are bad.

but I love them. I can't wait for Twisters. I'm so excited for Twisters. It's unbelievable. And Top Gun 2 was amazing. I mean, there's so many good movies that are coming out that Inside Out 2, I Inside Out was amazing. So Inside Out 2, I'm sure is gonna be amazing. Toy Story 5 is coming out soon. I mean, these are great. So, okay, if we just wanted to debate remakes, I mean, those are awesome because they give us a new era onto something that, you know, with new light and new cultural backgrounds. I didn't really mind the Ghostbusters.

all female edition. didn't really mind the oceans eight. I think that new directors, new people, new ideas to give us a fresh perspective. you know, that's, we've always done that. mean, people have always like.

putting their own spin on a classic food dish or a piece of art or a book, a story. I everything is an iteration upon an iteration. The Bible isn't all original. The Bible is a bunch of other stuff that's been put together from other things. So like, that's what we do as people. We build upon and build upon and build upon. Yeah, that's it. I know I'm over my time limit.

Jason, tell me why remakes and sequels and prequels are the scum of the earth. It's lazy creativity. Let me look in the camera and say that again. Lazy creativity. Just imagine, like let's just think of one movie in particular, The Matrix. Perfection. Every other movie that The Matrix comes out with is garbage and they're doing a fifth one. Stop it. All of the ads that are out there are just bringing back characters so that they can see mean girls.

Mean Girls are in all kinds of ads these days. They're coming out with a new movie, musical. It's all the same shit and they just keep pushing it down our throats. It's lazy creativity. A bunch of people back in the day did all these cool things and brand new things and same like storyline but different characters and different exciting experiences. And now it's just like, let's do Karate Kid.

17 with different people, different backgrounds, different characters. It's all the same thing and it's bothersome and it's lazy creativity. And I would love to see a world where people actually came up with these incredible, fantastic landscapes of content that we could.

watch and be taken away to not just watch and expect the same thing that we already watched 10 years ago because we already know what's gonna happen. He's gonna teach him karate, he's gonna fight a bunch of bullies, he's gonna win. It's the same story and it's the same thing across so many things and it's just boring and lazy and I hate it and I want creativity to reign again. Just do better. Creatives, I'm looking at the camera directly at you.

Do better. Come up with your own ideas. Stop taking old stuff and throwing them in your ads thinking you're brilliant. It's just a copy of a copy of a copy. Do fun stuff. Do exciting stuff. Do things that'll blow people's minds, not just follow us the same storyline that you saw when you were a kid. You're like, you know, it'd be fun if we made a 70 year old Tom Cruise do a movie again. Come on.

That's my thought. I don't think it's the creative's fault. give a little, creatives, I give you more credit than that. I think it's a system of consumerism that's probably the problem here. And like I said, I put it back on us. We buy it. You're saying I'm the problem. Yes, you are. You're always the problem, Jason. If we stop buying this crap, then they won't sell it. Supply and demand. So it's like, if we didn't go to see Top Gun 2, if we didn't go to see Karate Kid 17, yeah, if we didn't go and...

put our hard earned dollars in these places, then eventually the studios will go, okay, we got to invest in original creativity then. And we got to change our business model again. But right now this business model seems to be working. I think there's a change on the horizon. I think that there's only so many copies of copies that you can do, I think. But I mean, we sort of always have a, the reality is like,

We're looking at it through this lens, whereas if you go back 20, 30 years, they were getting cinema ideas or stories from novels, books, stories, short stories. mean, Stephen King books, all these sort of things that we think is original content is because it came from a different source than a film. And it wasn't necessarily a copy and a copy and a remake and a remake. There was a different well to get your water from. And now the well is easier to get water from.

the remake well, the IP well, the brand content that we already know works well, well. And that's where I think things will change and they'll start to go, okay, we gotta go to a different well because this well's dried up. It's not giving us any results anymore. Could you imagine in the next five to 10 years, all of our movies and film and cinema is coming from TikTok inspired. So a bunch of people doing dances and stuff and they're like, making a movie. And we go to the theater because we remember.

We won't go to the theater anymore. We're single -handedly killing that industry. like, there's... I don't... I really think, like, the cinema's in a big... They're in trouble. I mean, that's just the reality is they're in a kerfuffle because nobody's going to cinema anymore and they're not gonna pay those prices. And the speed of which to... from cinema to on -demand is so short. Like, there's some things that are coming out on cinema and two weeks later, they're on demand. It's like, it doesn't...

really give us an incentive to go see things in the theater. So they're doing everything wrong, in my opinion. They need to have things stay in the theater for six, seven months like they used to. It used to be that you saw, when you saw it, you had to go see Titanic in the theater, and it was there for like six or seven months. I mean, you had to go, it's a three hour movie as well, you had to go there multiple times if you were into it, and see it in the theater for six or seven months before it was on DVD.

or on VHS, and that's, they need to go back to that supply and demand. They need to cap the supply and try to get that demand back to have people go support movies. But they're worried about losing all the revenue and sort of pirating as well, right? So I don't know, man, I don't think I have the answer. I'm not in the film industry, much smarter people do. But I think that if I was them, I'd be trying to change my business. What's everybody out there think? Do you think that creativity is dead and sequels and...

remakes and are just overtaking society because of a money grab? Tell us in the comments. Reach out, send us an email, say hello, and we'll see you tomorrow. See you guys. Thanks for tuning in.