Real Life

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 448.

Sequels and Adaptations

The Critics

• Many moviegoers base their decisions about what to see on how well or how badly the films are reviewed by critics. Resources such as the Internet Movie Database include a wide range of comparative reviews. Critics - just like actors - have their own fan base and influence on whether a new release will be labeled as a "must-see" or a "don't bother."

• If something works well once, logic would seem to dictate it could not only work well again but could also work in a different medium. Almost 60 percent of a sequel's revenue - even if the content is a rehash - is derived from audiences who loved the original premise and characters. Remakes of earlier films, TV shows and adaptations of novels, however, usually don't turn up as well because the charm and success of the original was either predicated on the audience mind-set at the time (i.e., the 1960s) or a reader's mental casting of the characters, frame of reference and visualizations.

• A review of recent films that have achieved commercial success and awards reveals that many of them embrace content based on real characters and events, because the storylines are already well known by the audience, the attendance at the theater is driven by a dual desire to enhance personal understanding of the facts and to compare how a producer's interpretation of those facts is similar or contrary to their own.