Is Hollywood running out of ideas or just afraid to try?

When I was a child and a teenager I remember that sunday was the highlight of my week. My mum would give me 10 Deutschmark, which were back then enough for a ticket and popcorn, and I would head to the cinema with my friends. Some movies transmited their story with such an intensity, that we would feel the magic for days. My fascination for story telling was born back then.

This is why the developement we are seeing these days pains me, as business is starting to overpower art in shocking dimensions. Of course movies and tv shows are business and where there is money involved a different way of thinking kicks in, but these days we are more and more experiencing what I like to call "movie-cloning".

Let me get this straight: I am not speaking of a remake of a 50 year old movie, that can be reinterpreted thanks to new technology or social changes. I am speaking of remaking a movie within 5 years of the original (sometimes even less). Don't get me wrong, a lot of these remakes are quiet enjoyable, but do we really need to get the same movie twice? Off hand I remember at least 10 movies, where this has been done in the last 10 years and the frequency is rising (By the way this is being done in all directions Hollywood picking up European Movies and viceversa).

I have a theory as to why this is being done: What has worked once will work twice! It is really a simply plan: Take a small movie, which has been received well and has received positiv criticts, put in a few well known actors and add some money to the original budget. The result is a bigger version of what has already worked. As you knew the movie worked before, you minimize risk and end up with a decent earning.

This being said the question has to be: Are movies barely another business or should they be art? Trust me, working in the economy sector I am not naive and I am well aware the most things revolve around money and making money, but still I wonder if people merely interested earnings should really get into movie making instead of telecommunications, real estate or whatever the booming sectors are these days.

Also when I say "art" I don't mean barely those independant movies shown is small cinemas with old fashioned movie posters on the wall. When I say "art" I am talking of the movies that accompany you for various days. The movies that make you laugh and cry with their characters,  movies that inspire you to do something you never dared, but always dreamed of.

Luckily there are still a lot of people making movies like this and this is my way of supporting them. As I fear that as time goes by the battle will become harder for them to fight, against the mere profit-hunting sharks.

You may not agree with me, but let me pop another question to finalize this article: What do movies like Star Wars, Titanic, Avatar and Lord of the Rings have in common? Before being made all were considered crazy ideas and the general opinion was that these movies were going to be financial disasters and fail, but what happened instead is movie history. So maybe some crazy or shall I say creativ ideas are worth the risk, even if money is involved.

Dear Production companies, please thinks about that!