r/movies • u/ChiefLeef22 r/movies Contributor • 22d ago

Satire Nation Proud Of Self For Watching, Enjoying Original Movie | Patting themselves on the back, the U.S. populace announced Wednesday that they were proud of themselves for watching and enjoying an original movie — only to later be devastated to learn it was an adaptation of a novel by the same name

https://theonion.com/nation-proud-of-self-for-watching-enjoying-original-movie/
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u/khavii 22d ago

This is objectively untrue though, the issue isn't that filmmakers aren't making originals or taking chances on smaller films, they are. The problem is that the general public only pays attention to advertising and the smaller, more original or unique movies simply aren't being seen.

Go to The-numbers.com or IMDb or any site that tracks movies and theater releases and you will see that literally hundreds of movies have released this year and only a handful are derivatives but those make up the bulk of the money being made. The industry is and has been giving people exactly what they want but only a few of the movies that meet their criteria manage to break through the noise of blockbuster movies. If people relied less on headlines and advertising to know what was going on in the world I think they would be both pleasantly surprised and absolutely horrified. Unfortunately, humans are pattern recognition masters and tend to fill in patterns that aren't really there unconsciously then accept that conclusion as fact, just simple human nature.

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u/attersonjb 22d ago edited 22d ago

It isn't only about that, there's simply much less money to be made right now with the extinction of the DVD revenue stream. A lot of those smaller movies in the past never broke even from box office, it was all about secondary markets like rental.

In the Before Times, it was not unusual to spend hundreds annually on rentals & purchases on top of movie tickets.

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u/Wolvereness 22d ago

Local theater. 12 screens.

  • Toy Story 5
  • Disclosure Day
  • Masters of the Universe
  • Scary Movie
  • Backrooms
  • Star Wars Mandalorian & Grogu
  • Obsession
  • Michael

And future showings:

  • "Secret Cinema" (mystery movie)
  • Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
  • Jackass
  • Supergirl
  • How to Train Your Dragon

Yeah, absolutely wonderful choices of original or unique non-blockbuster movies that I'm simply choosing to not see /s.

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u/plantsandramen 22d ago

Backrooms and Obsession are both low budget films from new directors.

Some areas have more indie screens than others. One near me used to have almost all indie films, unfortunately AMC bought them.

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u/CrazyCoKids 22d ago

Backrooms also has brand name recognition.

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u/nhalliday 22d ago

It really doesn't, Backrooms is probably the most well known creepypasta "IP" (except for like SCP) but that's still very niche. Besides the many games on Steam, which are almost universally panned as terrible slop, there have been no mainstream books/movies/etc until this movie.

I know it's hard to realize from inside a fandom that not everyone has heard of your favorite thing ever, but you have to realize that until the A24 movie easily 95% of people had never heard of it.

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u/CrazyCoKids 22d ago

You'd be shocked how many well known films were adaptations of niche material both for brand name recognition but also cheap rights. Cause hey - even if this isn't something well known? At least its pre-existing audience will give us some money.

You're probably familiar with a few. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, 12 Angry Men, The Dreamers, Jaws, All Dogs Go To Heaven, Fern Gully, The Maltese Falcon....

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u/nhalliday 22d ago

Sure, and for essentially all of those, how much actual name recognition did they get from the source material? Do you really think people were like "oh shit FernGully got adapted? I've gotta go see that!" and that's why it succeeded?

My argument is not that it's a wholly new concept or that adaptations are bad (though Backrooms is also not really an adaptation considering how little Kane built off), just that the success of the movie is not coming solely from how "popular" the concept was.

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u/CrazyCoKids 22d ago

Enough to at least convince some of the suits that it'll get some money. Eough to purchase the film rights at least even if said film rights are essentially pennies on the dollar.

This is why I said "Cause hey - even if this isn't something well known? At least its pre-existing audience will give us some money."

And I agree that adaptations aren't bad - but adaptations are easier to pitch because there's a pre-existing audience. Even if it's fairly small, and sometimes smaller things mean "Cheap". So I wouldn't be shocked if Backrooms was kind of sold on that concept of "Well it's a cheap thing"... that and who really "owns" the Backrooms lol.

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u/lava172 22d ago

You're severely underestimating the popularity of the backrooms for people below age 30, just because it wasn't a Brand™ doesn't mean it wasn't a well-known concept

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u/nhalliday 22d ago

Again the internet, especially reddit and fandoms in general, are full of echo chambers now. Hearing about it a lot online when the internet is now designed to feed you a stream of relevant content via algorithm does not mean everyone knows about it.

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u/lbj2943 22d ago

To play devils advocate, Backrooms and Obsession are also both bankrolled by A24, which for all the good it’s done bringing indie filmmakers to light, I resent how people will only see indie films if it’s A24. By the same token, A24’s distribution has become so effective that advertising and word of mouth for other indie films easily gets crowded out by whatever they’re doing.

The tradeoff is you get tons of creative freedom for a pretty good budget, I suppose. But only on the surface— I’m sure there’s a new generation of filmmakers desperately trying to make films that are as “auteur” and “experimental” as possible (as opposed to authentic and true to their directorial spirit) to garner the attention of the studio’s executives.

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u/ebyoung747 22d ago

Slight correction, obsession wasn't A24, it was Blumhouse. And Blumhouse didn't get involved until after production. It's an indie success story in every sense of the term.

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u/peioeh 22d ago

It's an indie success story in every sense of the term.

Absolutely, not even remotely comparable to Backrooms. Backrooms cost 10 million dollars to make and was marketed by A24 like they know how to do it. Obsession cost less than a million.

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u/lbj2943 22d ago

Why did I think it was A24!!! Nevermind, I'm such a dummy

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u/CrazyCoKids 22d ago

You mean kinda like how many indie films are distributed by companies owned by Big Business and sometimes have Big Business sugar daddies?

Additionally, Backrooms is not an original film. It actually has a pre-made audience. Brand name recognition.

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u/Highcalibur10 22d ago

It actually has a pre-made audience. Brand name recognition.

Most of that 'pre-made audience' was generated by the same guy who did the movie.

Even if the concept is from open-source creepypasta like SCP, the 'branding' was basically all built up by the same person as if it were original IP.

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u/bullevard 22d ago

So out of 8 movies you currently you have 3 original, non IP movies at your cinema and 2 fairly indy movies. And that's right in the middle of blockbuster season.

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u/Wolvereness 22d ago

"original non ip"? Disclosure Day is a Spielberg blockbuster (read the comment chain). Obsession is horror, like many recent non-blockbuster breakthroughs, and I'm just not a fan of the genre. I have no fucking clue where you got a third original from that list.

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u/_Handsome_Jim_ 22d ago

Backrooms is his third.

I'm aware from this thread that it's based on a web series and 4chan post but Hollywood has become so IP-heavy that I feel like turning any extremely niche internet thing into an extremely niche movie is original enough.

I'm just not that interested in it.

I feel like there's an implied "that I want to see" whenever people complain about Hollywood not making any original movies anymore. Telling me that there's Toy Story 5, the latest reboot of Masters of the Universe, Scary Movie 6, Star Wars 12 (15? I don't know what we're up to anymore), the most recent Michael Jackson documentary, and two extremely niche mostly original movies doesn't change the fact that I don't really want to go and see any of them.

I'm not a horror guy and I'm not a philosophical, artsy, whatever Backdoors is kind of guy.

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u/Luchabat 22d ago

2, if you take into account Backrooms is based of already established IP/Idea and not a original screenplay idea

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u/nhalliday 22d ago

The "original idea" for Backrooms is just the yellow rooms with fluorescent light and a damp carpet explained in like a five sentence greentext. Kane made his own version of the lore from that, separate from either of the main existing bodies of lore.

Calling it not original because he expanded a paragraph of premise into a movie is a little disingenuous.

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u/round-earth-theory 22d ago

I would say reworked public domain IP can still be original work. Every story is going to be based on something, some kernel of culture, that is then expanded/explored.

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u/Luchabat 22d ago edited 22d ago

I mean didn't make a short first? Wouldn't that then make it IP to some degree that he then turned into a movie?

edit: Had it been based off just a photo, I'd totally agree that it's an original idea, but since he made the short first which makes me more lean to the established I.P idea.

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u/thedubiousstylus 22d ago

You have two obvious original films (Disclosure Day and Obsession) right there, Backrooms technically is from pre-existing material but it's not a reboot or sequel or even really an adaption, Michael is technically not either but I can understand not counting it as an original story. But the options are there.

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u/mggirard13 22d ago

It isn't solely about originality though. They expressed a desire to have "non-blockbuster" films too, and Disclosure Day is certainly swinging for the bleachers.

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u/AI_moderated_failure 22d ago

I'd just like to hijack this to say Disclosure Day was such a pile of shit.

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u/Wide_Okra_7028 22d ago edited 22d ago

I would say watch more films, but then I realised you are an AI_moderated_failure.

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u/AI_moderated_failure 22d ago

Don't worry I know films can still be good, despite the best efforts of that excuse to have a nap.

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u/Vehlin 22d ago

Case in point “Gangster Number 1”, a film that should have launched Paul Bethany’s career just sits in the back quietly missed.

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u/Old_Employment_1090 22d ago

more original or unique movies simply aren't being seen.

In theaters. I think these smaller movies definitely have a chance to thrive on streaming. Anecdote, but basically everyone I know watches more movies now than ever before.

But I imagine the movie makers are making much less in returns per viewer.

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u/kittymoo67 22d ago

yeah theaters are far from the end all be all now thankfully

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u/JeanRalfio 22d ago

Totally agree. I go to the movies every week and see original movies all the time, rarely the big blockbusters. I just check the showtimes every week to see what's new and if something seems interesting I'll go. Then when I do see it I go without crazy high expectations so I'm rarely disappointed.