Ghost Rider 2?! And Hollywood reboots.

[Soma Taozi]

So as I was surfing the internet today (my date blew me off so I had time to kill) I was shocked to see a trailer for Ghost Rider 2 Spirit of Vengeance. Now I am not sure about you folks or maybe it was because I am a girl, but I went to see the first movie with my brothers and I was shocked at how terrible that film was. I am not hating on Nicolas Cage (have you seen the Wickerman?), but that entire movie was pretty dumb.

Also I could never see the point of it in the first place. I had never really heard of Ghost Rider when it first came out, so it seemed to me like Hollywood was making another movie like Daredevil or Electra (need I remind you of those movies?). Both those movies were pretty terrible too (especially Electra).

When I went to see Daredevil, I was confused on who the hell this superhero was. It seemed to me that there was a myriad of other, more well-known superheroes, to choose from to make a movie. But then Daredevil set itself up for a sequel…but it never happened. One could say the Electra was the sequel…but it was more like a spin off.

Ghost Rider was pretty much the same way. A hero I never heard of which set itself up for a sequel at the end, but like Daredevil, it never happened…until now. Suddenly out of the blue, we are getting a sequel for Ghost Rider?

I am not saying the movie is going to be bad, but Ghost Rider 2 is defiantly going into the category of sequels that were made years later for no reason. Ghost Rider was a summer blockbuster, and unless those movies make a TON of money (Transformers?) they don’t make sequels for them. And even if they do…if happens a couple of years later.

The first Ghost Rider was released in February of 2007. The second one will be released in February of 2012. Five years after the first one! The time between the two movies is a preschooler.

So why is Hollywood making this movie? Did Ghost Rider do well enough to even warrant a sequel? Not in my opinion at least. Personally I don’t believe Hollywood is making this movie because they want to add something new or original to the series or even want to correct the mistakes from the first film. If you believe that you need to know how the world works…and I am NOT talking about plate tectonics!




Hollywood is making this movie because it may make them a quick buck. How? Because it is a recognizable title and since there is so much competition these days, Hollywood needs to use titles people will know and remember because there is so much other stuff out there. Think about it.

These days there’s:

Video on Demand, Mobile Videos, Netflix, Netflix Watch Now, Satellite Radio, Digital Cable, HD Cable, Blue Ray Plays, Red Box, Hulu, I-tunes, Podcasts, I-Phones, Online Webseries, I-Max Theaters, Video Games, Wii, X-Box, PlayStation, Video Games you play online, Facebook, Youtube, Porn, Bloggers, Vlogs, streaming videos, and the Zoo.

The list could go on and on. So all this stuff really has had a blurring effect on pop culture. So much so that we are easily distracted from movies…thus Hollywood has less time to make their own money back.

If a movie has a title people recognize then it will add a lot of financial security to the project. Although remakes and sequels are in no way new things. People have started noticing a large amount of them in the past five years. In fact, 96% of all Hollywood movies made in the last five years have been remakes, reboots and reimaginings. And that doesn’t even count sequels. In fact, this has gotten so bad I am not putting it past Hollywood to make Chia Pets: the Movie.

Don’t believe me?

Let’s take a look at some movies that are remakes or were made simply because they had a recognizable brand name:

Clash of the Titians, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Get Smart, Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Planet of the Apes, Starsky & Hutch, The Dukes of Hazard, Poseidon, Scooby-Doo, Bewitched, Fat Albert, Fantastic Four, Shaggy Dog, GI Joe, Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Dawn of the Dead, Speedracer, Deathrace, Rollerball, Karate Kid (with the girl), the remake of the remake of the Karate Kid, Piranha, My Bloody Valentine, The Wickerman (how did it get burned?), Robin Hood, The Wolfman, Robin Hood again, Sherlock Holmes, The Stepfather, When a Stranger call, The Hills have Eyes, Land of the Lost, House of Wax, Ocean’s Eleven, War of the Worlds, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Curious George, Psycho, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Pink Panther, The Stepford Wives, I am Legend, The Longest Yard, Batman, Superman, Spiderman, TMNT, The Hulk, The Hulk the remake of the reboot, Fame, Miami Vice, Charlotte’s Web, The Heart Break Kid, Hairspray, The Omen…and so on….oh and take almost every movie that I mentioned and make a sequel or two…and there you have it.


So what is my question?


I guess I am asking if anyone agrees with me? Are you getting sick of all the remakes, sequels, reboots, and reimaginings. I sure as hell am.


Also…since Ghost Rider 2 is what spawned this little rant of mine. I have to ask if anyone liked the trailer for Ghost Rider and is planning to see the 2nd one? And if you are, why?

Oh here is the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebCawfEn ... y_received

I won’t even mention the ending.

On a side bar: Yay! I started my first ever thread!

[mcred23]

So why is Hollywood making this movie? Did Ghost Rider do well enough to even warrant a sequel? Not in my opinion at least.

-snip-

Hollywood is making this movie because it may make them a quick buck.

You pretty much answered it all right there. It might not have gotten great reviews, but it made $228 million, so clearly there is a market for it.

As for the overall remakes thing... eh, I guess I've gotten numb to it. Some of them annoyed me, but I also enjoyed a few as well. But for the most part, I really don't care since I rarely go to the movies anymore anyway (And that's almost entirely due to ticket prices ).

[Mu La Flaga]

I can sort of agree in some cases of sequels, some remakes.

Not all of them though it somewhat depends at times.

For instance.
Spiderman 2 was a pretty good sequel
A bad one would be Revenge of the Fallen

Remakes Zach Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake being a good example.
(that is what Resident Evil should have been)

Ghost Rider to me was ok, it could be better, maybe the sequel will fix that, maybe not.
And some characters that are obscure get movies made for the reason people can learn about them via their big screen movies.

So there is that side of things, I mean for instance DC are only now doing this more with Green Lantern for instance, where as most of the big movies where Superman or Batman.

DareDevil the first was ok, but the Elektra sequel and other stuff just went so downhill.