Film news: Hollywood studios don't make movies like Predator anymore
Film News Blitz writer David Bason pines for the days when Hollywood churned out original original blockbusters - and wonders if it will ever return to the golden days of the 1980s.
What happened to original Hollywood blockbusters like Predator?
Blockbuster cinema of the 1980s is enough to make present cinemagoers very jealous indeed and it's high time Hollywood studios started being brash, bold and brave again.
Mainstream cinema has fallen into a pattern. That pattern is sequels, prequels, remakes and reboots.
The major studios are far more fond of banking on an existing property than something new.
Don't get me wrong; I love going to the cinema to watch the latest releases. I soak up the latest studio offerings with giddy anticipation.
However, recently something dawned on me. I've been missing out.
Predator is an example of a bygone era in Hollywood
I realised this sitting in the living room watching John McTiernan's Predator (1987).
This film is well known, and no doubt you are aware it features Arnold Schwarzenegger facing off against an Alien in the heart of the jungle.
Predator rightly goes down as a classic entry in the Sci-fi action genre.
It features all the usual tropes of a Schwarzenegger vehicle: ridiculous one-liners, machismo aplenty and romping action. It's great fun.
Amid watching this film it dawned on me that Predator isn't a sequel, prequel or reboot. It was entirely new.
While it may be full of well-worn tropes of genre, it was by and large, original.
Original blockbusters don't get released anymore.
This fact made me jealous of my father, who was sitting watching Predator with me.
What I'd give to have lived through an era that generated new and exciting blockbusters week after week.
Predator is just the tip of the iceberg. If I had a time machine; I'd travel straight to the premiere of The Empire Strikes Back to experience 'that moment' anew.
Blade Runner, Indiana Jones, The Terminator, Alien etc. The list goes on and on.
Perhaps it is no surprise that these examples are franchises that are constantly repeated in the modern age.
Nostalgia is wonderful, but I'd take something new over nostalgia any day of the week.
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Hollywood has abandoned original films
Look at the emergence of John Wick for an example of how going in with something new can do wonders for spectacle.
It is a rarity on the cinema screen. However, streamers seem to be taking chances on new properties where film studios won't.
One example of this is the Extraction franchise starring Chris Hemsworth; a great fun romp which I couldn't help but think would have been 10 times better on the big screen.
It's no surprise Extraction did huge numbers for Netflix and picked up a sequel.
Maybe I'm being too cynical, or too picky.
Alas, I know it's a long shot and will probably never happen, but can Hollywood studios start being brave again?
I'll be first in line at the box office if they do.
