Studios Are Getting Lazier
When I am sick, as I was last weekend, I need mindless entertainment. I will put on a movie I have seen before, lay on my couch, and wallow in misery. After I posted my review last week, that is precisely what I did. I put on 2008's "Wall-E." As fate would have it, earlier in the week, Disney announced they were moving forward with a sequel to one of their original movies, "Coco 2."
Let's just say I have some thoughts.
First of all, "Coco" doesn't need a sequel. The movie ends perfectly. Miguel gets back to his family and is able to restore his great-great-grandfather's legacy. The moment he sings "Remember Me" to Coco, his great-great-grandmother, is one of the most beautiful Pixar ever put on screen. What need would there be for Miguel or anyone to cross over to the land of the dead again?
I know why Disney is doing this. It is seen as a safe bet. "Coco" was a massive success in 2017, so they want to make more money. Just last year, "Moana 2," a movie that was supposed to be a TV series, was a gigantic money maker for the studio. Other films like "Toy Story" have had many successful sequels. Disney is a company and they want to make money. I get it, but they could do better.
"Coco" was an original movie that was made with love. I would love to see Disney return to these types of films, but they have this habit of squeezing as much money out of everything they own. "Toy Story" should have ended after the third one. Was "Toy Story 4" good? Sure, but the end of the third, where Andy gives his toys to Bonnie before leaving for college, was perfect. And they are making a FIFTH!!
Studios can't keep putting out sequel after sequel and expect the original movies to succeed. They use these failures as a reason to keep pumping out sequels (and I say this as someone who sees these sequels). Honestly, I am not your typical moviegoer. I am more likely to see an original movie than a sequel. "Black Bag" was an original movie; I loved it, and it is one of the year's best movies. It made less than $10 million on its opening weekend.
It's not just Disney; all studios make safe choices. They have billions of dollars, but that is not enough. I would love to see at least one of the big studios take big swings (smaller ones are doing it all the time). The movie industry is a better place when it is a place of variety.
