Comment by guitarlimeo 3 days ago
> "And now, in the current era of the remake, which still has to reach the film industry"
You haven't heard of the Disney live-action remakes of the old classics? It's already starting to happen.
What if the 20th century was the unusual time? How much "novel IP" was produced before, in the majority of human history and before? My impression is that inventing unique "3D" characters became common in the modern era. In deep time, people told stories with their cast of characters from their mythology, legends and sages. Folk tales are often written about trope, archetypal characters that are flat and predictable by modern standards.
The expectation that new stories must be set in a freshly created "universe" with fully new characters is quite new. We may be returning to that old mode of storytelling where we repeat more. Just as people still play Shakespeare with new actors each time, why can't we retell a 20th century film with today's actors and technology? And why can't we make sequels about already beloved and known characters? Seems quite natural in fact.
We now have a new canon for this era, and it consists of superman, and Darth Vader etc.
The one (big) difference of course is that in the old times there was no concept of copyright and trademarks so people were free to recombine characters as they wished.
I am not at all surprised. It's pure exploitation of a bias of human psychology: we do not like to leave our comfort zone, that's a fact. Why should they try to risk making something original, when remaking stuff that already exists guarantees you an audience and packed theatres? We had the decade of superhero flicks, we're entering the decade of remakes and re-imagining of beloved franchises of the past 100 years.