PROLIFERATION OF CONTENT

What Is Proliferation Of Content?

Rapid increase in the number or amount of something

Trends

Hollywood executives analyse the market to see what works, what sells and what they can imitate, steal or build on to capitalise on current market trends. Genres, cycles and trends can all overlap. Trends that are particularly popular at the moment and currently exploited by Hollywood are the superhero cycle of films and particularly since Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, the tendency for superhero films to get darker in theme and tone.

Remakes and Reboots

Hollywood has begun plundering its own back catalogue in earnest, as well as seeking out popular world cinema films which, because of subtitling, will not make money at the US box office. So thought the French film The Untouchables did great business around the world, Hollywood is already preparing a remake to cash in on the American audience.

Franchises, sequels and prequels

Hollywood’s complete and utter dependence on franchises, sequels and prequels can be demonstrated scarily efficiently by the 2012 top ten. Every single film is part of a franchise with recognisable brand recognition. Repetition of characters, narratives, stars, and genres emerge in the top ten from James Bond, Men In Black, etc.

Adaptations

Aside from the current popular trend for teen literature and comic book adaptations, Hollywood is increasingly on the look out for more profitable properties to adapt from television series, books, fairy-tales and video-games.

Is there anything left?

So if we set aside all the trends, remakes, reboots, franchises, sequels, prequels, and adaptations, what is left and do they actually make any money?

Overall it seems that Hollywood is happy to give audiences more of the same and on the whole, we are happy to take what they give us.