Hollywood’s grim visions of the future
Jan 6, 2015, 1:25 PM | Updated: 1:26 pm
The final list of top Hollywood money makers for 2014 delivers some bad news for American culture: not one of these movies counts as even vaguely original or realistic. Seven of the big ten are either sequels, or remakes, or both; five are based on comic books; two more—the delightful “Lego Movie” and the wretched “Transformers: Age of Extinction” are inspired by popular children’s toys.
The most successful movies—eight of ten, in fact—portray a grim future with humanity menaced by dark, conspiratorial forces. That’s the basic set-up in “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Transformers,” the “X-Men” film—”Days of Future Past,” “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,”
“The Amazing Spider Man 2,” and even “Big Hero 6.”
The emphasis on a dark view of apocalyptic days ahead may actually reflect Hollywood’s own troubled future.