More popular movies will be turned into TV shows in the age of streaming

Restart, remake, revamp, call them whatever you want, Hollywood has spent decades recycling popular franchises and cult favorite movies trying to capture the attention of a new generation.

This trend is nothing new in the entertainment industry. What has changed is its frequency.

“Bates Motel”, “Scream”, “Westworld”, “Fargo”, “Watchmen”, “Teen Wolf”, “What We Do in the Shadows”, “Limitless”, “Lethal Weapon” and “Cobra Kai” are all just a few examples from recent years. And more are in the works.

Shows based on “Alien”, “The Mighty Ducks”, “Snowpiercer”, “A League of their Own” and “The Equalizer” are currently in the works. Then there are shows like “Clarice” and the new show “Lord of the Rings” which are based on books, but which were also blockbuster movies, and Disney’s Marvel and Star Wars series of programs which are related to its film franchises.

“I don’t think it’s because we’re short of good ideas,” said Robert Thompson, professor at Syracuse University and pop culture expert. “I think the reason we see so much of it is that there is so much real estate to fill.”

The combination of more streaming services available to the public than ever before and a massive shift in content consumption habits means Hollywood will become even more dependent on proven franchises than ever before.

Gone are the days of surfing a limited number of channels, looking for something to watch.

Over the past decade, streaming services have disrupted the content pipeline. Cable and network television has a restricted schedule. Daytime talk shows and reruns air in the morning and early afternoon, and new episodes of shows arrive after the evening news. This means that companies can only have a certain number of programs.

Not subject to the 24-hour schedule, streaming consumers watch what they want, when they want. This means that a subscriber can watch an entire season of a show in just a few days or an entire series in a week. Then they are hungry for something else to watch.

With a few exceptions, studios that have chosen to enter the streaming world have provided consumers with all episodes of a TV season ahead of time rather than on a weekly basis. This strategy means that streaming services need to deliver more content to their subscribers than their cable counterparts.

Turning nostalgic movies into long-running TV shows is an easy way to capture audiences and reduce financial risk.

“Development costs are lower,” said Candice Alger, professor at the Creative Media Industries Institute at Georgia State University. “It’s safer to follow a story that has already proven itself and the characters are already developed.”

If the show is successful, like “Fargo” or “Cobra Kai,” studios can continue to produce multiple seasons. If the show fails, the losses are less.

“It’s a great way to develop content without having to deal with the unpredictability or the risk of trying to create a new franchise,” said David Schreiber, Creative Industries and Entertainment Chair at the ‘Belmont University.

Hollywood has long tapped into nostalgia to sell movie tickets or to get viewers to tune into a new show. There is a lot of emotional equity built into it when it comes to franchises, large and small.

Disney used this strategy when launching its Disney + streaming service. The platform plans to launch series based on “The Mighty Ducks”, “Turner and Hooch”, “Monsters Inc.”, “Night at the Museum” and “The Sandlot”, among others.

These shows will allow the public to relive their childhood and share these childhood favorites with their own children.

While there are a number of upcoming TV shows based on movies made in the 2000s or later, many are from the 80s and 90s.

“The ’80s and’ 90s are always at the right time,” said Thompson. “It’s not too far to be forgotten, but not too far [recent]. There are fond memories of these films. “

Not to mention, there is a great marketing bonus that comes from this sentimentality.

Thompson used “Cobra Kai” as an example. The show, which started out as a YouTube series before moving on to Netflix, gets its foot in the door with older audiences who saw “The Karate Kid” when they were younger. It also captures the next generation who watched the movie when it aired on cable TV.

The show also catches the attention of new consumers who are either introduced to content from a parent or by word of mouth.

“The real thing about reboots and remakes is that you’ve already bought and paid for years of marketing dollars,” Thompson said.

These shows are further enhanced when the actors who appeared in the original film return. True to the example of “Cobra Kai”, William Zabka, who played Johnny Lawrence, and Ralph Macchio, who played Daniel LaRusso, returned to be part of the series.

That’s not to say that rebooted shows that don’t bring back the original cast will automatically fail, but people often have a strong emotional attachment to the actors who created iconic characters. This attachment may encourage them to watch the new series.

“We live in a time when people look for authenticity and it happens a little easier when you bring them back [original] actors, ”Schreiber said.