When you think of an original motion picture, what movie does your mind first land on?
I am not here to discuss Disney channel original movies, so let’s not even go there. What I want to talk about is how of late, there seems to be an endless appetite among movie-going audiences for recycled, repurposed, or interconnected films. This is in no way an indictment of this audience, as I myself am a proud member and want nothing that I say in this article to be in any way seen as a put-down of the franchise establishment. However, it is worth wondering why so many films, especially big-budget, big-star-having films, that have been released in the last decade or so are not actually original ideas.
Most recently, the Brad Pitt-led flick “Bullet Train” hit theaters, and it boasts big names, stylish design, and a seemingly fresh plot. The reality is, though, that the story was originally a Japanese novel, later translated into English and then adapted for the film.
We also see these great, huge franchises like DC or Marvel putting out films and TV shows that are all tied together in a connected universe. In fact, Marvel has so much interconnected content in its series and movies that newcomers to the franchise may find it difficult to dip their toes into the confusing waters.
A complex intellectual property like “Star Wars,” now owned by Disney, is also slowly becoming subject to this trend of an interwoven universe that sees content spliced into a timeline that itself was already confusing enough.
But this digression has gone on long enough. In 2019, Rian Johnson directed “Knives Out,” a fully original film that he himself wrote. It was released to critical acclaim and box office success, despite lacking any support from a large franchise, being any sort of a sequel, or otherwise being based on existing intellectual property. Later this month, “Glass Onion,” the sequel to “Knives Out,” will release for a special one-week theater run from Nov. 23 to 29, before later being put out on Netflix on Dec. 23.
With all that I’ve just brought up, how are we movie-goers supposed to wrestle with the fact that an original idea has now spawned its own franchise?
I think a better question may be: why does it matter?
Honestly, I get just as jazzed as the next guy about a character that I have followed for years featuring in a new movie, interacting with other characters that I have also followed for years. I refer again to Marvel, whose decades-old characters have seen love from fans in practically every medium imaginable.
So, why then was I equally excited to see “Knives Out” back when it released in 2019, when none of the characters had a history with audiences, director Rian Johnson was coming off a completely unrelated franchise (“Star Wars”), and I had never really categorized myself as much of a mystery guy?
I am so glad you asked.
Firstly, the cast. Benoit Blanc, who is now set to appear in the whole “Knives Out” trilogy, courtesy of a massive pay day from Netflix, is played by the uber-talented Daniel Craig, who can slough off the whole Bond-persona with shocking results.
Rising star Ana de Armas fills in the role of reluctant protagonist, playing the part of the nurse who becomes the catalyst through which the truth will be revealed.
The rest of the cast is an ensemble of top-notch talent, all performers who have long set themselves apart from the crowd as being uniquely fit to take on their parts. The story, though, and its originality, is where I think we will find the reason for the success of “Knives Out.”
As early as the 2000s, Rian Johnson had been cooking up the basic concept for “Knives Out.” If you have yet to see it, it is as airtight a whodunit as any I have ever come across, as well as being a sharp-yet-subtle social commentary piece, tugging on the pant legs of satire and dark comedy to keep things interesting. All these details were spread by critics after the film screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, which sparked more audience enthusiasm.
After the undeniable success of “Knives Out” though, where does that leave not only the audience, but also the coming trilogy and “Glass Onion?”
When I first saw “Knives Out,” I was gloriously unburdened with worrying about what may come in the sequel, because, and don’t worry about spoilers, the story wraps itself up nicely, leaving all threads neatly tied up.
Now, though, like the old detectives in classic mystery fiction, Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc finds himself once again in the midst of a (separate) mystery. So, Rian Johnson brings us into a cinematic universe of one person. Our only through-line for the upcoming film is Blanc, and I would assume that this film may end in similar fashion, with every character accounted for and no loose ends to tie up.
Why does it matter, this trouble with original ideas in film and the ever-growing franchises that threaten to entirely swallow them up? I think that it matters because, at the core of the planet of ideas, there is still some molten creative material that can be used to bring fresh concepts to life. You may argue that “Knives Out” is itself a work inspired by previous works and characters. There is a solid point to be made about how every idea is just a distillation or dilution of a previous idea, and even if something seems original it cannot be fully that.
I love original stories. I love stories that have been inspired by past works and genres and that build upon the ideas found there until we the audience are left with a new-ish story that feels original and sparks the pilot-light of joy and wonder in our minds. I love stories that are tied into a universe so big and diverse that some of the works within that universe feel completely different from others. What I don’t love, though, is the looming threat of such welcoming absorption of content that has been repurposed in one way or another that creators are left with no choice but to settle for that reboot, for that sequel, that adaptation.
I really want “Glass Onion” and its own promised sequel to be good, but in the event that it’s not, I sincerely hope that the reason isn’t that somewhere along the way, the franchise took precedence over the story. I believe that “that” is why it matters: the answer to the question from before. Each franchise and our consuming it matters because of the individual stories told inside that franchise. The day will come, and arguably has, when franchises momentarily ignore the individual story in favor of catering to the overall story.
Fiction is beautiful not because it is all made up and not true, but because when you get right down to it, fiction is true. It’s true because we believe in and root for the characters; it’s true because the relationships between characters are real and fluid, and fiction is true because the very idea of it came from some little synapse firing in somebody’s brain.
“Knives Out” may have been inspired by different sources, and Rian Johnson may have relied on the great works of the past to set the groundwork for the story, but I believe that “Knives Out” and its sequels now have a unique responsibility to be different from other franchises. Personally, I hope that every other major player in the movie and TV show franchise game takes notes.
We the people want original ideas on our screens.
