There’s no denying the fact that J.J. Abrams has had one hell of a career thus far. Sure, it’s the popular thing to naysay the guy’s work and dismiss it as shallow blockbuster garbage, the he’s made an amazing impact on the industry — one that will resonate for years to come. That impact comes in no small part due to his work in remakes and reboots.
The big ones that come to mind are the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises — which were both rebooted under his direction within a decade’s time. What’s more is that both franchise’s emerged with a renewed vigor after his involvement, and that’s not a coincidence. Even more recently, Abrams also had his hand in the critically acclaimed Westworld series on HBO, which itself was a remake of the Michael Crichton film of the same name from decades back.
So what does this mean for Abrams and his career? Does he plan on continuing reimagining these other worlds and turn them into highly marketable franchises? Speaking with People, Abrams expressed his desire to go beyond the world of remakes and reboots, and continue creating more original material.
“You know, I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten involved in things that I loved when I was a kid. In fact, even Westworld, which we’re here for tonight, is one of them. But I don’t feel any desire to do that again. I feel like I’ve done enough of that that I’m more excited about working on things that are original ideas that perhaps one day someone else will have to reboot.â€
This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. Even in his reboots, Abrams manages to bring a lot of his own sensibilities to the table, which is something that he believes in, based on his other statements to the outlet:
“You know, I do think that if you’re telling a story that is not moving anything forward, not introducing anything that’s relevant, that’s not creating a new mythology or an extension of it, then a complete remake of something feels like a mistake.â€
Indeed, it’s not as though his creativity has been exclusive to reboots and remakes. While he’s definitely made a bigger mark on the industry doing remakes, we still have to keep in mind that he hit it big a long time ago with original shows like Alias and Lost — shows that helped shape the pop culture zeitgeist of the time, which is no small feat.
Either way, let’s hope that Abrams’ foray into more original material will fare well. He’s a great talent in Hollywood, and it’d be a shame for it all to go to waste on subpar material.
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