How many Spider-Man movies do you think you’ll see in your life?
It’s a strange concept to wrap your head around. Sequels are the necessarily evil that film fans grin and bear – they offer more of what you like, only bigger, more expensive and more explosive. But reboots? They don’t really fool anybody. Today’s clued-up movie fan is usually well aware of exactly why a studio hits the franchise reset button – either the films have become stale, the cast have become disinterested or the studio runs the risk of losing the rights unless they churn out another movie. The façade of creative freedom is believed by nobody. Reboots are the unnecessary evil.
Superhero movies lend themselves to reboots – if comic-book runs can start over from scratch, it stands to reason Hollywood should be able to do it with movies too. The characters are what matter after all: the men and women inside the spandex will come and go, but the lines drawn in pen and ink live on. This is nothing new in entertainment terms: we’ve been watching the same old stories for centuries, adapted anew for younger generations, dressed up in whatever clothing modern technology allows. It’s the circle of life… except the circle is getting smaller all the time.
