“The Exorcist”, “The fatal Weapon”, “Westworld”… Three films in the series – Fox / HBO

This week, begin in the Usa series lethal Weapon and The Exorcist. Yes, the series. They will soon be followed by the debut of Westworld, Frequency and Shooter, not to mention the new seasons of Ash vs. Evil Dead, From Dusk Till Dawn, School of Rock and the projects of adaptation of Infiltrator, Training Day, in Taken, The Mist, etc., This is simple, apart from the size of the screen, the grid of reentry of the chains in the united states looks like the front of a cinema. However, the series are not the new Eldorado hollywood, where there are few original ideas, where the filmmakers find refuge, and freedom ? We would have lied ?

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There are a series of Hey mum, here baby with George Clooney

But don’t play too much of the surprise, or the drama queens, the adaptations of the films in the series have existed for almost as long as television itself. in MASH in the 70s, Highlander the afternoon on the M6, Stargate and its spin-off and even Buffy the vampire slayer. For the anecdote, there are also series Dirty Dancing, Working Girl (with Sandra Bullock !) and Hey mum, here baby ( with George Clooney !!). But the industry seems to be reaching a frenzy, culminating in this season 2016-2017. Editor-in-chief of the mook 100 % series SOAP, Leo Soesanto sees it as ” laziness, creative and cost-effective.”

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A logical catalog

Laziness to be creative, because all of these adaptations, but also making reboots a thing (24, MacGyver), suites (Twin Peaks, in Prison Break) and declinations (Chicago Fire, NCIS), provide information on the current importance, not to say dominance of the ” brand “. “People who have seen the movie will necessarily be tempted to take a look at the series,” Leo Soesanto. In these times of traffic jam serial and creative, with the networks, cable channels and Netflix, or Amazon, to be direct, catchy, can make the difference. “

And if the trademark does not cost anything, it is even better. Because the studios behind these series are of course those who hold the rights to the films. “We’re in a logic of product catalog, factory, commented the journalist. Having a brand allows you to launch a production more easily, without going through the different stages of development. I’m not sure the world needs a return of the buddy movie with lethal Weapon, especially after the failure of the series Rush Hour. But if it crashes, move on to the next. The film became a reservoir of ideas, brands, for television, like the super-hero in the film. “

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there is hope

But also opportunistic as they are, these adaptations are not all “adaptations” in the strict sense of the term. in The Exorcist wants to surf on the success of American Horror Story, capitalize on the label ” The movie the most creepy of all time “, but also to give a sequel to the original film. Or, more precisely, “a new story, with new characters, that takes place in the same universe as the feature film,” clarified the designer Jeremy Slater at the last Comic Con. “This does not some authors to reinvent the wheel, positive Leo Soesanto. So there is some hope. On the paper, the series Fargo was not really a good idea, but the showrunner Noah Hawley has pulled something other than a erstaz film of Coen, a unique work of art. “The same for Westworld, inspired by the movie of Michael Crichton and developed by Jonathan Nolan for HBO. The first reviews are full of praise, and the visible series on OCS from the 3 October.

End of a cycle

Phenomenon of the season, lethal Weapon, The Exorcist or Westworld reveal themselves as safe havens in a world series is in full mutation, or even panic. “As evidenced by the renewal and the cancellation of Vinyl, HBO does not know where she is, then she needs to think about the after Game of Thrones, explains the editor-in-chief of SOAP. Even the platform, Netflix is becoming more cautious on the series [she is not communicating to the audiences of The Get Down, cancels Bloodline for budgetary reasons]. We are at the end of a cycle, and the beginning of who knows what. “To be continued…

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