Panic in Hollywood

It's still early, but the summer box office is significantly off from last year, which apparently has some production types nervous about the public's waning appetite for the well-worn, whether it's a sequel or an adaptation of an old TV series. NY magazine's
Claude Brodesser-Akner says that only three out of 14 major releases so far have come from a new idea.

"We're on a lot of calls with people at the highest level [of production], and they're just nervous," one agent tells Vulture. "They've been telling us, 'We have our movies for next year, but attendance is down, so, guys, you know what? Get us the original material. We need some original shit, because now our bosses are on us.'" It's no wonder panic is in the air, considering how moviegoers are rebelling. "People are feeling marketed to, as opposed to catered to," says JC Spink, a partner in the management and production company Benderspink and one of the executive producers of last summer's surprise original hit, The Hangover. "I think we've all gone a little bit overboard as an industry. There hasn't been room for original material for a little while now. It's a shame, because I don't think it's what anyone [who works in the business] came out here for."

New ideas? In Hollywood? I don't know about that one.