We're all painfully aware of this and yet it still manages to have an effect on us all. A movie is made based on an existing property in a vain attempt to capture its in-built audience. And even though you fully expect it to suck, you can't help just check it out because, well, you know the original and are curious to see how a modern take works. It's both subtle and painfully overt. And when done right it really works. There is no reason why someone over the age of fifteen should have any interest in a movie titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, yet it was the film that knocked Guardians Of The Galaxy off the top spot at the US box office. A lot of that may have come from families, but there'll have been a significant appeal to people who grew up with some version of the heroes wanting to see how the gang was doing. On the converse, you have the misunderstanding of which existing properties are enticing. Why did The Lone Ranger bomb? Because it was a mess of a movie is a strong argument, but the big reason was that while it was based on an existing product, the iconic TV series was so old that the original audience won't have found Johnny Depp pulling faces worth their time. The same is true of John Carter, which became irrelevant at the same point Star Wars came along. What other ways do people get tricked into seeing bad movies? Let us know your personal takes in the comments below.
