We Live in an Age of Prequels, Sequels, and Reboots

Looking back at 2017, which, by the way, was a great year for movie and TV fans as well as video game enthusiasts (apparently, “gamer” is no longer the right term to describe us). We’ve had the chance to see quite a few great movies (and several more that failed us completely) and video games that were the perfect way to spend the “dolce far niente” hours of our lives. This year will be even greater, hopefully, with many great movies yet to come. And look how many brand new video game titles are planned for release in 2018. But there’s an interesting trend here that has been around for quite some time: many of the movies, video games, and TV shows coming up in the new year are prequels, sequels, and reboots.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Let’s take a look at some of the most anticipated titles Hollywood will put on our doorstep this year. One of the most exciting ones is “Avengers: Infinity War”, a sequel. Then, we have “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” (another sequel), “Insidious: The Last Key”, “Sicario 2”, “Ant-Man and the Wasp”, “Maze Runner: The Death Cure”, “The Incredibles 2”, “Deadpool 2”, “Pacific Rim: Uprising”, “Mission: Impossible 6”, and the list could go on forever. And if sequels wouldn’t be enough, we also have reboots like “The Predator”, “Tomb Raider”, “Day of the Dead: Bloodlines”, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” of all things, and many others, plus tie-ins like “Solo: A Star Wars Story”, “Fantastic Beasts 2” (for Harry Potter fans), “The New Mutants” (an X-Men story), and others.

The only truly original titles to look forward to this year are “Ready Player One”, “Annihilation”, and “Red Sparrow” (which won’t be a superhero movie) – you can complete the list in the comments if you want.

Things are similar in the case of serialized content (I feel uneasy to use “TV” in its case, as many of the most outstanding pieces of content have come from streaming services like Netflix) with classic series like the “X-Files”, “Twin Peaks”, and “Star Trek” returning to the small screen. Luckily, we’ve had fresh series to enjoy, like “The Orville” (the spiritual scion of Star Trek: TNG), “American Gods” (mysterious like Twin Peaks but with a lot more action and gore), and “Stranger Things” to keep us alive throughout the year.

Video games are no better either. The best-selling game of last Black Friday was the third title in the renewed “Wolfenstein” series, followed by “Assassins Creed: Origins”, another title in a long-running series. Plus, we’ve had the chance to lay our hands on a brand new “Star Wars: Battlegrounds” and a WWII-themed “Call of Duty” game, among others. As if Triple-A studios could only build on the fame of the past to stay ahead.

Are we living in an age of prequels, sequels, and reboots? It sure does seem so, don’t you think?

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