That depresses the f--k outta me. Goddamn.

Isn't Hancock based on a graphic novel?

To depress you even further, the only original LIVE ACTION film on that list is Hancock.

I can't really count The Day After Tomorrow as "live action" since the star of that film is all the excessive CG destruction. Besides, after suffering through 2012, I refuse to give Emmerich any credit for anything whatsoever.

Just make sure your original script can be animated by Pixar!

Are you sure that War of the Worlds made 591,745,540 in pesos and not dollars?

HANCOCK was a spec, the original title was TONIGHT, HE COMES ... very different from how the final film came out, though to tell you, I'd have to give a lot away.

But it was an original.

Funny you should say that...I am working on an outline for a killer original script now!

I don't know how you post so frequently and still find time to work, but this blog is the best blog EVER.

This is nothing to be depressed over. This is just what international tentpole movies are. Does it really matter if Indiana Jones is an original and Pirates is not? Both are impersonal, corporate, action movies made for mass consumption.

The majority of comedies and thrillers and horror are made from original scripts. They're not doing Harry Potter business, but not every movie has to to be a success.

I agree with Jon/Kate. I've seen all of that list but enjoyed less than 20%. The genres I enjoy the most will make much less money but they will make money if they are good enough.

It's really not so deppressing if you keep in mind that every single one of these adaptations, sequels & remakes had to have a writer (often more than 1) to write the screenplay.

Writers got work and were paid b/c of these pojects.

Even tho these movies weren't original, the writers who wrote them probably wrote specs (original SPs) at the beg of their careers in order to get the job.

Writing specs is still the way you prove you can write movies.

There are still specs that get produced, but most won't end up on the 50 most success movies of all time, or whatever, list.

One thing that stands out to me is that because these were all well known intellectual properties, the studios invested a tremendous amount of money in the production and marketing in a way they never do for spec scripts.
I have to think a great script with the same type of financial outlay would create a tremendous amount of profit as well.
Do people really care if they are watching a preview for Pirates of the Carribean or an amazing-looking original priate movie?
I doubt it. The studio just has to have the guts to let it all hang out in a way the general public will appreciate