this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2023
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Science Fiction
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I don't quite understand why they do this with books. Maybe it's because they have to, since many names and pieces obviously refer to the book. Or maybe they do it to attract people who have read the books.
@pglpm @JasSmith I reckon it's three things:
It's not really free tho, since IP rights cost a ton of money. And honestly, adaptations that aren't true to the source don't tend to do well, at least not beyond the first product.
It used to be the case that studios could buy IP rights for peanuts and make a cheap knockoff, but that's not the case anymore.
@WhoRoger free was wrong phrasing. I meant that it was a way to sidestep the lack of familiarity that stops people from trying new media. People will give Spiderman xyzabc a shot rather than try out a completely unknown IP. In a congested streaming economy, that advantage is worth quite a bit.
Sure, but the costs of IP can significantly eat into the profits, and if the studio bungles the adaptation, then it's just wasted money.
Scifi is a particularly tricky genre to produce, there's almost no high-profile TV show that hasn't been botched, cancelled or otherwise messed with.
But scifi is still mostly for geeks and probably always will be, and they are a tricky audience that doesn't appreciate if their classic gets destroyed.
On the other hand, lots of completely original properties have become classics.
So I'd say in this environment, buying an expensive, geeky property and then not using it properly, simply doesn't even lead to easy money anymore.
So what's the point then, just to piss of people? Honestly it often feels like it.