'Pan': Why Hollywood thinks moviegoers want more of the famous story
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
Peter Pan comes to the big screen again with the new movie 鈥淧an,鈥� which stars Levi Miller as the boy who wouldn鈥檛 grow up and Hugh Jackman as the pirate Blackbeard.
鈥淧an鈥� takes place before the story by J.M. Barrie and centers on how Peter came to Neverland, how he gained the ability to fly, and how he met the future Hook, who in this story is not yet a captain (portrayed by Garrett Hedlund).聽
Peter Pan popped up again in pop culture recently when NBC chose the musical version of the story for their newest live musical production. It stars Allison Williams in the title role and Christopher Walken as Captain Hook and aired this past December.聽
The story was also adapted as a Disney animated movie in the 1950s and as a live-action film in 2003 that stars Jeremy Sumpter and Jason Isaacs.聽
What makes studio Warner Bros. greenlight a new movie about Peter? The element of the prequel. The pitch of 鈥渨hat you don鈥檛 know about this famous story鈥� has worked going back, at the very least, to the hit Broadway musical 鈥淲icked,鈥� which premiered in 2003 and is still running on Broadway. It鈥檚 based on the novel of the same name by Gregory Maguire and tells the story of the life of the Wicked Witch of the West, who is portrayed as a villain in 鈥淭he Wizard of Oz.鈥� The story of 鈥淲icked鈥� looks at the witch鈥檚 childhood and relationship with fellow witch Glinda and ascribes more positive motives to the character than are seen in 鈥淥z.鈥� The tagline of 鈥淲icked,鈥� 鈥淪o much happened before Dorothy dropped in,鈥� has the same message as 鈥淧an鈥�: There鈥檚 something you've never heard about this cultural touchstone.
Disney recently scored with this strategy with the 2014 movie 鈥淢aleficent,鈥� which, like 鈥淲icked,鈥� presents a more nuanced portrait of the 鈥淪leeping Beauty鈥� villain, and with the 2010 movie 鈥淎lice in Wonderland.鈥� 鈥淎lice鈥� expanded on the original story written by Lewis Carroll.聽
The other part of this strategy: Studios are saying 鈥淭here鈥檚 something you don鈥檛 know about this familiar story,鈥� and the 鈥渇amiliar story鈥� part is also key. Hollywood executives could give the go-ahead to a story about a boy who can fly and fights pirates, but they most likely assume it wouldn鈥檛 get the same attention or interest than if they touted the story as a new one about famous literary character Peter Pan. With remakes, sequels, and 鈥渟pin-offs,鈥� in which a supporting character in a movie gets their own film, ruling Hollywood at the moment, Hollywood is largely betting on familiarity. The top 10 highest-grossing movies of 2014 were either adapted from books, were sequels, or were based on toys (in the case of 鈥淭he Lego Movie,鈥� though the story was original).聽
More new takes on classic stories are on their way. This November will see a new, possibly more action-oriented version of 鈥淔rankenstein鈥� and Disney has plans for projects involving existing characters, such as a new take on, incidentally, 鈥淧eter Pan鈥� character Tinker Bell.
