DATA
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ENTERTAINMENT
FILM
BEST
SUMMER
EVER
HUFFINGTON
05.26.13
TAP
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The Most
Unoriginal
Summer Ever
At the multiplex this summer, old is
new. Sometimes quite literally: On May
10, Warner Bros. released The Great
Gatsby, Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation
of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel of
the same name. Luhrmann’s version
— shot in blockbuster-approved 3D
— is the fourth theatrical adaptation
of The Great Gatsby, something that
puts the film in league with a cadre
of sequels (Iron Man 3, Star Trek
Into Darkness, The Hangover Part III)
and reboots (Man of Steel, The Lone
Ranger) on the 2013 release calendar.
Even the new movies set to debut
this summer aren’t that new in theme
— they’re pretty familiar territory. The
Internship, with Vince Vaughn and
Owen Wilson, only looks like a sequel
to the duo’s 2006 comedy, Wedding
Crashers; similarly, After Earth and
White House Down are not remakes
of, respectively, Oblivion and Olympus
Has Fallen, two films that hit
theaters just this spring. This year,
the window on Hollywood repetition
barely seems to last more than three
months. – Christopher Rosen