Reading the article I somewhat agree (and disagree) with what the writer was saying. The first thing i disagree with is the title of his article. I don't agree that the state of YA at the movies isn't great. He should've titled his article as "How the YA movie needs to evolve from repetition." or "YA genre needs a revamp and how to do so" something along those lines. I don't think that YA at the movies isn't great. It might not look great now (with the less than stellar The 5th Wave movie and Paper Towns) but the YA movies are a solid hit (with Mocking jay part 2 for instance and hopefully the third installment of Allegiant). I'm glad to see that studios aren't giving up on YA genre( they've already optioned books like Red Rising, The Bone Season, An Ember in the Ashes, Let it Snow, and of course the September release movie Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children for movie adaptation).
I personally don't believe the YA genre would ever die (I mean Hollywood has been making YA movies, here and there, since the movie release of The Outsider by S. E. Hinton back in the 80s or maybe even further back).
I do agree with the article about how the studio should find the next big thing in YA genre. The writer suggested that the studio could go to social media and get innovative with how they should develop their project. Being derivative isn't going to get you the next hit at all. I would go further with what this writer wrote and state that the studio should look into self-published authors. I mean Andy Weir of "The Martian" fame should be an excellent example of how something fresh could become a huge hit. The Hollywood studio should take a chance on a self-published author, spread the news on their discover and I'll guarantee that that movie (and book as well) will be the big thing (just like The Martian).
I would end this post by writing the ending of what the article stated (which about sum up what it would take to discover another mega hit like Harry Potter or Twilight or Hunger Games)
"The dystopia thing is done," he (Jeff Bock, box-office analyst for Exhibitor Relations) says. "It’s going to take something that’s fresh, and maybe it comes from a brand-new author on Amazon trying to sell it themselves right now."
I'll drop the mic to that because I agree with Jeff Bock one hundred percent (if the dystopia thing is indeed done maybe the next thing to focus on would be YA suspense/thrillers, steam punk, or perhaps some unknown genre?????) . Hopefully Mr. Bock's statement wouldn't fall on deaf ears and the right ones would take notice. Thanks for reading my latest post and I hope for your return soon. Bye for now.