The fact that Hollywood keeps pumping out these YA adaptations really puzzles me. Sure, The Hunger Games blew up, but every other film that has tried to emulate its success has failed miserably. Hell, even Divergent, the one with perhaps the most potential to be something big, seems to be nothing more than just another mediocre effort. Well, it looks like the studios need a few more flops before they learn their lesson as this summer we’ll be seeing yet another generic YA film in the form of The Giver.
Despite a promising cast that boasts Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep and Brenton Thwaites, the generic sounding premise has me very skeptical. Taking place in a futuristic, dystopian world (of course), the film focuses on a society where memories and emotion have been removed and one person, known as the Receiver (Bridges), is responsible for remembering the past. A young man named Jonas (Thwaites) is chosen to be the new Receiver, but “struggles with the duties he needs to bear.”
The first trailer for The Giver dropped today and honestly, it just doesn’t really do much for me. I might be a bit cynical given Hollywood’s recent track record with these types of films, but nothing shown here makes me believe that The Weinstein Company has a hit on their hands. As I said above, if Divergent couldn’t do it, then I don’t think anyone can.
Directed by Phillip Noyce, The Giver will head into theatres, and presumably bomb, on August 15th. Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think.