POPULAR CINEMA AS NOSTALGIA INDUSTRY: REUNIONS, REMAKES, AND REQUELS

Abstract

This article seeks to address 2021’s cathartic reunions on digital and in cinema in order to broaden a new perspective on popular cinema’s one of the offers, the nostalgic experience. This study approaches remakes, reboots, requels, sequels, prequels, spin-offs, and adaptations as reproduced works. The discussion is grounded on the idea that popular cinema’s commercial way of reproducing certain experiences and canonical narratives is dependent on proposing nostalgia. Among the commercially successful sequels in the early-2020s, reunions are observed with several functions. As a newly launched subscription video-on-demand platform, HBO Max aired three major reunions in a single year. In this context, Friends: The Reunion (2021), The Matrix Resurrections (2021), and Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts (2022) stage cathartic and nostalgic reunions. The moviegoers witnessed the ensemble of three Spider-Men from three different decades and franchises in a cathartic sequence of the worldwide highest-grossing movie of 2021, Spider-Man: No Way Home. The purpose of the study is to reveal the uptrend of nostalgia-oriented reunions to offer new discussions in cinema’s relation to nostalgia and debates on reproduction practices through a wide range of literature review collection. Therefore, these four productions are included in the scope to discuss nostalgia’s function in popular cinema, even on digital streaming platforms. While the study scans these reproduced works and their contemporary counterparts, the theoretical background is centered on memory studies to combine related discussions and ways of approaching them. Thus, this article proposes a contribution to the field by investigating the functions of reunions among sequels, requels, remakes, reboots, spin-offs, and adaptations in terms of their nostalgic qualities and commercial potential.