The trailer for Jem and the Holograms dropped and it's pretty unanimous that it's awful. The movie is directed by Jon Chu who has said that its been a passion project of his and that he's a fan, but this is not evident at all in the trailer. If you didn't know Jem and The Holograms is based off an 80's Hasbro cartoon by the same name. The animated series is about a young woman who is left half of her father's music label after he passes. She also is passed down a supercomputer with the capabilities to project holograms which she uses to create the rock and roll identity of Jem and also to help her and her friends to get out of various situations. Another integral part about this series is that Jem has a rival rock band and a manager to deal with that often commit acts that endanger the lives of people. They nearly kill people just to get a bit more sales, like it's not even that serious. Jem also runs a foster home for young girls which brings another layer to the show and character.
This trailer shows no resemblance to the source material. Jerrica (Jem) becomes a star through YouTube, doesn't own the record label she's a part of, no sign of any holograms, abandons the group for a solo career, but learns the importance of friends so she gives it up to be with her sisters. There is no Misfits or their manager Eric Raymond. This movie looks like it's targeted to the current young teen girl demographic and is just using the name for branding purposes, except the name has no real branding. Jem and the Holograms is not a popular series. It wasn't even that popular in the decade that spawned it. Smurfs, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Transformers, and G.I. Joe were all more popular than it. The show was brought back to air with reruns briefly on the HUB a couple years ago, but it's mainly unknown to any teen in the current generation. There is no real money to be made off of it on the name alone and going off fan reaction it's highly likely that the fan base their is for the brand won't see it. This trailer honestly looks like a Lifetime or a Disney Channel movie. I have never seen such a unanimous backlash for an adapted movie. Even people who have never seen an episode of the cartoon seem upset about it. The trailer also looks more like a movie summary than a trailer all the story points look present in it. By the trailer the movie is summed up to be Jerrica gets her music uploaded behind her back and it goes viral, big label signs her and her and her friends get big, the fame changes Jerrica, but someone makes her realize who her real friends are and they come back together and put on a great show.
As a major fan myself, I find it disappointing, but not all that surprising given that the director Jon Chu's previous work was a Justin Beiber documentary, both Step Up movies, and G.I. Joe Retaliation. He claimed to be a major fan of the series and he might be. How out of the left field that the trailer is suggests to me that this was a corporate decision rather than the director's. The studio might have only approved the film if he made it like this. Here are a couple of links that may suggest something a bit different however. Jon Chu was going to direct a movie called Famous. Jason Blum talks Jem
It's disappointing. The movie should have been set in the 80's with Jem and her band having to deal with The Misfits and Eric Raymond doing stuff that should put them in jail while one of Jerrica's foster children joins a gang or gets hooked on drugs.
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