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In many industries, the need to be new and fresh is key. However, the entertainment industry is seeing a resurgence of vintage-themed media, inspired by the games, shows, and movies of times past. So, let’s take a look at some of the vintage-inspired media driving this trend.
Online Casinos
Casinos have seen a huge technological development in recent years. There is now a huge range of digital online casinos to play on your mobile device or computer, which use technologies such as live streaming and random number generation to provide an immersive and authentic casino experience. However, one of the popular themes for online casinos remains vintage games that hark back to decades past. For example, slot games like Jack Hammer 3: Diamond Affair use graphics of the recognizable vintage banks and Art Deco skyscrapers of New York.
Image by Peter Olexa from Pixabay
The narrative of diamond heists is reminiscent of the diamond rush of the late 19th and early 20th centuries – whilst the characters don traditional New York flapper gear. The accompanying soundtrack uses tones of the roaring 20s, with a Charleston-esque beat and muted brass instruments that wouldn’t be amiss in a jazz club. In the live game variety, players can find games like Lightning Baccarat, Royale Blackjack, and Live Roulette. These games are set around vintage gaming tables, with hosts dressed to resemble the pomp and circumstance of vintage casinos.
TV Shows
This same trend is seen in the world of TV, too. Just take Death and Other Details (2024). Despite the modern setting, this show mixed aspects of the technological world with the essence of the roaring 20s. The main character, Imogene, sports a vintage bob and wide-flared trousers, reminiscent of the outfits worn by titular characters from other popular mystery shows, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (2012-2015) and Frankie Drake Mysteries (2017-2021).
Whilst Death and Other Details failed to get a season two (much to the audience’s disappointment), this is indicative of a wider vintage-themed trend in modern TV. The Queen’s Gambit (2020) quickly became Netflix’s most-watched scripted limited series with 62 million viewers – and was still racking up millions of viewing hours in 2023. Similarly, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel reports an audience demand of 12.7 times more than the average TV show.
Photo by Jonas Leupe
Films
Perhaps the author most indicative of everything vintage is Agatha Christie. In fact, Christie remains the best-selling author in the world, with two billion copies of her books sold. Of course, her two famous detectives have seen many iterations over the years, with the Marple series running from 2004-2013 and Poirot from 1989-2013. However, the impeccable Belgian detective is making a comeback thanks to Kenneth Branagh.
Branagh has directed and starred as Poirot in three film adaptations so far – Murder on the Orient Express (2017), Death on the Nile (2022), and A Haunting in Venice (2023), which made an average of $198,619,525 in the global box office. Another notable film to capitalize on the vintage resurgence is Babylon (2022), which captures the nuanced transition for actors from silent to sound films in the 1920s. There is also Amsterdam (2022), which chronicles a mystery in 1930s New York.
As you can see, vintage-themed media is seeing a resurgence in popularity, with entertainment combining new technologies with old iconography and fresh faces putting a new spin on old narratives. All that’s left to do is dive in and enjoy the entertainment this trend will produce.
