Movie Wars Remakes

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Articles | 11 Aug 2010 | 9 comments

Remakes, reworks or rehash? Movies.ie asks you what you think of the Hollywood remake trend...

Are you done with remakes? Well the studios aren't.

No it seems studios are only all to eager to remake, rehash, rework, even rename in an effort to get bums in cinema sits. Just look at the last two weeks - we've seen not one but two '80s giants rekindled for the big screen. "The Karate Kid" with Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith. Not to be outdone, a big-screen version of the 1980s TV show "The A-Team" has also hit screens though not without protest from original star Mr. T...

Of course there are obvious advantages to a big screen remake - your script is in the bag, the web will inevitably be a blaze with yay and naysayers and in the cases of The Karate kid and The A-Team, there is the ever-powerful nostalgia factor. Cast one original actor from the original film and you serve to further legitimize the movie.

With so many remakes now in the works - Arthur, Romancing the Stone, Conan, Short Circuits, The Birds, Oldboy, Rosemary's Baby and now as Scott Bakula has announced a possible Quantum Leap remake - Movies.ie asks you - Are you done with remakes? Have your say in the poll and comment box below!

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Comments

ging-grr

I'm against remakes/reboots if they can't bring anything new to the table and in most cases that's true. Of the recent ones I've heard I really can't see how they can improve The Crow, Oldboy or The Birds and Russell Brand as Arthur! not interested.
Mr_Twist

Im with the ging-grr on this one
ssconnolly

I'm against remakes which are just unnecessary. For example there was no need for a Karate Kid remake and the recent remake of Death at a Funeral was pretty much exact same as the British original. That being said I loved The A-Team and think remakes like this should continue to be done for the simple reason that they work. The thing is remakes won;t stop. People seem to be running out of ideas and so they turn to remaking some of their favourite film. The Spider-man reboot is nothing short of ridiculous and really could've waited a decade or so and I was even told that a Total Recall remake is in the works. What they need to do is take films that could've been good, but just weren't and give them the Hollywood treatment. Taking classic films and trying to improve has not and will not work... just look at The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3.
Brian Dennison

ing-grr & Mt_T, you both have to face the fact that the movie industry ran out of ideas a long time ago. People think that it might be relatively new thing but it's been going on since the films got sound & colour. And they take from folklore, stageplays, short stories, musicals, songs, etc... but all with a nice new packaging.

For example Danny Kaye (you might remember him from "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" or "White Christmas") got his first major role in "Up in Arms" in 1944, which was a remake of a 1930 film "Whoppee" (which was in colour & with sound already). The earlier film came from a musical.

As for the question: are they any better? i think the point is mute. The fact remains that new audiences want to see current stars, they want quality sets, they want improved special effects. Otherwise few film-makers would go to the trouble of colouring in the lightsabers, full action rotation camera shots of Trinity kicking or the "pull-back & zoom-in" in the shining or platoon. Cinema might as well be a static camera shot like a play (Giving no discredit to the stage).

Would you plow on forward taking the good with the bad? Or would the film library have one version of Kingkong, Godzilla, Planet of the Apes, The Fly, The Thing (1951), Cape fear, Little shop of Horrors, etc... (And a lot of these are missing colour).

Would you be happy if the only vampire film ever made was Nosferatu?

http://cleantechnica.com/files/2008/04/nosferatu2.jpg
Doomofman

Nosferatu itself is just a rip off of Bram Stoker's Dracula book anyway...
ging-grr

I see what you're sayinf Brian but the fact is this poll was asking my opinion not wheter I thought the trend of remakes was going to stop :) I simply stated my opinion :) I do think that Hollywood is going overboard with remakes/rehashes as in the movie news at the moment 4 out of every 5 headlines are about remakes etc. I don't think there has ever been a time when Hollywood was so bereft of original ideas that it just depended on remkes to get people to the box office. As I say this is just my opinion on the current situation. I would never say there is no place for remakes, I'm just sick of reading about nothing but remakes/rehashes coming out. I'm also a bit miffed that Cineworld seems to have stopped showing smaller budget movies, but I'm hoping that's just during this season of the so called Summer block buster. I'm by no means an elitest, you've seen my DVD collection, I just love good films and I don't think the constant remakes we are being subjected to is encouraging originality or independent thinking in future film makers.
Brian Dennison
bigslick184

Usually remakes suck ass, see karate kid and death at a funeral. But i liked the A team, so it can work. I think as a whole studios are relying too much on remakes as they dont have any fresh or creative ideas anymore. Could be the end, if it wasnt for inception lol
Bigeamo

Empire have a feature on Remakes that work at http://www.empireonline.com/features/remakes/ .My own feeling is that if there is real value in doing them, then go for it. What I don't like is remakes that are shot for shot identical to the original. For example, to remake Let The Right One In in the manner that they have, to me, is lunacy. Read the subtitles!!!