They're remaking what??!?

[Hinton]

So, I'm surfing the 'net and checking out some movie news when I stumbled across a list of 38 movies that Hollywood has decided to "re-imagine" - a way of saying "we can't get any original ideas, so we're going to remake something that was once a hit and see if we can milk that cash cow a bit more".

38 planned movie remakes

To be honest, a couple of these might be okay as a remake; however, some should just be left alone. The ones that I absolutely do not want to see "re-imagined":

Battle Royale (a truly wonderful and bizarre Japanese movie; it's going to be "Westernized")

The Evil Dead (No. Hell no. I don't care if Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell are attached to it.)

Akira (it's going to be a live action movie? Oh, come on!)

A Nightmare On Elm Street (what?? is Hollywood on crack?)

Escape From New York (Snake should find out who wants to remake this and drop them off the Empire State Building)

Footloose (honestly, I don't like this movie; but I did grow up in '80's, so I'm fully aware of the impact it had)

What do you all think? Are there some that could with some "spicing up" or "modernizing"? Or should Hollywood execs try to actually come up with something original?

Edited December 7, 2008 by Hinton

[thetang22]

I've been eagerly anticipating the remake of Clash of the Titans. I was always a big fan of the original. It has the potential to be either incredibly awesome, or just flat out flop (as is the case with a lot of the movies on the list, I guess).

I'm also interested to see where they would go with Tron, as it seemed very revolutionary for its day. However, with all the advancements that have happened with technology over the years, I don't know if this will be that great. The one thing that made it such a hit (revolutionary tech stuff) won't seem so revolutionary anymore, and it takes a LOT more these days to wow an audience with special effects.

There's some other surprises on the list. Notably for me....Conan and Red Sonja. These movies suffered pretty badly from a dry script the first time around, but did well because the story felt a litte bit epic and you had Arnold in his prime condition to display. Again - audiences have become more sophisticated compared to back then, so its going to take more than just a buff guy with a sword to sell a movie these days. People want a great story with a good script in addition to the things that did well back then. You can sell a buff guy with a sword these days IF he can also act well. Otherwise these sorts of movies will just seem like a novelty instead of a great movie.

[Peterdita]

Un-ruttin believable. I generally hate modern remakes. Has hollywood lost its creativity? Should we send it back to neverland to find its imagination again? Sucks this. Reminds me of the South Park where Spielburg stalks and rapes Indiana Jones. Blah. Footloose? c'mon thats a classic. Don't F with the classics... Akira? oh please... Conan? seriously? It will be like two movies, coming together, FACING EACH OTHER!!!

Lame... At least I didn't see Goonies on that list...

[Chameleon]

There are a few things that they could remake and make them more believable/more spectacular with the new special effects and Tron is one that I think might be interesting. Some of the films on the list though, I'd be worried that they would lose the essence of what the film was all about and what really makes those films great. Battle Royale would be one of those that I think would lose something in the retelling because the thing that made that film great was not the jumpy horror that you get in the US horror films, but the whole idea and the atmosphere that they create in a really good asian horror film. Another good example of this is the Wickerman that lost all of it's subtlety in the remake. I'm just glad that Oldboy isn't on the list, although I suspect that it's not long until they make an all action and no thought version of that too. Somethings should just be left alone.

[thewartoad]

Footloose - It's Kevin Bacon (enough said...he's like Ron Howard's brother Clint...he's been in everything)

Conan - I would like to see a re-make of this

Clash of the Titans - again...would like to see a re-make of this

Escape from New York - I would not like to see a re-make of this but would like to see Kurt Russell star in a new one...maybe Escape from Chicago or Washington DC?

Evil Dead - Hell Freakin' NO!!!

Dune - What are they thinking...they did Children of Dune or something like that and it was horrible!

The Dirty Dozen - Now there just smokin' what they can get their hands on!

Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street - Well if you guys go and see anything else with these titles, well then, you might as well go outside and lite your money on fire. It's the same thing! What a joke with these!

And the rest on that list...well some who cares...whoopty do! And other's I'm shaking my head at and cursing the heavens!!!

[caffeinated]

I'm OK with remakes. If they look awful, I won't see them. Some remakes have been great: Dawn of the Dead, The Thing, Batman Begins, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. Some of these are different takes on an existing story which is just more accurate. Hopefully that is the case with some on that list. I Am Legend was even less like the original story than the old Last Man on Earth Vincent Price film. Huge disappointment for me.

Sequels or continued universe stories can be good. Hopefully that is the case with The Thing mentioned in the article. The trailer for Tron 2.0 looks cool and has Jeff Bridges in it. Lasseter from Pixar is directing supposedly so my hopes are up.

Battle Royale was OK, but nowhere near as good as the original novel or especially the manga which was adapted by Kieth Giffen.

Some films are doomed to fail though. Escape from NY? not much to improve on and Doomsday was a pretty close re-imagining so why?

[Bexley]

Why is a covering a song considered okay, yet "covering" a film generally regarded as bad?

[TheBugKing]

Why is a covering a song considered okay, yet "covering" a film generally regarded as bad?

Covered songs have a decent track record.

Film remakes have a MUCH worse track record. I think that if the remakes were generally better or at the least of similar quality but different (covered songs) then people would not regard film remakes in such a poor light.

[v22TTC]

Bexley: I think the 'goodness' or 'badness' of song covers depends on the reason and who's doing it. If it's some 'I'll do anything for fame!' manufactured penguin then it's 'bad' - fame/money/exploitation is the driver. If it's an established musician/singer paying homage to a favourite song then that's 'OK/good', especially if it really does take a new take on the song (Sid Vicious 'My Way', Damned 'Eloise', Siouxsie & the Banshees 'Dear Prudence' ... come over all Punk for some reason...).

Music also uses a lot more sampling than films do, so that blurs the boundaries too (and there are infinite images/lines of dialogue possible so you shouldn't need to plunder if you're creative in those ways, but music's more limited.)

Hollywood remakes are nearly always about the money, first, last and only, so 'bad'.

I'd agree with the NOOOOOOOO!s above and add 'Near Dark' - good luck finding actors now who can match the charisma of that 'Aliens' crew (Lance Henrickson is the bloke, Bill Paxton, actress who plays Vasquez), and one of the three best vampire flicks ever made IMO. The awesome bar-room massacre scene is totally carried by the excellence of those actors.

Gah! I also think CG versions of Harryhausen's classic stop-motion effects usually look inferior (esp skellies in 'Jason and the Argonauts').

And it's not on the list but there'll be a live action 'Ghost in the Shell' before long (Speilberg's got the Rights) which I'm semi-dreading, though a very small number of directors might be able to do it justice - one of them being Tony Scott, who's on the list of the 38 a couple of times, and if I've got faith in anything Hollywood, it's in him (for now)....

[Bexley]

Why should track record enter into it? If you think you can do a movie better, then give it a shot. If you fail, it'll be quickly forgotten, so what's the harm? It's not like the directors or talent involved are stealing from you to do so.

[goblyn13]

Of the Remakes,

The light speed racers that the tron SDCC trailer showed looked absolutely amazing (and if that's the best of it, i'll be demanding my money back) but I think that now in the wake of a more connected world that a TRON remake has to potential to be absolutely freakin' sweet or absolutely suck. the fac that TRON, a disney movie released in 1980 is still such a big hit 25 years later means that it has definitely done more than just its Fx.

the Friday the 13th movie is way closer to completed than you think. I think the actor they have chosen to play Jason can play the part pretty well (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0575216/). The reason for remakes of some of these as franchises has more to do with the fact that they are trying to draw in new audiences, not unlike what is done with comic books with long histories (spider-man, batman, superman, etc.) it becomes necessary. I know an 8-year old kid who was dying to watch friday the 13th because of all the mystery and talk of his parents and his friends parents making such a big deal out of it, after he was finally allowed to watch it. the only response he had was, "that's it"and to be honest, like a lot of things, i've come to the conclusion TV and movies i watched as a child, no matter how cool they were back then and are now available, just don't. Leave it to your childhood.

And as long as they don't try to remake Casablanca, i'm good.

[Scorpio]

Also, don't fret over the whole list. For every hundred movies that enter pre-production, maybe one movie actually gets made. The term 'pre-production' covers a lot of ground.

Then again, they were talking about a Watchmen movie for literally twenty years, and now it's actually happening.

There's an excellent graphic novel by Brian Michael Bendis called Fortune and Glory, detailing his attempts to sell a screenplay in Hollywood. Has a great behind-the-scenes look at trying to get a movie sold. Highly recommended.

[Nathan Caroland]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPGWYAUF3v4]YouTube - Tron 2 (TR2N) Trailer from comic con SUBSCRIBE[/ame]

[goblyn13]

If only i could get a higher-res version without audience participation.

[witchfire]

westworld : a remake is impossible , no one can ever replace Yull Briner