Five Arguments for Remaking Movies
Let me start off this article by stating that I am 100% against the remaking of movies. My main reasoning is that I feel the majority of the remakes we’ve seen in the last 10 years have been absolutely atrocious. I would say my least favorite was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but I could easily make a list of 20 that were horrible.
For the most part I can’t stand the remake but I think I’ve found the reason why. It’s because we’re in a new age and my taste just doesn’t equal the taste of most Americans….which sucks by the way.
We’re a technology driven, fast society that cares less about the details and more about “what’s new and popular.” So I can see how the other side might have some points. Even I have to consider some of them.
Here are five arguments for remaking movies……
We’re in a new generation
As I stated in the opening paragraphs we’re in a new generation and there’s just nothing we can do about it. Time marches on and the youth of today is a different group with different needs and a much different mindset than mine and older generations of moviegoers. So redoing a movie to make it faster, have more explosions, and be more visually stimulating isn’t the worst idea in the world. While I think it stinks for the quality of movies, it still makes sense for the industry.
Some Things Can Actually Be Improved Upon
Once in a while you’ll get a remake that winds up being way better than the original. Whether it’s the acting, screenplay, new plot, or a bunch of other things, there’s the out chance that the new product is better than the old. Example? Cape Fear. Granted the first one with Robert Mitchum was great, if you see the new one with Robert DeNiro and compare it’s no contest. So while the chances of a remake exceeding the original are low, there is the off chance we get a diamond in the rough.
Visual Stimulation (Technology)
I’ve mentioned this before but I have to mention it again. In this day and age you don’t even need to focus on a plot or acting. As long as you have cool visuals you can make a successful (financially) Hollywood movie. Just look at Clash of the Titans! Hahaha, the remake was brutal but I think you guys get the point. Hollywood can hype a movie till no end and it won’t even fail at the box office. Hey wasn’t Avatar a remake of Pocahontas anyway? Tee hee.
It’s Easy to Remake Something Already Good and Popular and Make Money Off It
This is the reason I hate most but you can’t deny it’s validity. Think about it if you’re a Hollywood executive. How they haven’t remade the movie Grease is beyond me. I would say that High School Musical is as close as they come but it’s gotta happen at some point no? I’d hate to see a Ghostbusters remake but you know if it does happen tons of people will see it just because it’s Ghostbusters.
Gives the Original Movie Some Due Credit
Many times there are remakes I never even knew it was a remake at all. Here’s a bad example but I happened to think the movie Bedazzled was cute and I had no idea it was a movie from 1967. When a new movie is made it in some way pays homage to the older film. For an entire list of remakes you can check them out here and here.
I think that the main difference between this generation’s remakes and the remakes of the generation previous is the creative force and motivation behind them. Remakes of this generation are made by boardroom executives looking to build a franchise out of a name that is already recognisable. For example the texas Chainsaw Massacre. The marketing is already done, the original did it. The title of the movie is all the advertising it needs, its reputation is already established just by the name.
Remakes of the past generation were created by respected autuers as an artistic endeavour to explore deeper themes of the films they were remaking. Cape Fear by Scorcese, The Fly by Cronenberg, scarface by DePalma… these – and others – take a different (and usually deeper, darker, existential and philosophical) look on the theme of the movie and take it in a different direction.
Agreed with above post. I argue that, had they not made Rocky 6, Rambo 4, or Terminator 3 and 4, they’d have been remade by now as well.
Looking at that list another argument you can make is for the ones that were originally foreign language films that have been remade in English for an American audience.
@ Steve: Rocky and the terminator are pretty much remade every couple of years or so, just with a different name and a slightly different premise. I suppose how much you deconstruct this kind of thing depends on how cynical you are though. Was it Todorov who said there are only seven stories that can ever be told?
Paul, you didn’t like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? I thought it was a good interpretation of the original book, even if it was a bit crazy as well. It was certainly more accurate to the book than the Willie Wonka movie was.
I didn’t write this, but for the record, it just didn’t need to be remade. It was fine, but I didn’t think about it once afterwards until now. That being said, there are far worse remakes out there.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was incredibly faithful to the original book, but terrible as a result. Some things just have to be reinterpreted or cut for the big screen. They’re different mediums. I prefer the book to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory, but not the movie version of the book.
Another example: Watchmen. It was remarkably faithful to the comic, so much so that you can practically follow along with the book as you watch. But was it a good film? Imagine if the comic had never existed, and that film had been released – no source material, no existing franchise, just the movie on its own. I reckon you’d get many more people saying that it was a beautiful mess, with some great ideas hidden in there but executed poorly.
Anyway. I think there are a few films begging to be remade, if only due to better effects and bigger budgets. In particular, there are some wonderful early horror films that would benefit from a (good) remake. Not Hollywoodised, but just the same great stories without the rinkydink special effects and theatre-to cinema acting. Films that could receive the same love as Francis Ford Coppola gave Dracula (which was also based more on the book than a straight remake of course, but the style he gave it makes it clear the film was also an homage to the early Universal films).
Wow. Ok, rant over.
I am more than 100% against destroying the classic film! The original movie is also in question at times, the example making the film Mr. Poppers Penguins. This classic book was a must read in my family for generations. The book was passed down through 4 generations of my family. In no way Jim Carey will do it any justice! Stop remaking films, come up with an original idea PLEASE!!!!Whats next the remake of Fast times at Ridgemont High???Animal House…