Filmmakers have been remaking movies since the dawn of time – or, the dawn of feature films themselves, at least.
Movie historians give credit to 1903’s The Great Train Robbery as the first feature film ever made. Just one year later, in 1904, someone remade it. Thus, the film remake was born.
Centuries later, Hollywood is still turning back to this aged concept. There are probably many more remade or “re-imagined” films than there are originals. How many times has Shakespeare’s tale of star-crossed lovers been told and re-told? It’s a tradition that, despite protest from purists, will never die.
In 2011, we’ve seen several remakes, “re-imaginations,” and sequels, and there are still more set for the future. The trend in this decade seems to be to turn to films made roughly 25 years ago, films that came out of a decade of big hair, spandex, and leg warmers – in other words, in 2011, we love the 80s.
Within the past couple years, Hollywood has redone several horror films originally made in the 1980s: in 2009, Jason Voorhees returned in Friday the 13th (original 1980); 2010 brought back Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street (original 1984), and vampire neighbor Jerry Dandrige arose again this year in Fright Night (original 1985).
Horror isn’t the only genre to get remade, either. The current trend is dance movies from the decade, like Footloose, originally released in 1984. The new modernized version of the iconic film is to be released on October 14th.
A new version of 1987’s Dirty Dancing is rumored to be in the works as well, with seasoned choreographer and director Kenn
y Ortega set to direct. Ortega has choreographed such works as the 1988 television show of Dirty Dancing as well as Michael Jackson’s This Is It tour.
In a similar vein, Hollywood loves to do sequels and further the stories of its most well-received films. The sequel to the 1982 film Tron came out in 2010 and followed the story of the original main character's son in a film called Tron Legacy. There’s also another rumor the 1988 Tim Burton classic Beetlejuice has a sequel in its future as well. For now, Beetlejuice 2 is only in the early idea stages, but so far the only names in connection w
ith the project are David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith. Grahame-Smith has worked closely with Burton on another recent project and is familiar with his style and work, but as of now Burton is not set to direct.
Why does Hollywood like to look for to its past for “new” movie ideas? Maybe it’s because after 20 or more years, a new generation of a film’s target audience – our age group – is now old enough to understand the concepts but young enough to have not seem the original. Perhaps because it’s easy, there’s already a fan base, and usually already a proven income generator in another decade. Film is, more often than not, a business before it is an art. Or it might simply be that the film industry is running out of ideas. Stories get told so many times and in so many different ways that it’s hard to find an original anymore.
What are your thoughts? Like remakes, hate them? Opinions on any of the films mentioned here?
Remakes are never as good as the original...just like a movie is never as good as the book. BUT, I do agree that our society just continues to loop ideas through. Fashion is kind of the same way...styles just repeat themselves every couple decades.
ReplyDeleteI think it depends on the movie being remade. For Tron, I think the remake was good because the new technology added a lot to the movie visually. But the original Dirty Dancing, with all of it's Swayze goodness and cheesy music, will always be the only real Dirty Dancing movie. And I don't know how many more comic book super hero remakes I can handle. 2002's Spider-man, staring Toby Maguire, was a good move because technology added to the effect. But Spider-man 2, 3, and now the new prequel movies are overkill. I think, for the most part, that remakes are usually not as good as the original.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Ashley and Gloria. Remakes are never as good as the original movie. Unless, it's a movie like Tron where technology is incredibly advanced and the audience can view the film in 3D. Movies such as Edward Scissor Hands, Ghost, and Dirty Dancing should never be remade because the characters could never be replaced. I would like to see Beetlejuice remade because I would like the movie to come to life in 3D such as, Alice in Wonderland.
ReplyDeleteRemakes can totally be better then the originals. I mean, compare the cartoon version of The Hobbit with the new one set to come out soon. It's not even in the same ball park. This article reminds me of a DT article that I recently read. These revival movies are easy ways to make a lot of money, not a lot of overhead prices.
ReplyDeleteI also think that it depends on the movie being remade... but more importantly, it depends on the writers, directors, and actors as well. Another thing is trying to find the perfect balance when remaking the movie; you don't want it to be completely different from the original, but you don't want it to be completely the same either.
ReplyDeleteI won't lie, I kind of want to see "Footloose," I never saw the original, but just from the previews, I get a sense it won't be as great as the original (or at least what those have said about it). In order to make it more "modern." it seems like they sexualized the movie more and use more "break dancing" type moves than I am sure the original ever did.
I was thinking it would be fun to see them remake "Breakfast Club," but I am really not sure if they will ever get a remake to be as good as the original.