Unnecessary Remakes: Why Fix What Ain't Broken?

[romeat50]

"Singing in the Rain", while not an out-and-out remake, was an excuse for MGM to re-use a bunch of songs it had in its catalog. Every single song in "Singing" had been performed in a previous MGM film (or films).

It also recycled a lot of elements that were in American in Paris yet I still like Singing in the Rain a lot more.

[LAX]

I heard they're remaking Mildred Pierce (with Evan Rachel Wood as Veda) This is one my my favorite classic movies. I feel as pained about this as Karate Kid with that smug little punk Jaden Smith.

[smitten]

Seriously, is Gone With the Wind next?

The Women was an awful remake, there's no way Mildred Pierce should be attempted.

[Spinderella]

Jun 7, 2010 15:43:51 GMT -4 smitten said:

Seriously, is Gone With the Wind next?

I was just about to say the same thing. I wouldn't put it past anyone.

Well, it's just been confirmed that there will be not a Goonies remake, but a sequel; with as much of the original cast as possible - per a recent 25th anniversary Goonie convention in Astoria. (It's actually an interesting read about the cast and event)

I wouldn't mind a sequel with the original cast, but taking a classic and doing it completely over with the same script and storyline is just a slap in the face to the consumer.

[forever1267]

Kate Winslet has the Joan Crawford role in Mildred Pierce for HBO, so we shall see. The original is terrific MELOdrama!

And speaking of Kate, Titanic 2! Yes, really!

[satellite]

Jun 7, 2010 12:19:13 GMT -4 smitten said:

Yay for this thread!

I was thinking this weekend about movies that were re-made in old Hollywood, and it seems like most of that happened either when some major technology came about that could change the way the story was told (silent to sound, for example) or when the source material could allow for re-interpretation. Meaning movies are often remade when they come from stories or plays, like Little Women, Romeo and Juliet, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, etc.

But I don't think we've ever seen so many movies being remade when the originals were conceived and written as movies in the first place, and are regarded as pretty classic in their own right. How can you re-interpret movies like The Karate Kid, Fame, and Footloose? I think it's laziness and greed, period.

Hollywood is out of ideas, and they think they can make a quick buck cashing in on a title that's already recognized. They could have easily made this Jaden Smith vanity project as an homage to the Karate Kid (like Clueless was to Emma) and called it something different. But they knew using that title would make more money.

And not all remakes based on books are a good idea either, Pride and Prejudice and Sherlock Holmes didn't bother me so much, but the rumor I heard last week about a re-make of Jaws starring Tracy Morgan makes my teeth hurt. Talk about trying to fix what isn't broken.

ITA that there'a a difference in multiple interpretations of Shakespeare or whatever for the screen than re-making a film. In fact I don't even mind if something like The Women is remade 50 or 60 years after the original, because of all the sociopolitical changes that have come about since the original.

I do think that genre movies (especially those directed at teens/young people) really suffer from remakes. While I did like Rob Zombie's "reimagining" of the first Halloween, do we really need Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th remade after a bunch of sequels? I think teen-oriented movies are meant to capture the zeitgeist of the era in which they were made. The teens of the '80s have their movies, the teens of the '90s have the Scream franchise and the WB network star movies, the teens of the early '00s have The Ring and all the Asian horror remakes (which is a whole 'nother discussion we could get into). And then came the Saw franchise.

I also agree that a lot of the '80s movies aren't going to read the same way post-Columbine and cyber-bullying cases. Like the whole Breakfast Club cast except for maybe Molly Ringwald would be in teen bootcamp or a troubled-youth home or something.

[Deleted]

Jun 9, 2010 16:57:04 GMT -4 satellite said:

I do think that genre movies (especially those directed at teens/young people) really suffer from remakes. While I did like Rob Zombie's "reimagining" of the first Halloween, do we really need Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th remade after a bunch of sequels? I think teen-oriented movies are meant to capture the zeitgeist of the era in which they were made.

I agree with this. I'm a horror movie fan and it bums me out that they keep remaking the classics. Not just because they suck and seem to miss the point of the original but also because they are not making any new original horror movies that define our times right now.

My annoyance is actually with all the action movie reboots and remakes. Is a Spiderman reboot really necessary? ( Especially a gritty one. God save me from gritty comic adaptations.) The movies are not that old and they were pretty successful. I am a big action movie fan and I honestly cannot remember the last time there was a really good action movie that was not a remake, reboot or a sequel. I mean maybe Avatar but I haven't seen that. But prior to that when was the last original action movie? The Matrix? And that was 10 years ago.

[discoprincess]

Jun 8, 2010 23:20:59 GMT -4 forever1267 said:

And speaking of Kate, Titanic 2! Yes, really!

This boggles the mind. How...why...never mind.

[satellite]

Seriously, is Gone With the Wind next?

I was just about to say the same thing. I wouldn't put it past anyone.

Heh. I remember all the uproar when the sequel "Scarlett" (I think?) came out in the early '90s and the subsequent miniseries.

Is a Spiderman reboot really necessary? ( Especially a gritty one. God save me from gritty comic adaptations.) The movies are not that old and they were pretty successful.

It is too soon, but I'd say that comic book films fall under literary adaptation. I love the Christopher Nolan Batman movies though the Clooney one wasn't that far back when the new series started, but that's just because I love Bale. Is there a "gritty" Spiderman comic graphic novel they're working from? I guess I see the potential, though I'm kind of over superhero movies at the moment.

I am a big action movie fan and I honestly cannot remember the last time there was a really good action movie that was not a remake, reboot or a sequel.

Do you consider The Fast and the Furious series to be action? I know they're not to everyone's taste, but they inspired a sub-genre of racing/ car-porn movies, and stuff like "Pimp My Ride".

[divasahm]

Jun 10, 2010 11:43:28 GMT -4 satellite said:

I was just about to say the same thing. I wouldn't put it past anyone.

Heh. I remember all the uproar when the sequel unholy abomination "Scarlett" (I think?) came out in the early '90s and the subsequent miniseries.

Fixed that for you.