Why do Hollywood re-make classics!

[carrie90]

ok im just gonna have a mini rant but why the hell do Hollywood mess with classic films and re-make them and 99% of the time destroy what was a classic

For example 1978 John Carpenter made a master piece in Horror with Halloween and a couple of years ago they re-made it and it was terrible. I heard a rumour they are re-making the original Nightmare on elm street and they are re-making the birds and the seagulls will probally have AK-47s or somat

As you can proberlly tell i have a love of film and it just something that annoys me don't know about anybody else's feelings

Because it's full of money whores who will do anything to make a buck.

[partietraumatic]

they're not aallll bad lol

I think im right in saying that oceans 11 was a remake and i thought that was a pretty good movie

[djt820]

It makes money. It works when you cant think of an original idea of your own.

[Lexington]

I don't know if that was a rant or an honest question. I'll treat it like it's the latter.

Always keep in mind one thing. Hollywood is a business. They're in the business of selling tickets. The more butts in the seats, the better. They're not against creating "art", mind you. They're simply indifferent to it. If the "art" gets butts in seats, then they're totally on the side of art.

OK, so put yourself in charge of a major motion picture studio. You want to make movies that make money. And this isn't an "oh well" proposition. A flop movie means millions of dollars gone, and you out of a job - possibly forever. So go back through history, look at how all the other movies have done, and ask yourself "What makes money?" Two main things pop up over and over.

1. Moviegoers Are Drawn to Actors First, Genre Second, and Quality Third

For reasons unknown, even people who go see several movies a week are more drawn to specific actors than anything else. People are much more likely to have (and feel more strongly about) favorite actors than favorite genres, and it's rare to find people who say "I don't care what type of movie it is as long as it's good". Because of this, studios will heap money on hiring the right actor rather than getting a good director or a good script. This has started to change a little, with some movie patrons becoming fans of directors instead of actors. But they'll be the first ones to say - directors can let you down just as reliably as actors.

2. If The Public Bought It Once, They're Primed To Buy It Again

Say you wanted to make a movie about a superhero. You could come up with a superhero, write a plot, and try to make that film. Or you could write one around an already existing superhero. There might be some people out there who'd be interested in seeing "The Human Gargoyle", but there are LOTS more interested in seeing "Spider Man". This character has a built-in audience of people who read the comic books or watched the cartoon on TV, so it makes sense to try to tap into that rather than trying to build up an audience from scratch.

And this continues onto all branches. Not just comic books (Spiderman), but books (Harry Potter, Twilight), TV shows (Land of the Lost), and even previous movies (all sequels). Movie studios see an audience who says "I like this", and they offer them more. Yeah, sometimes the movie disappoints, or even infuriates, the core audience. But the studio doesn't care as long as people come see it. They made "Halloween H2O - 20 Years Later" in , and Rob Zombie remade "Halloween" in 2007. Overkill? Hardly. H2O made $16 million its first weekend, and only cost $17 million to make. The 2007 movie earned $30 million in its opening weekend, which was $10 million more than the entire movie's budget. To movie studios, this says "Keep making these movies, and we'll keep buying tickets". Which is exactly what they do.

Lex

[Z3ni]

Originally Posted by partietraumatic

they're not aallll bad lol

I think im right in saying that oceans 11 was a remake and i thought that was a pretty good movie

Yeah I agree some of them are good like... I dunoo :P

[tm74]

I'm hoping that "The Taking of Pelham 123" doesn't spoil the memory of the original...

[xGreenJayx]

They we're gonna remake The Rocky Horror Picture Show...MTV was gonna do it.
I almost plotzed.

I agree with Lex.

And I'd add that I hate American remakes of Japanese horror films. They do away with the depth and eerie atmosphere of the latter and replace them with crappy special effects and mediocre cast.

[Just Adam]

cos hollywood is evil and wont rest till it ruins every good movie franchise it has.....

they are talking about

re-making alien
re-making predator
re-making total recall

i say next one will be the running man... an amaizing classic that will be ruined... if they did it well go for it but i cant see it

re-birthing a franchise can be good though the new star trek film i personally really enjoyed and see as a sucess its been done differently the visuals are great the acting i thought... even with didgy accents was good....


but it doesent get away from films beeing ruined by beeing remaid when theres no need.

alien and predator we dont need remakes we need ne istalments that go back to suspense and horror.

classics need to be left alone just take the story and adapt for a new instalment dont mess with art

[Just Adam]

btw way lex im one of them odd people XD i can enjoy any film aslong as its made to a great standard

[carrie90]

ok ill admit maybe there are exceptions it just annoys me cause wen u say a movie that has been re-made younger people will say "oh it was crap" and im like the original wasn't and it takes something away from the original cause it is remembered for a horrible re-make

Also endless sequels (anything after trilogys) annoy me aswell lol but i wont get into that or ill go on forever

[Shevanel]

Originally Posted by carrie90

ok ill admit maybe there are exceptions it just annoys me cause wen u say a movie that has been re-made younger people will say "oh it was crap" and im like the original wasn't and it takes something away from the original cause it is remembered for a horrible re-make

Also endless sequels (anything after trilogys) annoy me aswell lol but i wont get into that or ill go on forever

Dude, I totally know what you mean, Carrie. Like. It pisses me off majorly. They're remaking the fucking Warriors. HOW DO YOU DO THAT?! it's not even going to be in freakin Coney Island and NYC either!? Like. You just can't do that. Remakes by the same directors I think are the only remakes that should be allowed (from now on), like Funny Games, Although the German one is supposed to be a lot better than the American one, but its a shot for shot remake, sorta like how Gus Van Sant decided to do with Psycho, which failed HORRIBLY. Funny Games didn't. There are VERY few modern remakes that are decent.

Original script writing needs to come back. Seriously. I really hate when original classics like Last House on the Left, Assault on Precinct 13, The Hills have Eyes (although I don't think this one was an all that horrible remake) are remade and then the originals become almost "obsolete" in most kids eyes these days, its horrible to let that happen...

[Just Adam]

dude i wasent even going there with warriors.. its one of the greatest movies of all time ! a real master piece.

i dont care if somthing goes past trilogy problem is after that the makers tend to just churn it out and think sod it and the public gets a crap film... die hards an exception though i like number 4

do you know what i hate when they dont make sequels but take a film and do the same thing but make it shiter and shiter

example

Big tom hanks goes from 13 year old to like 30

then whats her name in 30 going on 30

then zac efron 17 somthing.... yea we will switch it around thats fresh thinking :| wtf


basically taking a decent film and churning out a shed load of clones and like clones the more you make the worse they get

oooo speaking of tom hanks


WILSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!!!!!!

[KittyBoy]

I hate Hollywood for the fact that it destroys classic movies, not only classic movies, but they also create movies based of events in the past and are not even close to what the events were actually like!

"The Poseiden Adventures", originally a TV series, when remade into a movie, Hollywood cut half of the cast down and created events that were impossible in the oringinal.

I also cite "Troy" a movie that is 99% FALSE, the only thing they got right were just a few names, like Archilles, Priam, Paris, Helen, Agememnon, Menalaus, Troy, etc. etc. Troy was actually JUST a palace surrounded by a high wall and a small town built outside the wall, not a giant city with extremely high impenetrable walls. Not to mention they got the relationships between many of the characters COMPLETELY WRONG. Archilles and Patroclus were not cousins. Cassandra was not the cousin to Paris and Hector, she was their full-blooded sister!

Also on the note of being completely wrong I also cite the 'movie' "The Last Samurai", I think the only thing they actually got right was the country's name and the provincal names.

I also use the Johnny Depp remake of "Willy Wonka", lets not even get started! Let's just say watch the original and form your own opinion. But one of the MOST annoying ones is the *INSERT SARCASM* 'NEWER BETTER VERSION' of "Oceans Eleven", "Oceans 11". With just making that remake they killed an amazing classic movie, then Hollywood went even further by, mutilating what ever pride the original movie had, making the even more pathetic "Oceans 12" and "Oceans 13".

Now they are planning to destroy classic movies like Footloose, The Warriors, Hellraiser, Death Wish, Prom Night, Child's Play, Logan's Run, The Birds, 39 Steps, Death Wish, The Day the Earth Stood Still and Friday the 13th (AGAIN!) by making remakes! There is also the nearly confirmed rumour that they are trying to remake ALL of the 'James Bond' movies, if that happens, I am sure that Ian Flemming WILL be rolling around in his grave.

I know I sound like a crackpot, but it is just because I love classic movies!

[ANightDude]

One thing that bothers me is people say that remakes destroy a classic.

In my opinion, the films destory themselves, not the original. They do no harm to the original in any way, unless they are so terrible they ruin the franchise.

For example, King Kong, the 1970's version. Horrid movie, remake of a classic. King Kong remained a wonderful classic. And the 2005 remake was even better!

Originally Posted by ANightDude

One thing that bothers me is people say that remakes destroy a classic.

In my opinion, the films destory themselves, not the original. They do no harm to the original in any way, unless they are so terrible they ruin the franchise.

For example, King Kong, the 1970's version. Horrid movie, remake of a classic. King Kong remained a wonderful classic. And the 2005 remake was even better!

yes yes yes!

I'm sorry but people these days are taking movies too seriously (i know what I'm saying but don't crucify me please). If you think your perception of the original will change, there is one simple thing you can do, DONT SEE IT. I personally like most re-makes. Baz Luhrmann's spin on Romeo and Juliet....Gone in 60 Seconds....The Italian Job...all great re-makes. I like to see the directors spin on the re-make, and you absolutely cannot expect a director to redo it shot for shot...why...cause thats boring it does nothing for the film. Doing a re-make takes risks, just take it for what it is...a movie.

[George]

Because a remake may be utter crap, it doesn't mean you must watch it. You can easilly just watch the original instead of the new one.

The Dragonball movie remake was horrid to say the least, and I saw it, but I understand that the movie business is just that, a business. They want to sell tickets so they're feeding off familiarity with their brands.

In my opinion its like that quote "simpsons did it"

Every Idea possible had been used in hollywood.

I gave up on hollywood and made the switch to indie films. When you have a low budget your forced to be creative.

[Markio]

I mostly just dislike how the movie No Reservations starring Catherine Zeta Jones and Aaron Eckhart was taken completely from a german film called Mostly Martha, which I really enjoyed because of its portrayal of Germans and Italians within the context of the story. Of course, I have not seen No Reservations but I don't plan to because it lacks the part of the story that I really liked.