remakes
With "Poltergeist" being released on May 21, it has tempted me to write about movie remakes. It's not often the case when the remake is better than the original. However, titles such as "12 Angry Men" and "The Departed" prove that remakes can be just as good, if not better than the original. Some titles are so obscure that you wonder why a movie was remade in the first place. Look no further than 2012's "Sparkle".
Hollywood often likes to borrow from a foreign language film to remake. There are far too many to mention them all but here are some movies that have been remade as a Hollywood production: "Three Men and a Baby", "The Magnificent Seven", "The Birdcage" and "The Ring". If you see a popular foreign film, don't be surprised if it is remade in the future. There's been talk that the French box office smash from a few years ago, "The Intouchables", will be remade in Hollywood.
Often a movie is rebooted. One could argue the point that this could be classified as a remake too. Movies to receive the reboot treatment include "Fantastic Four", "Star Trek" and "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit". Sometimes it takes only a few years for a movie franchise to be rebooted. Take a look at "Spider-Man" where "Spider-Man 3" was released in 2007 followed by the reboot called "The Amazing Spider-Man" in 2012. Now there will be another reboot on top of the reboot and that one is due for release in 2017.
I don't mind a decent remake, just as long as it doesn't harm the reputation of the original. You're familiar with the characters and story plus it's an interesting exercise to compare the two films. If the remake is horrible then it just makes you appreciate the original more. Some awful remakes of classic films include "The Time Machine" and "The Truth About Charlie" ("Charade").
There's been so many remakes that Wikipedia has two separate pages for the lists:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_remakes (link to the two pages)
This page will tell you the remakes that are being released this year: http://www.movieinsider.com/movies/remake/2015/
Are you a fan of remakes? It will take you only 10 seconds to complete this survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MQZJZPC
(Written on Saturday 16th May, 2015)
