Image from WikipediaAnd the slew of Hollywood remake threats continues with two idiotic, but it seems green-lit, suggestions: Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Short Circuit. Both good films in their original forms… OK. Bill & Ted was amazing and had a damn good sequel. Short Circuit wasn’t so bad, but again the sequel wasn’t so bad.
So why the remakes? SC is being worked on by the people who scripted the original. Why not do a third rather than remaking the first one? Same with B&T. Scuttlebut has it that a few years ago Winters and Reeves were considering going back to their best-known characters for a third in the franchise.
I guess it’s cheaper and easier to remake something that’s already been done than to tackle anything with a degree of originality. Look at the insane number of sequels, comic book adaptations, book adaptations, remakes of old films, remakes of foreign-language films and so on that have filled the summer blockbuster spots for the last few years.
In fairness, a lot of these have been superb. The re-awakening of the Batman franchise with Batman Begins. Similarly the long hiatus in the saga of the Man of Steel with Superman Returns. The Harry Potter films. The forthcoming Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The Ring remakes and subsequent sequels unrelated to the original Japanese Ringu series. The excellent Spiderman series.
So there are some good films that result from it, but the superhero films at least have some original scripting. The direct remakes are poor and the shot-for-shot remake of Psycho a couple of years ago must be one of the most pointless uses of celluloid of all time. Is it really so difficult to some up with something original for filming these days? Novelists seem to be able to rattle of original books all the time, so why not scriptwriters?
the last thing the world needs is a remake/reimagining of older films –
What’s next?
a shot for shot remake of Psycho…….err never mind
Some, in fairness, haven’t been too bad. The remake of The Hills Have Eyes, for instance, doesn’t have the shock factor that the original did, but certainly had a better cast and budget.
Others take the name of the original and… pretty much, that’s it. Italian Job, anyone? The “remake” wasn’t too bad – but it just didn’t need that name as it was an utterly unrelated film with the exception of the cars. Hannibal could have been about any character – it didn’t have to be part of the Lecter canon. However, it was a great film in its own right. I actually think it would have been better had it *not* been about Lecter.
just pray you never get to sit through the pile of steaming crap that was the Get Carter remake – baaaaaaad.
Personally I’d like them to remake Flash Gordon – excellent film
Flash is being done as a TV series at the moment. Well. It was. Cancelled after a 22-episode run that finished a few weeks ago. It’s meant to be quite good but I’ve not got round to watching it yet.