Remakes: Innovation or abomination? [Commentary]

If you’ve been to a movie theater in the past ten years, chances are you’ve seen a remake: a film that has rebooted, reimagined or reinvented a popular film or television series. From Tim Burton’s reimagining of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to last year’s Oscar-worthy True Grit, it seems Hollywood is always eager to tinker with the classics.

This is nothing new. For years, directors and screenwriters have been creating remakes. Not even counting sequels and prequels, the list is long. Remakes are based on one of the following:

• Foreign film — The Eye (2008), based on the Pang brothers’ The Eye (a.k.a. Seeing Ghosts) (2002)
• Classic Hollywood film —Ocean’s Eleven (2001), based on Ocean’s Eleven (1960)
• Largely forgotten Hollywood film — The Bachelor (1999), based on Buster Keaton’s Seven Chances (1925)
• Any film based on a novel — Planet of the Apes (2001), based on Planet of the Apes (1968) from the novel by Pierre Boulle
• Television show — The Addams Family (1991), based on the television series The Addams Family (1964-1966)

We’ve become accustomed to the notion that Hollywood may out of new ideas. It seems each year there’s at least one classic film being retooled for modern audiences. War of the Worlds, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Clash of the Titans… the list goes on.

Much of the time it’s science fiction, fantasy, and horror that gets Hollywood’s extreme makeover. Hollywood seems to think that the ability to do amazing new special effects is reason enough to remake a science fiction film. But after seeing Jack Black in the 2005 remake of King Kong, I’d rather watch the original.

These attempts to upgrade a classic are often met with derision by movie purists, even as the unwary masses fork over their hard-earned bucks for a film that can’t compare to the original.

One wonders why people don’t save the money and rent the DVD or stream it via Netflix. Many of the classics withstand the test of time. Most of the foreign films are far superior to the American remakes.

Are movie audiences afraid of black and while films? Do they hate subtitles? Why do remakes reign supreme?

I don’t think people are afraid of old movies (or foreign films). I think they just don’t know where to look. You would think that studios would put more money into re-releasing classics into the theaters.

I know, I know… you think that with DVDs and Internet streaming that no one would go. But I remember seeing The Godfather on the big screen when it was re-released for its 25th anniversary. It was beautiful. I also took my wife to the theater on Valentine’s Day so we could see Casablanca (one of the most romantic movies of all time) on the big screen.

So what do you think? Are reboots a good way to reintroduce old stories to modern audiences? Or are they destroying our memories of the great films on which they stand?

Tomorrow we’ll discuss the times when remakes get it right.