With all the remakes and reboots and rehashing of movies coming out of Hollywood today it seems relevant to talk about that, from the perspective of being a writer.
Firstly, remakes are fine, if, IF, you have something new to say, OR if the technology we have now can improve the film in some way OR if the original was really horrible but had potential.
As a writer, a remake of something that is already a classic is like an offense; a crime against creativity. That doesn't mean I'm against remakes. As I stated in the last paragraph, there are reasons to remake something.
A reboot is a little different. Let's look at the Star Trek franchise. There have been several tv shows and some movies. Most of the movies are based off of the original Trek cast, but of course, as they age and in some cases pass away, we can't get more out of that franchise.
New characters have come along, like STAR TREK: NEXT GENERATION, which was an awesome show in it's own right, with an amazing cast. They had some movies too, but again, the actors are aging and moving on so there is little reason to continue with them.
So, to continue a whole universe of stories in that vein, a reboot seems logical. And the new Star Trek reboot started off okay, though has been less and less good as the new movies have come out. They are entertaining enough, but their story quality has decreased, not sure why but the re-imagining of Wrath of Kahn was an insult to the original Trek film, which was brilliant, and the third installment with Spock/Spock was only interesting due to Nimoy's involvement.
As for the new Trek cast playing familiar characters, they did a great job. I wasn't sure about Quinto as Spock, or Yelchin (R.I.P.) as Chekov or Saldana as Uhura, but Pine, Cho, Urban and Pegg were well cast and brilliant. I came around on the others as time and viewings increased.
All that said, it was still a good idea to reboot this franchise.
As remakes go, I can't think of one off the top of my head that I was impressed with.
Are there movies I think need a remake? Oh yes. I can name one right away; CAT BALLOU.
I love westerns and the genre has suffered a little in these more modern times with bad remakes (3:10 to Yuma) and weird cross overs (Cowboys vs Aliens). But Cat Ballou is a strange little animal cross over on it's own.
In the vein of Maverick, it was a western/comedy with a great cast. Jane Fonda as the title character, right at the height of her sex kitten days, but showing her future acting chops. Movie veteran Lee Marvin as her drunken mentor/father figure/love interest, nearer the latter part of his career and turning in a stellar performance (along with a horse that deserved an Oscar of his own). TV actors Dwayne Hickman and Michael Callan give solid performances that allow the leads to do their thing without overshadowing their own contributions.
It has been remade twice, 1971 and 1971, but I've never seen them and don't want to. The original was great despite it's issues of racism and kitschy 60's references. Would love to see this remove those issues and appeal to modern audiences. Westerns don't have to be old fashioned you know.
But sadly, I think Hollywood studios will still continue to be afraid of original content, leaving that to Netflix, Amazon, HBO and other alternative providers. Movies cost a lot of money to make (sometimes because of actor salaries) and taking chances on something that might not make back your investment is a serious thing. I understand but remakes can't be making them as much money as they hope. The margins are slim as eventually nostalgia for originals will wear thin and people will go back to watching the classic originals.
Well, said my piece for the day. Back to the grind!
Ciao!
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