Why Will They Never Learn ?

[Mr Roxy]

Why Will They Never Learn ?#0

Posted: 11/6/04 at 12:16pm

Why does Hollywood find the need to remake classic movies ( & to never outdo the original )

1. The Manchurian Candidate
2. King Kong (& the Upcoming one as well )

There are others but this i what comes to mind now

Poster Emeritus

[Mary_Ethel]

re: Why Will They Never Learn ?#1

Posted: 11/6/04 at 1:15pm

IMO, it's just like Broadway doing revivals of famous musicals.

THEY HAVE A PRE-SOLD NAME.


Then they take that pre-sold name, twist the original story into a pretzel, move songs all around and assign them to different characters, alter the story-line so much you're not even sure it's a REMAKE any more, [Both Broadway Revivals and Hollywood Movies both do this to make their product more "palatable" to today's audiences] and then sell it to the public based on that pre-sold NAME.

I'm thinking of the 1994 Revival of DAMN YANKEES--the second act was rewritten so heavily I thought I wandered into the wrong theater by mistake after intermission.

Whenever a film is remade (I remember this was the case with BEDAZZLED), the Blockbuster near me triples the price of the original version and gets away with it because the market is curious about the original source of the remake.

Why does Broadway and Hollywood do it? Because they can--and make money doing it.

"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."

[Plum]

re: Why Will They Never Learn ?#2

Posted: 11/6/04 at 1:40pm

Why do they feel the need to do remakes? Because, quite simply, they don't have enough original ideas. I absolutely go crazy sometimes when I look at the really fascinating properties that have been stuck in Development Hell for years while crap like Baby Geniuses 2 gets made. But I have to be realistic- like every other profession, Hollywood is stocked mostly by mediocrities. So what do you expect?

[Marquise]

re: Why Will They Never Learn ?#3

Posted: 11/6/04 at 1:43pm

some remakes are necessary.

[Type_A_Tiff]

re: Why Will They Never Learn ?#4

Posted: 11/6/04 at 1:45pm

examples?

"It's not always about you!!!" (But if you think I'm referring to you anyway, then I probably am.)

"Good luck returning my ass!" - Wilhemina Slater

"This is my breakfast, lunch and f***ing dinner right here. I'm not even f***in' joking." - Colin Farrell

[Matt_G]

re: Why Will They Never Learn ?#5

Posted: 11/6/04 at 1:46pm

What is your problem with remakes? If they suck it doesn't take anything away from the originals. Some of those are great stories that are being retold to a new audience. How is that a bad thing?

"Noah, someday we'll talk again. But there's things we'll never say. That sorrow deep inside you. It inside me, too. And it never go away. You be okay. You'll learn how to lose things..."

[Plum]

re: Why Will They Never Learn ?#6

Posted: 11/6/04 at 1:48pm

Like I said, what makes me sad are all the cool properties that stay in limbo while studios slobber all over comparatively low-risk sequels and remakes.

[Mary_Ethel]

re: Why Will They Never Learn ?#7

Posted: 11/6/04 at 2:21pm

Matt,

That is my point. They are not "great stories being re-told."

They are great stories being changed so much to fit today's sensibilities that the original story gets lost in the shuffle.

BEDAZZLED (2000) didn't "re-tell" the story of BEDAZZLED (1967)--it took the very bare-bones premise of the original--man sells his soul for seven wishes--and took that premise in an ENTIRELY different direction.

IMO, it wasn't a remake--it was a movie with the same pre-sold title that told an entirely different story (and in a far less wittier manner, I might add.)

"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."