The Hollywood Recycling Machine

Well, the trend seems to be to remake everything. I’m scared by the fact that in 10-15 years someone will probably want to remake all the 80s John Hughes movies. However, it does seem that Hollywood doesn’t seem to like original ideas anymore. They are all “hey! this made a ton of money the first time! let’s do it again!”. At least with sequels you get a new story. But with remakes, you already know what’s going to happen, you saw it before!

I saw a commercial for “The Invasion” and its like “wait, I saw this movie before, wasn’t it called ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ then?” Guess they are trying to be clever to hide the fact its a remake, like with Poseidon instead of Poseidon Adventure.

But yes, all the remakes are beyond annoying, I don’t plan to see any of them as I saw them already!

Catherine, it’s interesting that you brought up Peter Jackson’s KING KONG, because that’s one of the few (if not the only) remake I enjoyed in recent years. Hell, I loved it! I paid to see it twice. In fact, it was the last time I truly enjoyed the huge screen-large popcorn-large soda-epic movie-going experience. That a year and a half ago. My only gripe about it was that I thought it should have reflected the present day rather than be set in the 1930’s. In fact, my first PG-rated film ever was the 1976 remake of KING KONG. I was nine years-old. I saw that one before ever seeing the original 1933 film, if you can believe it.

I suppose it cannot be ignored that remakes have been around since movies began. At the very least, 50, 60, 70 years ago, movie ideas were still fresh and had the possibility for originality, even the remakes. It would have been a shame if Bram Stoker’s DRACULA had stopped with Murnau’s NOSFERATU or if Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN had stopped with Thomas Edison’s 1910 ten-minute film. We’d never have had Karloff and Legosi’s legendary characters. Today’s Hollywood attitude, I’m afraid, cannot be given the same slack.

You know what else I think it is? And remember, please, that I can only generalize my opinion, as there are always exceptions; not only in films, but in people, too. I think that somewhere in the course of the last decade or so, those that run Hollywood decided that today’s younger movie-going audience (age-range 18 to 35) are either too dumb or too indiffernet to be exposed to old films, outside of required viewings in film school. This combined with the fact that old films are almost never re-released in theaters anymore, leads me to believe that Hollywood feels it should simply remake the film to appeal to today’s younger audience and to take in their box office earnings fast.

THE INVASION (2007) will mark the fourth version of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. Fourth??? Is this really the only way today’s audiences can appreciate the original and classic story. I’d sooner pay full ticket price to see the original 1956 classic on screen before watching Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig waste their talents on recycled material.

A few years ago, I was discussing films with a young man in his early 20’s). I finally raised the subject of old black and white films and asked him if he’d ever seen CASABLANCA. His response was, “I never heard of CASABLANCA.” For a moment, I was frozen stiff. How was this possible? Because he’s a young kid and it’s such an old movie? I don’t accept that! Are kids today never to know and listen to Mozart and Beethoven simply because they were way, way before the kid’s time?? It scares me to think that the only way kids today might know the story of CASABLANCA is if Hollywood remade it with Ashton Kutcher and Jessica Simpson (Oh, man, I don’t want to joke about that!!!).

One more thought on the subject – there’s a sequence from the movie THE PLAYER that I always remember. Tim Robbins plays a Hollywood big shot who tells Vincent D'Onofrio that they’re thinking of remaking THE BICYCLE THIEF. D'Onofrio responds by saying, “You’d probably give it a happy ending!

They would, you know. They really would.

Kirk, I like your sense of humor. Cheers!

There’s a line in MEN IN BLACK that I love…

Smith – “Why keep it a secret? People are smart. They can handle it."
Jones – "No, a person is smart. People are dumb as sh*t!”

Still makes me laugh!

By the way, for those who don’t know, the third version of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS was called BODY SNATCHERS (1994). The fourth is called THE INVASION (2007). Someday, the fifth will probably just be called OF THE!

Apparently, recycling isn’t only good for the environment. In the realm of cinema, this summer’s plethora of sequels (perhaps the most popular and efficient form of recycling) dominate a movie crowd that is predicted to earn record seasonal box office receipts:
“Will 2007 Be a Record Year in Box Office?” (16 April 2007)
“Hollywood on Track For Record Summer” (31 July 2007)

“That’s the Ticket” (Entertainment Weekly â€" 27 July 2007, Issue 945, p.17) also reports that the summer of 2007 may be the highest grossing summer in history for the motion picture industry. The article states that the box office intake must surpass the $3.8 billion mark that was set in 2004. The article names several movies that are responsible for the high numbers, including “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” “Spider-Man 3,” “Shrek the Third,” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.”

Like it or not, it’s become an industry trend that’s not going to end anytime soon. Almost out of nowhere come “The Bourne Ultimatum” and “Rush Hour 3” with atypical late-summer release dates; meanwhile Hasbro and Paramount are already discussing a “Transformers” sequel. Even remakes of Broadway musical productions (“Hairspray”) are becoming a regular occurrence, even if they aren’t always successful (as in 2005’s “The Producers”). And of course, television is also fair game (“The Simpsons” â€" which THANKFULLY turned out to be a surprisingly fresh and original movie).

Incidentally, I don’t classify “Hairspray” as a remake of the John Waters original (that would be sacrilege), as its musical numbers clearly originate from the stage show (if it was, I would refuse to see it!) – THAT was a classic that could NEVER be duplicated. Speaking of classics, just look at some of the other horrible remakes of recent times: 2005’s “The Honeymooners” and currently “Who’s Your Caddy” (undoubtedly “Caddyshack” was the inspiration…just when you thought 1988’s “Caddyshack II” wasn’t bad enough).

On the other hand, there are other analysts who say “enough is enough” to sequels:
“Too Many Sequels Spoiling the Box Office?” (20 June 2007)
“Summer Box Office Falling Short of Lofty Expectations” (25 June 2007)
”Summer Cinema’s One-Week Wonders” (18 July 2007)

Well, I don’t have a problem with sequels. Especially with movies that are open-ended (such as “Spider Man', "X-Men', "Transformers”) as they lend themselves to telling new stories with the same characters. There are others (like the previously mentioned “Caddyshack II”) that just shouldn’t have a sequel because the story that needed to be told was told. It had a very obvious beginning, middle and end. As for “Bourne Ultimatum”, isn’t that from a series of books and therefore logical to conclude the whole series of books would be made into movies if it was successful and not just 1?

I think the big beef being discussed here is Hollywood’s obsession with remakes. Sequels, for the most part, have their place and I get those. I just don’t get retelling the same story over and over. I could see it for something where limitations of technology (such as in a Sci-Fi movie) or censorship might have made the story difficult to tell properly. However, most of these sequels just seem to be for the sake of a fast buck, not because the story could be done any better now.

I’ve never seen the 1931 Maltese Falcon, nor the 1936 remake which was called Satan Met a Lady. So I can’t tell you much about either one, other than they existed.

Ron, I just put my name down on the reserve list with my local library for the three-disc special edition of THE MALTESE FALCON, which happens to include the 1931 version and SATAN MET A LADY. So it looks like I’ll see those films as soon as they’re available.

Thanks for the tip.

speaking of Hamlet … how many times has that been (re)made?

IMDB lists 64 things called “Hamlet”, though some are non-English-speaking and some were made for TV.

I think there’s a difference between a re-make and a re-imagining of a movie’s story or plotline. I think the quality remakes – many cited above – fall into that category, i.e., where the newer version shows some real creativity. I get irritated where the remake seems to be more like simple recycling or an excuse to use bankable stars or just an excuse to show off special effects or go for more explicit sex, violence or gore. As some have noted, remakes, per se, are not new; both Hitchcock and Capra remade films they made before.

I find it interesting that on Broadway, new stagings or revivals of shows occur frequently and few object; in fact there’s even a Tony award for Best Revival. Perhaps the quality of remakes might improve if there was an Oscar for “Best Remake”?

Hollywood had always remade their pictures, even back in the golden era. Someone mentioned The Maltese Falcon, but off the top of my head I can think of A Star is Born, Love Affair, The Front Page, The Women, The Jazz Singer, and Little Women, usually adding Technicolor, Cinemascope and sometimes musicalized.

Even Alfred Hitchock remade his own 1930’s “The Man Who Knew Too Much” in the 1950’s. Que sera, sera.

Obviously Love Movies and I see the situation on Broadway differently, and I doubt if one medium’s using material originally presented in another will ever stop. Frankly, I look forward to seeing new Broadway shows based on much-loved films though the result is not always successful.

For my money, if Hollywood wants to remake anything, I wish they would make some quality remakes of some Broadway musicals they trashed, especially in the 70s. I would love to see a quality remake of “Hello, Dolly!” or “Mame” or ‘A Chorus Line,“ re-imagined as a film using people appropriate to the respective roles and who can really sing and dance.

I would like to see HAIR revived on Broadway. Obvisously, I was too young to see it on stage in the late ‘60’s, but it’s one of the few movie musicals (a Milos Forman film) that I enjoyed.

“Let if fly in the breeze and get caught in the trees, give a home to the bees in my hair!”

Corporate Hollywood is cheap. They go for easy money…they don’t want to buy new scripts when they can churn out this old stuff on the cheap. We are all guilty of going to this stuff. We need to quit going to it and maybe it would send a message. Yes they redone movies back in the good old days but not to the degree they are doing it now. Yes some are fairly good but most are not….I frankly have quit going to the movie theatre as much as I used to as I am tired of this. I try to go and support my historic theatre when something worthwhile and new comes around but that isn’t happening as much as it used to. I don’t even want to rent most of these rehashes…that is how bad some of them are.

Please.please.Don’t remake Kubrick’s 2001.