|
|
 
|
|
Author
|
Topic: Movies that would actually be good to remake
|
Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
|
posted 09-02-2016 12:51 PM
We've seen so many misguided, pointless, bad and stupid remakes lately, so I was wondering if we could come up with movies that really COULD benefit from a good remake. There are lots of movies that weren't mega-blockbusters upon release that could be turned into great movies if done properly.
One I thought of right off the bat was ROLLERCOASTER, which was one of the original Sensurround movies. It came out in 1977. If remade today, it could be faster-paced (the original was a little draggy in spots), and of course there are a lot more real badass rollercoasters today compared to the relatively tame ones in the original (although some of those are still in operation today).
I guess the only downside, it would maybe hit a little too close to home when we're looking at actual terrorist threats these days -- oh, for the carefree days of 1977, when my biggest concern was finding a girlfriend -- so most theme parks would probably object to a film such as this being made today. But you have to admit they could really make a great caper film from this premise.
Another one I thought of was COMA. It's still a great thriller today but could really benefit from putting it in today's techno-world...lots of potential for really creeping people out.
And finally, SNEAKERS, which is one of my favorite movies so if they do remake it, they better do a great job on it. Robert Redford could play the Sidney Poitier part and Will Smith could star in Redford's part from the original. Here again, technology has advanced such that they could make the story more interesting with cool gadgets.
What are your proposals for great remakes? Who knows, some Hollywood writer might read this and get an inspiration.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
|
posted 09-02-2016 02:24 PM
These days Hollywood movie studios tend to do the opposite of what I would prefer with remakes. They like to remake movies whose originals were already very good or great. Ben Hur is one of the latest examples. I would rather remake a movie whose original had a good premise, lots of potential, but just wasn't executed as well as it should have been.
Since Paramount has no problem sticking different guys into the Jack Ryan role from time to time, I think The Hunt for Red October has potential to be re-made into a much better movie. The book is my favorite Tom Clancy novel, and I feel the 1990 movie just didn't do the book proper justice. There were major story deviations and I really hated the phony, schmaltz-infected ending in the movie. It was very different from the book's ending, which seemed more grounded in reality.
Species had a great deal of potential, but it turned into a really stupid slasher type movie. The "Sil" character was at first painted as a sympathetic character and then just out of nowhere turned into an generic killer. There was an opportunity in the story for a truly horrible monster to escape from the lab and have the scientists trying to save Sil from it (instead of mating with it) and get her human side restored somehow. That would have been more interesting than the silly path the movie chose to take. Maybe they took the latter path out of budget and technology limits of the mid 1990's. Since Species II took a giant shit on that franchise any remake of the original might have to be made under a completely different title.
If I can think of any others I'll add them to this thread.
quote: Mike Blakesley
Another one I thought of was COMA. It's still a great thriller today but could really benefit from putting it in today's techno-world...lots of potential for really creeping people out.
A re-make of Coma could have a lot of timely potential these days, considering the runaway cost inflation and sheer greed going on in the health care industrial complex.
| IP: Logged
|
|
Martin McCaffery
Film God
Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99
|
posted 09-02-2016 03:34 PM
Along similar lines:
The Onion
quote:
Despite the recent box-office failures of Exodus, Ben-Hur, and Gods Of Egypt, studios continue to fund big-budget movies they hope will achieve blockbuster success. The Onion provides a step-by-step breakdown of how one of these movies becomes a flop:
STEP 1
Warner Bros. executive catches old rerun of The Rifleman and thinks, “I could make that cost a quarter of a billion dollars”
STEP 2
Screenwriter commissioned to develop a story that’s splashy, family-friendly, and has a hard July 24, 2017 release date
STEP 3
Meryl Streep declines to participate
STEP 4
Repeated production delays caused by prima donna CGI animator refusing to come out of his trailer
STEP 5
Classically trained Shakespearean actor privately wonders why his character wants to blow up planet Earth
STEP 6
Studio hands off total creative control to illustrious, visionary test audience
STEP 7
Top minds at Burger King tapped for limited-edition cup collaboration
STEP 8
Year-long marketing rollout to get the public intrigued, then excited, then cautiously optimistic, then annoyed, then intolerant of upcoming film
STEP 9
Critics sent advance screeners and encouraged to keep reviews to one or two words, tops
STEP 10
Home video and overseas markets swoop in to make everything all right
STEP 11
Paramount executive catches old rerun of Dynasty and thinks, “I could make that cost a quarter of a billion dollars”
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
|
posted 09-02-2016 11:08 PM
Agreed with Bobby on Coma. I picked up the novel in a thrift store a few months ago, and it struck me that the 1970s movie was not a very good adaptation. As with Frederick Forsyth, there have never been any really memorable film adapations of Robin Cook novels, because they depend so much on unfilmable technical detail for their plots to make sense. But as with updating King Kong in the context of the 1970s oil crisis, updating Coma with a backstory about how Obamacare is pressuring the healthcare industry to find new ways of making money could be quite fun.
There are so many iconic Hollywood silents that only serious movie buffs know (and thus you wouldn't have the problem of the mass audience comparing your remake unfavorably to the original) that would be ripe remake territory; Hell's Hinges and The Iron Horse would be near the top of my list.
Not exactly a remake, but I've just finished [url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batavia%27s_Graveyard]this account[/url] of a c17 mutiny and shipwreck in ended up with mass-murder, cannibalism and basically an all-out bloodbath on a desert island. The perfect subject for Tarantino's next movie, surely (though he'd have to become fluent in R-rated Dutch as part of his research)! Though apparently, according to various rumors on the wab, Russel Crowe got there first and is working on a screenplay. Oh well.
And as far as The Bible goes, we're long overdue for a remake of The Last Days of Sodom and Gomorrah, not least because the original was low budget, Spaghetti Western stuff but not even cheaply enough made to be funny. Again, ripe Tarantino subject matter, though he'd have to resist the temptation for cheesy CGI when it came to Lot's wife's saline demise. Continuing the story into Genesis 19 (Lot gets drunk and impregnates his daughters) rather than rolling the credits as Lot leads the faithful into the sunset would be interesting, too...
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
All times are Central (GMT -6:00)
|
|
Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM
6.3.1.2
The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion
and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.
|
Home
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic