It seems like everytime I turn around, there is a classic film or television series that is being redone, re-imagined, or "rebooted." Maybe you have asked yourself the question, was it really necessary for the new version to be made?
Let's take a look at some recent examples of this ongoing trend.
Earlier this year, the re-imagining of Disney's Alice in Wonderland, starring Johnny Depp was released and did incredibly well. 2009 gave us J.J. Abrams adaptation of Star Trek. These films did incredible business, but the question is, did it improve upon the classic originals that we love? Last summer, we saw the release of the A-Team, an 80's television show turned film. The film topped out at over $100 million at the box office. A re-imagining of the The John Wayne classic True Grit directed by the Coen brothers was just released into theaters.
In years past, there have been good re-makes or reboots like Starsky and Hutch, that infused modern humor and campiness into old franchises. Star Trek was also a good film. There are also those like The Dukes of Hazzard that were so bad they should burn the celluloid that the movie was filmed on.
There is an incredibly long list of movie remakes that are currently in the works. The list includes remakes of the classic Ridley Scott film Alien, John Carpenter's The Thing, as well as the 80's favorite Short Circuit. The list goes on and on.
Are there no original ideas anymore? Hollywood seems to want to dip back into back catalog to find source material for current films. From an economic standpoint, I can understand that. The studios will do what makes them money with the properties they own or can acquire.
Once in a while, a director will take a property in an entirely unique direction, and deliver a platform for the franchise to continue developing in a creative manner. I think a good example of this is J.J. Abrams recent Star Trek reboot.
What do you think? Do you like remakes and reboots? I'd love to hear your thoughts and see which ones you like or dislike,
