Movie Remakes...Right, or Wrong?

It seems like Hollywood is on a remake bender the last few years.

Nothing seems to be off limits to the screen hacks employed by the studios these days. I recently read that a classic, Oscar winning movie is slated for the rehash bin.

While I will be the first to admit that some films have turned out far better than the originals ( Robin Hood, Clash of the Titans, 3:10 To Yuma, The 300, Dune mini-series, Alice in Wonderland, etc), the majority are just a way for lazy screen writers to "update" films with gratuitous violence, filthy language and nudity/sex.

It reminds me of today's hip-hop artists who remake classic songs, and the end product is just garbage. Do you know what I mean? For instance, "Killing Me Softly" is a slow, mournful ballad; not a fast-paced, rap oriented, obnoxious noise-fest as was presented a few years ago! What a travesty of artistic interpretation! I wish that version could be unmade. So it is with some of these "re-do's" that have been popping up. Some of the real dogs that have reared their ugly heads are War of the Worlds, Starsky & Hutch, The Taking of Pelham 123, S.W.A.T., The Fog, Death Race, etc.

Now I'm reading that over the next few years, Hollywood studios will be filming upwards of 125 "re-imaginings" of previously released movies. Among the probable list, Conan the Barbarian, Highlander, Metropolis, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Westworld and The Warriors. Add to the list now, Academy Award winner, True Grit. What? Remake a classic, award winning film?....and John Wayne no less? Seriously?!!!

Yeah...somebody is going there!

That list is also exclusive of this years' remaining "do-overs" that include The Karate Kid, Red Dawn, The A Team, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Tales From Earthsea, Tangled, and Gulliver's Travels.

Notice a trend here?

No wonder Hollywood is wondering why, though gate receipts are up (mostly due to price increases), theater attendance is on the decline. Maybe they ought to look at all the remakes that are being pumped out ad nauseum. Instead of these "re-treads", maybe studio execs should be looking at screenplays that actually have originality in them. I for one am getting tired of seeing movies "recycled" every 15 years or so. With all the literature, all the current events, and all of human history as a rich source of material, why are we seeing "rehash" after rehash of tired, overdone films? Or of movies that should never be touched because the original is the best?

Notice all the terms I've been highlighting? Re-do's, Re-Imagining, Do-Over's, Re-Treads, Recycled, Re-Hash. These are all terms I have seen used by marketers to distract the movie-going public from the fact that so many movies are nothing more than updated remakes of previous products. A remake is a remake; no matter the term used to describe it.

So, tell me what you think about this trend. Is it here to stay? Are the screen writers in Hollywood so creatively dead that they can't write new material? What would you like to see coming out of the studios? Tell me what you think; I'll be doing a follow-up with reader comments in the near future.