Cfrock
Keep it strong
Lozjam made a thread a few months ago about Hollywood's recent obsession with remakes, reboots, and films based on existing property. It's a trend that I, like many others, have grown weary of in the last couple of years. There's nothing wrong with any of those things per se, but so many of them these days feel cynical.
Looking at remakes from the 80s — movies like Scarface, The Thing, and The Fly — they took an existing film and turned it into something different to fit the (then) modern era. The original Scarface (itself based on a novel) was released in 1932 and was a gangster film set in Chicago, loosely based on the career of Al Capone who had been imprisoned that same year. The 1983 remake turned the main character into a Cuban migrant and was set in Miami, dealing with the trafficking of cocaine instead of alcohol bootlegging. The two films stand alone as individual products and reflect the eras they were made in. Scarface is being remade again, this time set in Los Angeles. Will it be a 'true' remake? Or will it just be the same film as the 1983 version, with the same characters and the same story? Do they intend to update the story to reflect the modern era or are they just trading on a name? Only time will tell.
Trading on nostalgia is sensible from a business point of view. People recognise names like Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Ghostbusters, so you can reasonably expect people to want to see those movies. Studios also like a 'safe bet' because making movies is expensive and nobody wants to lose millions of dollars. But is that the only way to make money off people's memories?
Movies like Turbo Kid and Black Dynamite, and shows like Stranger Things take an aesthetic and narrative style from the past and replicate it in the modern day with original stories. They borrow from existing material, sometimes heavily, but rather than just regurgitate it they use their influences to build something new. People are drawn to these things for their nostalgia factor but rather than just being given a shallow recreation of something they've seen before they get something original. Personally, I greatly prefer this approach. It feels like the-best-of-both-worlds.
And so to the point. What do you guys think of such films/shows? Do you like them more than straight remakes/reboots? Would you like to see more of this kind of thing? And do you guys have any other examples of such things?
Keep it strong.
Looking at remakes from the 80s — movies like Scarface, The Thing, and The Fly — they took an existing film and turned it into something different to fit the (then) modern era. The original Scarface (itself based on a novel) was released in 1932 and was a gangster film set in Chicago, loosely based on the career of Al Capone who had been imprisoned that same year. The 1983 remake turned the main character into a Cuban migrant and was set in Miami, dealing with the trafficking of cocaine instead of alcohol bootlegging. The two films stand alone as individual products and reflect the eras they were made in. Scarface is being remade again, this time set in Los Angeles. Will it be a 'true' remake? Or will it just be the same film as the 1983 version, with the same characters and the same story? Do they intend to update the story to reflect the modern era or are they just trading on a name? Only time will tell.
Trading on nostalgia is sensible from a business point of view. People recognise names like Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Ghostbusters, so you can reasonably expect people to want to see those movies. Studios also like a 'safe bet' because making movies is expensive and nobody wants to lose millions of dollars. But is that the only way to make money off people's memories?
Movies like Turbo Kid and Black Dynamite, and shows like Stranger Things take an aesthetic and narrative style from the past and replicate it in the modern day with original stories. They borrow from existing material, sometimes heavily, but rather than just regurgitate it they use their influences to build something new. People are drawn to these things for their nostalgia factor but rather than just being given a shallow recreation of something they've seen before they get something original. Personally, I greatly prefer this approach. It feels like the-best-of-both-worlds.
And so to the point. What do you guys think of such films/shows? Do you like them more than straight remakes/reboots? Would you like to see more of this kind of thing? And do you guys have any other examples of such things?
Keep it strong.
