Non-Gaming Remakes

[Moonface]

We're all familiar with games getting remakes, especially in recent years with the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Dead Space, Resident Evil 4 Remake, The Last of Us Part 1, and probably dozens of others I could list. With the recent news that HBO is doing a Harry Potter TV series based on the books (which I feel is completely unnecessary because even with the flaws some of the movies have they're not that old and I don't see anything about the remake being better and a lot of it definitely won't be on par even, especially when it comes to the cast), and my mistaken thought that The Lord of the Rings movies were being remade but apparently (and hopefully) they're just new movies intended to explore more of that universe, I got to thinking about remakes of things that aren't videogames.

I can't really think of a movie or show that I wish would get remade, but I do know there's some music I wish was redone. Metallica for example are a band I would love to see redo their older albums, because I think their sound prior to the Black album isn't that good (vocals in particular) and hearing them play their old stuff live on their Through the Never album is so sick in comparison, and while there is at least the live versions I wish there was a redo of just each entire album from their earlier days. I think the most they've done is one of those remasters where the sound quality gets improved and cleaned up but that's not the same to me. I want that trademark stompyness in there! >n<

Also to just give a shoutout to a remake I adore, 1999's The Mummy remake starring Brendan Fraser is up there as a GOAT for me. That 2017 version with Tom Cruise lives in the unspoken archives of Ba Sing Se and because it's in my mind from already talking about it, reminds me of that one HP quote when Harry says "How dare you stand where he once stood."

[ShiraNoMai]

My least favorite trend of "remakes" has got to be any of the Disney "Animation to Live Action" adaptations. I enjoyed 101 Dalmatians with Glenn Close in 1996; I actually think that was their first live action adaptation (from Animation to Live Action). Apparently Robin Hood was a "live action into animation". I genuinely wish they did more of those but honestly I don't think they have many properties that would fit that? At least, natively by Walt Disney company (so that excludes Marvel and Lucasfilm).

[Moonface]

My least favorite trend of "remakes" has got to be any of the Disney "Animation to Live Action" adaptations. I enjoyed 101 Dalmatians with Glenn Close in 1996; I actually think that was their first live action adaptation (from Animation to Live Action). Apparently Robin Hood was a "live action into animation". I genuinely wish they did more of those but honestly I don't think they have many properties that would fit that? At least, natively by Walt Disney company (so that excludes Marvel and Lucasfilm).

Ugh, I think I forgot about that entirely when making this thread because I hate it so much. I saw a list recently of all of the planned live-action remakes Disney intends to make and I'm convinced they'll just do their entire catalogue at this point. They're even doing a live-action remake of Treasure Planet and that movie was a complete bomb for them when the original came out.


The most recent Planet of the Apes trilogy was really good although it's more of a reboot than a remake I guess. You want a bad remake of something in the Planet of the Apes series (that's actually a remake rather than a reboot) then go watch the 2001 remake by Tim Burton.

[Monocle]

oh oh oh. I'm super split because I want remakes of great movies and shows but I also want remakes of movies with poor reception but had great ideas behind them.

Like I seriously want a Treasure Planet remake since it bombed in theaters buuuut if Disney continues its trend, it'll be live action and I don't want that.

[Moonface]

Like I seriously want a Treasure Planet remake since it bombed in theaters buuuut if Disney continues its trend, it'll be live action and I don't want that.

I'm guessing you missed the bad news in my post above yours:

They're even doing a live-action remake of Treasure Planet and that movie was a complete bomb for them when the original came out.

  

You make a good point about remaking things that didn't do well on their initial release. I'm struggling to really think of many things that didn't get to meet its full potential originally, but something that did come to mind was The Legend of Korra. While the one that exists isn't bad, it's clear areas of it were affected by the creators not knowing if Nickelodeon was going to give them another season or not. I'd be curious to see if the first two seasons in particular would be tackled differently when they don't need to wrap themselves up in a single season like they did.

[Frank]

Super Mario Brothers Super Show, but with Charles Martinet reprising his roles and a smoother 2D animation style.

[Mr EliteL]

I forgot the 1999 The Mummy was a remake. That was indeed great, and although I've never seen the original or whatever, likely was much better anyway.

Remakes are usually hit or miss so I just focus on the ones I like and try not to bother with any that came before, or get made more recently. For instance what's been mentioned with Harry Potter, why is that getting a TV series, there's nothing to gain really, the films are good enough already and will get compared constantly, likely to be in a bad light.

I can see remakes of James Bond happening in the future because of course, even though I wouldn't want to watch any.

On to something I actually like, 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist and '09 Brotherhood, yes they were quite close together, one diverged from the source material, one kept to it but both are incredible and can stand on their own just fine. Not that I'd want to see more series/franchises done like this on the contrary I doubt I'd be bothered to see two or more versions of something again. *shrugs*

[ShiraNoMai]

Yeah, the original 90's DBZ and the streamlined remake of DBZ: Kai from the 10s is also another thing that has its own merits and rights in being better in certain aspects but standing alone as good pieces.

The idea of a Bond remake kind of stirs unease; part of Bond's character is his weakness for women, and the idea of a "Bond Girl" is iconic throughout the Eon film series. I sense that the womanization factor of Bond's character would largely be written out, or tamed down like it is in modern Bond films, and that won't go over well with fans of the series.

[Monocle]

oh i don't know if I mentioned it but Boondocks Saints please. cult classic but I feel like a remake would be awesome.

The documentary that was filmed alongside it is very eye opening on how the writer and director let fame go to his head and how quickly he fell.

[Moonface]

Super Mario Brothers Super Show, but with Charles Martinet reprising his roles and a smoother 2D animation style.

I doubt it would be remade in this way at all but I could see Nintendo choosing to perhaps do a series of shorts for one of their IP that might not be suited to a movie release, such as Kirby. I think if they did do anything for Mario outside of a movie it would still be animated in the same way as the recent movie release but would just be a longer special, such as maybe a Halloween one based around Luigi's Mansion if it turns out that game series isn't suited to doing a full movie for.

I forgot the 1999 The Mummy was a remake. That was indeed great, and although I've never seen the original or whatever, likely was much better anyway.

The original was one of those corny old black and white movies that was good for its time although rather basic. Sort of like those old Frankenstein movies that are about as cliché old-school horror movie as you can get.

I can see remakes of James Bond happening in the future because of course, even though I wouldn't want to watch any.

The idea of a Bond remake kind of stirs unease; part of Bond's character is his weakness for women, and the idea of a "Bond Girl" is iconic throughout the Eon film series. I sense that the womanization factor of Bond's character would largely be written out, or tamed down like it is in modern Bond films, and that won't go over well with fans of the series.

I hope James Bond movies don't get remade at all. For a start, remaking any of the movies that came before the Daniel Craig era would be so drastically different in tone because the movies moved away from the over-the-top campy spy stuff that Bond movies were known for and went for a more grounded approach, so it would possibly feel like a completely different movie to the point it may as well just be a new entry entirely. If they remake any of those movies in the style they were done in, then it either means future new Bond movies follow the old formula again or they continue to follow the standard set by the Craig era and then the remake just seems really out of place. The most we've had for a "remake" (it was more two studios adapted the same novel at different times for some reason rather than the original being remade) for Bond was when the Thunderball novel by Ian Fleming was adapted into a movie by the same name in 1965, and then adapted again in 1983 under the title "Never Say Never Again" but I can't find anything right now that details what key differences there are between the two movies.

On to something I actually like, 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist and '09 Brotherhood, yes they were quite close together, one diverged from the source material, one kept to it but both are incredible and can stand on their own just fine. Not that I'd want to see more series/franchises done like this on the contrary I doubt I'd be bothered to see two or more versions of something again. *shrugs*

The only thing I can think of that I'd like this for is Legend of Korra. A lot of the weaknesses of the current version of the show are due to the showrunners not knowing if Nickelodeon was going to renew the show for another season (despite the huge success of Avatar before it...) and it shows a lot in the first two seasons with how standalone they feel and the way things have to be wrapped up fully by the end of each in the event another season wasn't going to happen to address any open plot elements. The last two seasons meanwhile were done back-to-back with the knowledge that there would be two more seasons, and there are really big plot elements from S3 that carry over into S4 that makes these last two seasons far stronger, as well as showing the missed potential of S1 that had to resolve things within itself that would have benefitted greatly from getting to carry into a next season.

oh i don't know if I mentioned it but Boondocks Saints please. cult classic but I feel like a remake would be awesome.

The documentary that was filmed alongside it is very eye opening on how the writer and director let fame go to his head and how quickly he fell.

Never heard of it but I feel remaking cult classics is potentially a slippery slope because a lot of them become a cult classic due to doing things that keep it out of the realm of typical mainstream style stuff that as such doesn't necessarily perform well, and would be akin to hoping a AAA developer remakes a previous game that performed really badly. If it did badly because it was due to something done badly that needs changing, it could range from changes that don't affect the overall idea (acting, camera work, etc.) to changes so vast it starts to take the movie away from what it was (plot rewrites, removing notable elements in favor of attracting a wider audience, etc.), but either way I think the biggest risk is trying to take something negative and risk putting a lot of work into trying to fix it only to get a poor result again. As much as it sucks, Disney remaking their stuff these days is because they know it's free money, but that's also what surprised me to see something like Treasure Planet being announced for a remake because that didn't do well at the time it came out. I guess that could be a good case study for whether a badly performing movie can be remade and do well or not when the time comes for it.
I recall once upon a time there was talks of a remake for The Warriors and I hated the idea of it, because to me everything that made the film so memorable and notable are things that can't be changed and redoing them would likely feel inferior to the originals (mostly the performances and iconic scenes such as the bottle scene at the end of the film).

[Monocle]

@Moonface

Oh i agree that it's a risk but remaking cult classics doesn't remove the original from existence. If the new one turns out great, that's awesome. If it doesn't, I can still fall back to the original and not bother with the new one. Just as everyone took the risk and created the original that was unsuccessful but became a cult classic, the risk of remaking it is still worth that same risk. plus, there will be new audiences who never experiences the original. If the remake isn't great but sparks that interest to see the original, then it was still successful to me.

[Moonface]

@Moonface

Oh i agree that it's a risk but remaking cult classics doesn't remove the original from existence. If the new one turns out great, that's awesome. If it doesn't, I can still fall back to the original and not bother with the new one. Just as everyone took the risk and created the original that was unsuccessful but became a cult classic, the risk of remaking it is still worth that same risk. plus, there will be new audiences who never experiences the original. If the remake isn't great but sparks that interest to see the original, then it was still successful to me.

True. I guess it just depends on what made a movie a cult classic since not every one of them is that way due to being bad; some are just actually good movies that didn't gain traction for a particular reason that a remake of it wouldn't necessarily resolve. I feel when it comes to cult classics that were actually very well done but flew under the radar, it would be better to try and do a re-release of the movie instead to appreciate the good work of the original, rather than ignore that work in favour of something trying to redo it for the sole purpose of making something done good get noticed the second time around.

[Monocle]

True. I guess it just depends on what made a movie a cult classic since not every one of them is that way due to being bad; some are just actually good movies that didn't gain traction for a particular reason that a remake of it wouldn't necessarily resolve. I feel when it comes to cult classics that were actually very well done but flew under the radar, it would be better to try and do a re-release of the movie instead to appreciate the good work of the original, rather than ignore that work in favour of something trying to redo it for the sole purpose of making something done good get noticed the second time around.

I get that as well but we also should take advantage of the improvements in the medium over the many years since the original releases of said movies. 

I like to compare it to classic horror movies. A lot of them used to be extremely frightening. Some were downright gory... by the standards upon release. A lot of those movies would be comedies at this point because the genre has grown and changed along with the technology. 

I'm not denying the successes of the cult classics but I think they deserve to utilize those same advancements and improvements to possibly create something even better. Especially since it'll have some fame to its name already, it'll help with sales and exposure. I guess I'd rather they try and fail a second time then never try again and just be okay with less success than deserved.

[Moonface]

@Monocle: Fair point. I guess it doesn't help that in my mind I think of cult classics like The Warriors or (since I watched it last night) Attack The Block and it's hard for me to picture what could be done differently for either of them (not that I'd expect ATB to be remade since it only released in 2011). It also doesn't help in the case of The Warriors that it wouldn't really work in a modern setting I think and I doubt most of the gangs The Warriors have to fight on their way home wouldn't just be packing guns in a modern setting. I don't think there's a cult classic movie I've seen that was limited by the time it was made in, but it doesn't help when most of the time I have to look up a movie I've seen to see if it's a cult classic or not unless it's very obviously not going to be one.


For a movie I would like to see remade though (even though it won't happen), Alien 3 would be a good contender. The original went through such hell to get made and I wonder what it would turn out like if whoever gets attached to it not only sticks to it but the script actually gets finalized beforehand too so whoever does work on it actually has a vision to work off of. The existing one went through a ridiculous number of scripts and directors and even started filming without a script even made which just sounds like a nightmare and why I don't blame anyone for walking out of that dumpster fire if that was what they had to deal with.

I also wish the Robot Wars (UK) remake/reboot had been handled good too. I was so excited for that but the way it set things up just made no sense and killed my interest in it. For anyone curious on the setup, rounds went like this:
A vs. B
C vs. D

Let's say that A and D win their rounds. The next round is then this:
A vs. D
B vs. C

Whoever won from each of these then made this final round:
A vs. C

What was stupid with it was you could end up getting the final round being the exact same as the first round, so you either get the same winner or suddenly the person who lost wins this time. However whoever won all the way through the last round likely didn't take much damage, while anyone else who has lost at least once may have sustained damage and so you get someone with a healthy robot fighting against a beaten up robot that already starts at a disadvantage. I also hated that D losing in round two means it just gets kicked out, while the person D beat could end up getting into the final round and winning the entire heat. It was just so nonsensical.


The UK seems to be utter shit at reviving their game shows though. I can't think of a single one that came back for a remake that did well; meanwhile those same game shows in the US just continue to thrive and prove the original format worked, but the UK just can't understand that and insists on changing the formats of revived game shows every time and then wonders why it doesn't work.