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A Few Questions about Movie Remakes/Sequels (and your desire to see them) (1 Viewer)

KarmaPolice

Footballguy
I guess this applies more to the amount of remakes and "reimaginings" that are getting thrown at us.   The Top Gun thread got me thinking about this yet again and I was surprised at how many people seemed pumped to see this in the theater.  We also have the Cobra Kai show being popular, the live action Disney movies, on and on...   This isn't a movie snob thing that I sometimes get accused of - I watch some of these too (mostly get sucked into the horror genre), so we don't need to bother with that stuff.  When I am thinking about this stuff, I am mostly thinking about what you are spending your money at the theater, since that's what drives the studios to pump these out.  General discussion applies, but I would think that if we didn't pay for them as much in the theater we wouldn't have as many.  The big studios don't care what they are making, they just want to turn a profit.

  Here were some questions that were popping into my head:

1.  What types of remakes are you most likely to see?   (certain genre, time period?)

2.  Are there types that you won't see?  

3.   What is driving you to see it?   Is it just a fun blast from the past, the kids won't watch the old version and this is a sneaky way of getting to watch something, there was something you didn't like from the original that you are hoping it improves on? 

4. Are you seeing these in the theater?  If so, what types and how many/year?  

5.  IF more theaters showed older movies, would you still see the remakes?    Again talking about the Top Gun example - if theaters were showing the original for a time, would you see that instead of the remake?

6.  Do you think this seeming ramping up of remakes is tied to people moving away from physical medium with movies and not buying as many?  

 
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It's a mix of nostalgia along with seeing what happened to characters they enjoyed in their youth. Usually doesn't live up to the hype but never underestimate the hype of nostalgia. 

Add in that it's way easier (and usually cheaper) to remake something than create something new and you can see why Hollywood keeps going back to that well.

 
It's a mix of nostalgia along with seeing what happened to characters they enjoyed in their youth. Usually doesn't live up to the hype but never underestimate the hype of nostalgia. 

Add in that it's way easier (and usually cheaper) to remake something than create something new and you can see why Hollywood keeps going back to that well.
I get that 100%.   Part of my reasoning for question 5 and 6 was is people would see the older ones in the theater vs. the newer ones, I would think that would be even cheaper for the theaters and studios.  No need to drop 100M to remake a movie.  I guess as tech moves on, so does the ability to show the older movies too.   These movies still exist, so why not just save the money and watch the original at home?  I am guessing since everybody is rich around these parts they have kick ### home theater setups too. 

I am not opposed to the idea of remakes (some of my favorite movies like The Thing are a remake), but the Top Gun thread put on display why I have mostly stopped getting interested in them - the studios want money and play it safe, so they don't make changes to the movies.   It's basically hit the main 10 plot points of the original, make sure there are x # of cameos, and at most make a slight change to the roles or genders ( Top Gun will probably have a female pilot fall for her instructor Mr.Cruise or something like that).  

 
I haven't been to a movie theater in almost 10 years and will likely never go to one again.  Not worth the money when I can wait and watch at home.  

I don't know the difference between a remake or a reboot and don't really care to know the answer.  What I do know is that movie makers continue to reproduce old themes and ideas and people are just fine with it.  Nuts to that.  There are just too many other, better options now for entertainment that the idea of paying money to watch another Rocky or Halloween or Green Hornet or whatever that is being regurgitated at us is laughable to me. 

I gave the Force Awakens a chance; it was awful.  I gave Creed a watch; that sucked too.  We watched Star Was Born last week which is a remake of a remake of a remake and while I enjoyed Lady GaGa very much, the movie itself was meh.  

Tl;dr get off my lawn.

 
there should be an gland/organ inside us which rejects things offered to us with no greater intent on the vendor's part than to make money, but there isn't. i wasted several hundred thousand dollars on drugs in my time, but i am no where near as forlorn about that capital being out the window as i am that i unwittingly enabled a system which holds a continent & a half hostage today. every time you buy a cultural pig-in-a-poke, you make it more likely that the next thing to be produced will have more to do with name-recognition, familiar touchpoints, marketability than the previous time, every time you watch a stoopit guilty-pleasure show you make it more likely another stoopit show will follow. that's why i gotta pay three times more than i should to scan my cable grid up & down without finding something to watch or spend more time wtfing at the Netflix lineup than i should. so stop it!

 
It's a mix of nostalgia along with seeing what happened to characters they enjoyed in their youth.
Been thinking about this reply, and this part only applies to a sequel.  If it's a remake, you already know what happens, so there is no catching up with their characters X years later.  

 
I haven't been to a movie theater in almost 10 years and will likely never go to one again.  Not worth the money when I can wait and watch at home.  

I don't know the difference between a remake or a reboot and don't really care to know the answer.  What I do know is that movie makers continue to reproduce old themes and ideas and people are just fine with it.  Nuts to that.  There are just too many other, better options now for entertainment that the idea of paying money to watch another Rocky or Halloween or Green Hornet or whatever that is being regurgitated at us is laughable to me. 

I gave the Force Awakens a chance; it was awful.  I gave Creed a watch; that sucked too.  We watched Star Was Born last week which is a remake of a remake of a remake and while I enjoyed Lady GaGa very much, the movie itself was meh.  

Tl;dr get off my lawn.
I know you said you don't care, but my take is that they are basically the same thing.   I think remake is more of a shot for shot redo of a movie.  Reboot is similar, but my take is that they change something slightly or it's gearing up for other movies.   Ie the Spiderman movies were reboots, something like The Lion King is a live action remake.  

 
there should be an gland/organ inside us which rejects things offered to us with no greater intent on the vendor's part than to make money, but there isn't. i wasted several hundred thousand dollars on drugs in my time, but i am no where near as forlorn about that capital being out the window as i am that i unwittingly enabled a system which holds a continent & a half hostage today. every time you buy a cultural pig-in-a-poke, you make it more likely that the next thing to be produced will have more to do with name-recognition, familiar touchpoints, marketability than the previous time, every time you watch a stoopit guilty-pleasure show you make it more likely another stoopit show will follow. that's why i gotta pay three times more than i should to scan my cable grid up & down without finding something to watch or spend more time wtfing at the Netflix lineup than i should. so stop it!
God, I love you. 

 
KarmaPolice said:
Been thinking about this reply, and this part only applies to a sequel.  If it's a remake, you already know what happens, so there is no catching up with their characters X years later.  
I hadn’t thought of it, but wouldn’t the new Top Gun movie be a sequel based on the trailer? I would have no interest in a remake of the original with younger actors , but give me Cruise and Kilmer playing older Maverick and Ice and I’m in. 

 
I hadn’t thought of it, but wouldn’t the new Top Gun movie be a sequel based on the trailer? I would have no interest in a remake of the original with younger actors , but give me Cruise and Kilmer playing older Maverick and Ice and I’m in. 
Yep, the Top Gun thread got me thinking, but that is pronoted as a sequel and not remake.  That said, a lot of these "sequels" are remakes in disguise, and they basically do the same thing as the original- see Star Wars Episode 7.  This seems to be especially true when there is many years since the original.  You can tell with the trailer for Top Gun they are hitting a ton of the original beats.  

 
KarmaPolice said:
Been thinking about this reply, and this part only applies to a sequel.  If it's a remake, you already know what happens, so there is no catching up with their characters X years later.  
Most remakes suck.

 
You weren't asking me, but I think the Creed movies - while not actual remakes or reboots (though they kinda are) - were better than most of the original Rocky films.
I consider those proper sequels. And they were pretty good.

 
Can you think of any recent ones that didn't? 
GM mentioned it earlier but I thought the Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga A Star is Born was good. Better than the Streisand version IMO. 

ETA: I thought the Coen brothers True Grit was decent also. 

 
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GM mentioned it earlier but I thought the Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga A Star is Born was good. Better than the Streisand version IMO. 

ETA: I thought the Coen brothers True Grit was decent also. 
True Grit was a pretty good one. That was 2010 but still good. 

Star is born was ok. Didn't really do anything for me 

 
  Here were some questions that were popping into my head:

1.  What types of remakes are you most likely to see?   (certain genre, time period?)

2.  Are there types that you won't see?  

3.   What is driving you to see it?   Is it just a fun blast from the past, the kids won't watch the old version and this is a sneaky way of getting to watch something, there was something you didn't like from the original that you are hoping it improves on? 

4. Are you seeing these in the theater?  If so, what types and how many/year?  

5.  IF more theaters showed older movies, would you still see the remakes?    Again talking about the Top Gun example - if theaters were showing the original for a time, would you see that instead of the remake?

6.  Do you think this seeming ramping up of remakes is tied to people moving away from physical medium with movies and not buying as many?  
1. Any that look interesting

2. No

3. I like to see some of the older ones modernized with special effects and visual improvements. To me, a lot of the older movies just don't hold up to the standards we have now.

4. I only go to the movies to see action/adventure movies that are better on the big screen with outstanding surround sound. For the price of my wife and I going to the movies, I can buy anything else and save money.

5. No

6. no opinion

 
The first remake of the Wizard of Oz was epic and much better than the original.

I still like the original "Halloween" the best, but I really did like what Rob Zombie did with his version.
Same for The 3rd version of The Maltese Falcon and the 3rd version of A Star is Born with Judy Garland. The 2nd Ben-Hur wasn’t too bad either. However those are more exceptions though. 

 
1. Any that look interesting

2. No

3. I like to see some of the older ones modernized with special effects and visual improvements. To me, a lot of the older movies just don't hold up to the standards we have now.

4. I only go to the movies to see action/adventure movies that are better on the big screen with outstanding surround sound. For the price of my wife and I going to the movies, I can buy anything else and save money.

5. No

6. no opinion
Thanks for the replies.  

 
I guess this applies more to the amount of remakes and "reimaginings" that are getting thrown at us.   The Top Gun thread got me thinking about this yet again and I was surprised at how many people seemed pumped to see this in the theater.  We also have the Cobra Kai show being popular, the live action Disney movies, on and on...   This isn't a movie snob thing that I sometimes get accused of - I watch some of these too (mostly get sucked into the horror genre), so we don't need to bother with that stuff.  When I am thinking about this stuff, I am mostly thinking about what you are spending your money at the theater, since that's what drives the studios to pump these out.  General discussion applies, but I would think that if we didn't pay for them as much in the theater we wouldn't have as many.  The big studios don't care what they are making, they just want to turn a profit.

  Here were some questions that were popping into my head:

1.  What types of remakes are you most likely to see?   (certain genre, time period?)

2.  Are there types that you won't see?  

3.   What is driving you to see it?   Is it just a fun blast from the past, the kids won't watch the old version and this is a sneaky way of getting to watch something, there was something you didn't like from the original that you are hoping it improves on? 

4. Are you seeing these in the theater?  If so, what types and how many/year?  

5.  IF more theaters showed older movies, would you still see the remakes?    Again talking about the Top Gun example - if theaters were showing the original for a time, would you see that instead of the remake?

6.  Do you think this seeming ramping up of remakes is tied to people moving away from physical medium with movies and not buying as many?  
Been thinking about my answers:

1.  Like I posted, I stay away from remakes for the most part, but I do get sucked in with horror movies more than others.  I think a bit of that is my built in tolerance for crappy movies in that genre.  At least 1/2 the time I am popping in a horror movie I am expecting something silly and cheesy to begin with.  

2.  I have 0 desire to see the live action Disney movie remakes.  

3.  Horror movies aside, most of the time I would be looking for a slightly better looking movie or an interesting tweak in the story.  I just can't think of any time that I've really liked what I've seen out of one, and if so it's such a small %.   Total Recall was a good example of one that I was pretty interested to see - the original is a bit cheesy looking, but it's a pretty cool concept.  But instead of keeping it a kind of gritty R movie, they turn it into a slick pg-13 action movie.    I've said before that a Running Man remake could be interested, but I think I mostly just done with them.  

4.  I don't see much in the theater.  Mostly Star Wars and Marvel movies with the kid.  These are rental/streaming only for me.  

5.  I do this, and would be all about going to see more older movies, especially ones that were in theaters before I was born.    The main theaters in Madison sometimes show older movies on Sundays that I have gone to.  There are a couple theaters on campus that specialize in older/foreign movies through the school that I try to get to as well.  

6.  This was just something that popped into my head as I thought about how few blurays we have around the house combined with few specific options I think there are overall on the streaming sites.  Would I be more willing to a Goonies remake with my son if I didn't have it on bluray and it wasn't available to stream it?   

 
there should be an gland/organ inside us which rejects things offered to us with no greater intent on the vendor's part than to make money, but there isn't. i wasted several hundred thousand dollars on drugs in my time, but i am no where near as forlorn about that capital being out the window as i am that i unwittingly enabled a system which holds a continent & a half hostage today. every time you buy a cultural pig-in-a-poke, you make it more likely that the next thing to be produced will have more to do with name-recognition, familiar touchpoints, marketability than the previous time, every time you watch a stoopit guilty-pleasure show you make it more likely another stoopit show will follow. that's why i gotta pay three times more than i should to scan my cable grid up & down without finding something to watch or spend more time wtfing at the Netflix lineup than i should. so stop it!
I joked in the Top Gun thread with them, but I was a little serious - and you hit it home here.  We are the problem when we consume this stuff.   I fully admit having trouble ignoring that impulse when a shiny new version of a movie I kinda like comes out (like I said, usually in the horror genre).    However, as I get older and grumpier I am trying to vote with my subscriptions, ticket purchases, and clicks more.  Like you said for every remake that makes 2x it's money back, multiple will follow trying to do the same.   Every time I get drunk and watch some mindless junk on NF, that tells the algorithm that it was people like to stream.  

I haven't had streaming options nearly as long as most here (not even a year), but what I have found is that I can't be trusted to scroll through at night and find something "good".  Whenever I start scanning what they suggest, most times I'll get bored or lazy and end up watching The Hangover or something I've seen a dozen times.   What I try to do now is keep my queue full of better options and JUST use that.  Most of the time I don't find the best options scrolling, I actually have to seek out lists of what is on NF and search/add them to the queue and go from there.   

 
1.  What types of remakes are you most likely to see?   (certain genre, time period?)

2.  Are there types that you won't see?  

3.   What is driving you to see it?   Is it just a fun blast from the past, the kids won't watch the old version and this is a sneaky way of getting to watch something, there was something you didn't like from the original that you are hoping it improves on? 

4. Are you seeing these in the theater?  If so, what types and how many/year?  

5.  IF more theaters showed older movies, would you still see the remakes?    Again talking about the Top Gun example - if theaters were showing the original for a time, would you see that instead of the remake?

6.  Do you think this seeming ramping up of remakes is tied to people moving away from physical medium with movies and not buying as many?  
1. I judge it on a case to case basis. A lot of it depends on the quality of the cast, director, writer, etc. The most recent A Star is Born is the kind of remake I like. They updated the story to fit modern times, had a quality cast and great writer adapting it. The music was original and good.

2. The remakes I won't see are shot for shot Disny remakes or anything thay seems like a play on nostalgia which sadly is what Top Gun might be. That said, Top Gun in the theaters will probably look and sound incredible so I may end up seeing it. 

3. I think I answered in 1

4. I don''t see too many new films in the theater. For convenience, I often wait untill they are streaming or I can rent them at the library on Blue Ray. 

5.  Most of the times I do go to the movies it is to see older movies as is. There a couple restored historic movie houses from the 20s around me that often show schedules of older movies for affordable prices. I've recently seen the Christopher Nolan restored 2001 (no point in remaking that, the effects and sound design still holds up incredibly well), Strangers on a Train (I could see a good remake of this being possible) and True Grit (they did remake it and given the cast and director, it turned out very well). 

6. No, I think it's just that the adults now are the ones who grew up on Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Superman, The Terminator and ofcourse the kids like that kind of stuff and so there is just so much profit in running through those cycles of big franchises. I think the challenge from lots of quality streaming TV, high end home sound systems and HDTV has also forced the movies into a spot where they have to focus on what movies do better than TV:  Size and spectacle. TV is much better for nuance, character development, character based story telling, etc. 

Also I wanted to address the remake vs re boot difference. The difference is with the intended serialziation of it. A movie franchise like Spiderman gets rebooted with the idea that they are going to produce several movies with this cast to tell the story of Spiderman- beginning with the origin. A remake is more A Stat is Born. They retorld the story but  there was no plan to develop sequels. 

 
I haven't had streaming options nearly as long as most here (not even a year), but what I have found is that I can't be trusted to scroll through at night and find something "good".  Whenever I start scanning what they suggest, most times I'll get bored or lazy and end up watching The Hangover or something I've seen a dozen times.   What I try to do now is keep my queue full of better options and JUST use that.  Most of the time I don't find the best options scrolling, I actually have to seek out lists of what is on NF and search/add them to the queue and go from there.   
This is actually known to be true in the streaming industry. They want to make sure they have the prestige shows/movies that draw people in or considered really important-  things like The Crown or I am Not Your Negro. However, when they look at what people actually stream they find those prestigious movies often sit in watch lists for months while the viewer just chooses to watch episodes of The Office for the 100th time. 

 
Without reading anyone else's response...

1.  I'll be much more likely to see sequels than remakes, MCU notwithstanding. I'll wait for DVD/streaming to see most reboots.

2.  Are there types that you won't see?  I'll see the Disney stuff when it comes out on Disney+. No desire whatsoever to see the live action remakes in theater, although I'll assume Lion King 3D or IMAX could be good.  

3.   I'll see sequels if I really liked the others. Toy story for example. 

4.  We've only seen the MCU, toy story 4, and the star wars movies in theater. 

5.  I'm not going to the theater to see a movie that's already been out on DVD.

6.  Maybe, for the companies making the movies if they see less profit opportunity. For consumers, no.

 
5.  Most of the times I do go to the movies it is to see older movies as is. There a couple restored historic movie houses from the 20s around me that often show schedules of older movies for affordable prices. I've recently seen the Christopher Nolan restored 2001 (no point in remaking that, the effects and sound design still holds up incredibly well), Strangers on a Train (I could see a good remake of this being possible) and True Grit (they did remake it and given the cast and director, it turned out very well). 

6. No, I think it's just that the adults now are the ones who grew up on Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Superman, The Terminator and ofcourse the kids like that kind of stuff and so there is just so much profit in running through those cycles of big franchises. I think the challenge from lots of quality streaming TV, high end home sound systems and HDTV has also forced the movies into a spot where they have to focus on what movies do better than TV:  Size and spectacle. TV is much better for nuance, character development, character based story telling, etc. 

Also I wanted to address the remake vs re boot difference. The difference is with the intended serialziation of it. A movie franchise like Spiderman gets rebooted with the idea that they are going to produce several movies with this cast to tell the story of Spiderman- beginning with the origin. A remake is more A Stat is Born. They retorld the story but  there was no plan to develop sequels. 
I do wish there were a lot more theaters like you describe.  Do they just show older movies, or is it mixed in with The Lion King to keep the lights on?  I would imagine places like that struggling for profits (unless in a big enough city I guess) unless it's a mix of movies.   I have trouble getting to the theater on campus, and theirs is even more of a Criterion type fare and show a bunch of stuff I've never heard of.  It looks like the main theaters show something associated with TCM, and I think it's just one showing on a Sunday, so it's also hard to get to for me.  I just looked, and today's selection is Glory.   

Good points on 6.  I am probably overthinking it.   By throwing out the remakes and sequels you will always have a mix of adults who want to see it and probably end up taking their kids to see it.    TV is better for what you describe, but I am also starting to feel a similar way about most of the TV shows being thrown around.  I think Stranger Things and that thread is a perfect example.  For being a show with short seasons, I feel not much happen and it's popular largely just due to the nostalgia factor.  People in that thread fully admitted to not caring at all about plot and the style of the show is carrying it.  Personally I think more shows need to tell a quick story and get out.  Too many times it's stretched out too much as they go to the 5th+ season or get far past the source material and it's hits a wall.   I was on the side of TV for awhile, but now I can't think of many shows that I love in the past decade or so that I would put on par with a great movie (not that they are the same format, and I understand that's).   I think TV is better in theory for that, but it's going the way of movies and because of the streaming sites putting a big emphasis on those original shows for their subscription #s, they are mass producing content.  

 
This is actually known to be true in the streaming industry. They want to make sure they have the prestige shows/movies that draw people in or considered really important-  things like The Crown or I am Not Your Negro. However, when they look at what people actually stream they find those prestigious movies often sit in watch lists for months while the viewer just chooses to watch episodes of The Office for the 100th time. 
I would love to see the numbers on stuff like that.  I have fully admitted that I am a chimp when left to scan through stuff on the fly.  I will for sure watch Curb or The Office for the 100th time before starting up something like The Lives of Others if I am just scrolling through at 10pm.  

 
I do wish there were a lot more theaters like you describe.  Do they just show older movies, or is it mixed in with The Lion King to keep the lights on?  I would imagine places like that struggling for profits (unless in a big enough city I guess) unless it's a mix of movies.   I have trouble getting to the theater on campus, and theirs is even more of a Criterion type fare and show a bunch of stuff I've never heard of.  It looks like the main theaters show something associated with TCM, and I think it's just one showing on a Sunday, so it's also hard to get to for me.  I just looked, and today's selection is Glory.   
The TCM Fathom Events run at major theaters- usually a Sunday and Tuesday or Wednesday airing once a month. Lawrence of Arabia is in Septemner which I want to see on the big screen. As for the local rennovated theaters playing old movies- some strictly player older films. Some have end of run new releases mixed in with seasonal older movies (80s90s blockbusters, classic horror for Halloween and all the Christmas classics in November/December. . Obviously the population of Metro Detroit is way larger than the Madison area so I guess part of is we have the population to support it. All the theaters are non-profits and staffed with volunteers so they aren't out to make money, just do enough to keep things running. 

Good points on 6.  I am probably overthinking it.   By throwing out the remakes and sequels you will always have a mix of adults who want to see it and probably end up taking their kids to see it.    TV is better for what you describe, but I am also starting to feel a similar way about most of the TV shows being thrown around.  I think Stranger Things and that thread is a perfect example.  For being a show with short seasons, I feel not much happen and it's popular largely just due to the nostalgia factor.  People in that thread fully admitted to not caring at all about plot and the style of the show is carrying it.  Personally I think more shows need to tell a quick story and get out.  Too many times it's stretched out too much as they go to the 5th+ season or get far past the source material and it's hits a wall.   I was on the side of TV for awhile, but now I can't think of many shows that I love in the past decade or so that I would put on par with a great movie (not that they are the same format, and I understand that's).   I think TV is better in theory for that, but it's going the way of movies and because of the streaming sites putting a big emphasis on those original shows for their subscription #s, they are mass producing content.  
Stranger Things is a lot like Ready Player One of TV- it seems entirely built around nostalgia. Another interesting tidbit is that services like Netflix prefer to keep a series at 3-4 seasons. New hits is what gets buzz. By the time a show reaches seasons 3,4,5, etc. it gets less and less buzz. It will be interesting to see how the negative numbers coming out of Netflix influence their practices moving forward. 

 
The TCM Fathom Events run at major theaters- usually a Sunday and Tuesday or Wednesday airing once a month. Lawrence of Arabia is in Septemner which I want to see on the big screen. As for the local rennovated theaters playing old movies- some strictly player older films. Some have end of run new releases mixed in with seasonal older movies (80s90s blockbusters, classic horror for Halloween and all the Christmas classics in November/December. . Obviously the population of Metro Detroit is way larger than the Madison area so I guess part of is we have the population to support it. All the theaters are non-profits and staffed with volunteers so they aren't out to make money, just do enough to keep things running. 

Stranger Things is a lot like Ready Player One of TV- it seems entirely built around nostalgia. Another interesting tidbit is that services like Netflix prefer to keep a series at 3-4 seasons. New hits is what gets buzz. By the time a show reaches seasons 3,4,5, etc. it gets less and less buzz. It will be interesting to see how the negative numbers coming out of Netflix influence their practices moving forward. 
Didn't know the name of it - thanks.  Never seen LoA and that would be cool - is that Labor Day weekend though?   I looked at their schedule and have my eye on Alien.  Might even consider taking the 12 y.o. to see his first R movie.  It makes a lot of sense that those theaters would be non-profit.  

 
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Didn't know the name of it - thanks.  Never seen LoA and that would be cool - is that Labor Day weekend though?   I looked at their schedule and have my eye on Alien.  Might even consider taking the 12 y.o. to see his first R movie.  It makes a lot of sense that those theaters would be non-profit.  
Yeah looks like it is the Sunday of Labor Day which sucks. It's also the Wednesday after Labor Day. 

 
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I guess this applies more to the amount of remakes and "reimaginings" that are getting thrown at us.   The Top Gun thread got me thinking about this yet again and I was surprised at how many people seemed pumped to see this in the theater.  We also have the Cobra Kai show being popular, the live action Disney movies, on and on...   This isn't a movie snob thing that I sometimes get accused of - I watch some of these too (mostly get sucked into the horror genre), so we don't need to bother with that stuff.  When I am thinking about this stuff, I am mostly thinking about what you are spending your money at the theater, since that's what drives the studios to pump these out.  General discussion applies, but I would think that if we didn't pay for them as much in the theater we wouldn't have as many.  The big studios don't care what they are making, they just want to turn a profit.

  Here were some questions that were popping into my head:

1.  What types of remakes are you most likely to see?   (certain genre, time period?)

2.  Are there types that you won't see?  

3.   What is driving you to see it?   Is it just a fun blast from the past, the kids won't watch the old version and this is a sneaky way of getting to watch something, there was something you didn't like from the original that you are hoping it improves on? 

4. Are you seeing these in the theater?  If so, what types and how many/year?  

5.  IF more theaters showed older movies, would you still see the remakes?    Again talking about the Top Gun example - if theaters were showing the original for a time, would you see that instead of the remake?

6.  Do you think this seeming ramping up of remakes is tied to people moving away from physical medium with movies and not buying as many?  
1. Anything that might look like it would improve on or postiviely add  to the legacy of the original story; be it as a re-imagine, re-boot or sequel.  

2.  If I wasn't a fan of the first incarnation....I'm not usually looking at the remake.

3. A bunch of factors....something additional meaningful to the story.....improved Special FX, blast from the past/nostalgia factor....actor I'm interested taking it on as a project etc.

4. I usually don't watch them in the theatre.  Off the top of my head...the last one I saw was IT last year....It was vastly superior to the original in just about every way.

5. Yes. We're currently watching a bunch of 80s films with our children.  If they were showing WARGAMES, KARATE KID, BACK TO THE FUTURE on the big screen...we'd probably go see some of them.  Than being said, that's a lot of money to take children to the theatre for something I can find on DVD at the GoodWill for 1.00.

6.  No. I think it's a combination of the power brokers in Hollywood being of a "1980s Age", and there being a huge audience of people of that age.

Not that you asked.....but three movies I'd like to see remade would be Brewsters Millions ( Richard  Pryor is a GOAT...but it's a relatively timeless tale that could be refreshed) Near Dark ( great concept that IMO, fell a little flat) and The Last Starfighter (good story that would benefit from an improvement of special effects).

Movies that I'd like to see sequels to would be True Lies( I always thought Bill Paxtons character would have made a great villain), Willow (I liked it.....thought it could have been a franchise) and Galaxy Quest (same as Willow).

 
Btw here's every remake that's ever been made

Apparently remakes have been slowing down recently. The 00's were the biggest decade for remakes according to the list.
This was an interesting read. Biggest general finding for me was that people have to stop doing horror remakes. The scores always have a big drop off from the original.

I also had a good laugh at The Wicker Man. 1973, 7.6.

The 2006 remake with America's favorite worst actor Nicolas Cage, 3.7.  :lol: He's so bad but I'm obsessed with his movies.

 
There’s more tv shows and movies than ever before now. There are literally thousands of new shows being pumped out by Netflix alone every year. I don’t get why people get bent about remakes. For some people it’s just comfort food. The whole “Hollywood has no new ideas” shtick has never been more wrong. 

 
Saw the Denzel Washington version of Magnificent Seven. It was no match whatsoever for the original Magnificent Seven which was a decent adaptation of the true original.  The actor in the Denzel version ruined the Eli Wallach signature line of the movie, "If God had not meant for them to be sheared, he would not have made them sheep."  It was like he did no understand the import of the line. Unforgiveable.

 
There’s more tv shows and movies than ever before now. There are literally thousands of new shows being pumped out by Netflix alone every year. I don’t get why people get bent about remakes. For some people it’s just comfort food. The whole “Hollywood has no new ideas” shtick has never been more wrong. 
I think the biggest difference is what’s popular. There used to be a time where a well received adult drama with big stars like Rain Man or Apollo 13 could be one of the biggest blockbusters of the year. We as audiences just don’t show up for those movies like we used to. 

 
Saw the Denzel Washington version of Magnificent Seven. It was no match whatsoever for the original Magnificent Seven which was a decent adaptation of the true original.  The actor in the Denzel version ruined the Eli Wallach signature line of the movie, "If God had not meant for them to be sheared, he would not have made them sheep."  It was like he did no understand the import of the line. Unforgiveable.
I just don’t see that Denzel guy having much of a future in movies- he’s just not cut out for it. 

 
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I have little interest in remakes/sequels/franchise movies.  I'm a bit frustrated with what is at the movie theatres these days.  My kid's daycare sponsors a "parents night out" on Saturday nights once a month ($20 for about 4 hours, which is pretty nice deal).  The 4 hours would work perfect with a movie (and we want something with A/C given the weather), but, the last couple of months, we have found nothing of interest to even bother going to the theatre for.  We usually find some good options around November and December (and then we need to decide which of 4-5 movies to see that weekend), but the summer seems to be a dead zone.  

It seems like they hold the more critically acclaimed stuff to closer to awards season. I think a studio could make some pretty good money by being the only game in town for that in the summer.  But I'm sure their models say otherwise.

(Get off my lawn.)

 
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I think the biggest difference is what’s popular. There used to be a time where a well received adult drama with big stars like Rain Man or Apollo 13 could be one of the biggest blockbusters of the year. We as audiences just don’t show up for those movies like we used to. 
I get that but I can’t even pick out a movie to watch now it’s so much overload. I have a list over a 100 long right now. 

 
There’s more tv shows and movies than ever before now. There are literally thousands of new shows being pumped out by Netflix alone every year. I don’t get why people get bent about remakes. For some people it’s just comfort food. The whole “Hollywood has no new ideas” shtick has never been more wrong. 
Like 80s said, there's always been sequels and remakes.  I do think that the # of remakes/reboots have gotten higher/year, but I don't have stats to back that up, so I could be wrong.   Just like he said - it's gotten to the point where the other stuff have trouble making money.  He pulled up stats on the top grossing movies of the year, and there is no room in the top 20 for a non-sequel or Marvel movie.   

Also, I did find you post interesting in that you noted the mass quantities of stuff NF is pumping out, but not about the quality of it.  I have yet to come across a Hulu/NF original that I have been blown away by.  

 
I get that but I can’t even pick out a movie to watch now it’s so much overload. I have a list over a 100 long right now. 
Which I think plays a huge role in those adult movies not doing so well. There’s a million things on Netflix and prime and hbo to watch.

 
I have little interest in remakes/sequels/franchise movies.  I'm a bit frustrated with what is at the movie theatres these days.  My kid's daycare sponsors a "parents night out" on Saturday nights once a month ($20 for about 4 hours, which is pretty nice deal).  The 4 hours would work perfect with a movie (and we want something with A/C given the weather), but, the last couple of months, we have found nothing of interest to even bother going to the theatre for.  We usually find some good options around November and December (and then we need to decide which of 4-5 movies to see that weekend), but the summer seems to be a dead zone.  

It seems like they hold the more critically acclaimed stuff to closer to awards season. I think a studio could make some pretty good money by being the only game in town for that in the summer.  But I'm sure their models say otherwise.

(Get off my lawn.)
I run into this a lot.  I have a day off and I am excited to maybe see a movie.  This week at our theater 1/2 the screens are Lion King, then the others are bascially Spidey, Toy Story 4, and Aladdin.   One screen showing Crawl (pass), and the other Yesterday (might be interested if I liked The Beatles), but that last one is at the Bistro screen which I hate and will not see movies at.  

 
I run into this a lot.  I have a day off and I am excited to maybe see a movie.  This week at our theater 1/2 the screens are Lion King, then the others are bascially Spidey, Toy Story 4, and Aladdin.   One screen showing Crawl (pass), and the other Yesterday (might be interested if I liked The Beatles), but that last one is at the Bistro screen which I hate and will not see movies at.  
Yeah, we were looking this past weekend because had the day care from 4:30-8:30.  Ended up just picking up some carryout and watching a movie On Demand because at least it was free to watch.  Poorly timed as I'm looking forward to "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," but that will probably have to wait for awhile now.

 
Which I think plays a huge role in those adult movies not doing so well. There’s a million things on Netflix and prime and hbo to watch.
I wonder if they are even going to do a "streaming" award for movies and shows.   It seems like the model is having a huge # of shows to generate buzz and keep the subscribers from leaving for a couple months, but I still have trouble finding stuff that I think looks really good, especially like I posted above - for their original content.    I just wonder if they would qualify for more awards or get some prestige if that would change anything or prompt other companies to pop up and specialize in that.   I know Roma got some buzz, but it also felt like the general sentiment was that 0 chance The Academy would give that Best Picture.  

 
Considering all the people who reject reboots/remakes in here I'm surprised they ever happen.

Hell, after reading these type of threads I'm surprised movies get made at all.

 
Considering all the people who reject reboots/remakes in here I'm surprised they ever happen.

Hell, after reading these type of threads I'm surprised movies get made at all.
I don't think the movie nerds in the FFA are representative of the movie going public.   However, plenty of people with their pants tight about Top Gun in the other thread.  

 
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