Remakes! Remakes! Read all about 'em!

[ShyViolet]

Not exactly a remake, but an Independence Day sequel:

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/20 ... ease-date/

[droosan]

A live-action Lupin the Third movie is coming to Japan this August ..



.. this looks like a fun action-packed 'caper' flick -- much closer to what Lupin III fans might expect, than the 'slapstick'-heavy previous live-action Lupin the Third film from 1974.

Despite the snippets of english dialogue in the trailer, I'm unsure whether the new movie will get a western release .. the international rights for this series have always been 'murky' at best.

[Buzz Bumble]

Predator is getting a silly reboot ...

Shane Black to Write and Direct Predator Reboot!
The Iron Man 3 helmer will take on the sci-fi action franchise
ComingSoon.net

Indiana Jones may be getting a idiotic reboot:

Indiana Jones may be rebooted
tor.com

and it's a little unclear whether these are actually a silly reboot or a sequel to the original movie, but Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich are planning a new Stargate trilogy of movies and they will definitely be ignoring the TV series (most likely a reboot since the original actors are too old to do a proper sequel unless set 30 years later) ...

Roland Emmerich, Dean Devlin board Stargate‚ Trilogy at MGM
Variety.com

Among MANY, MANY, MANY others, there's also Glen Larson working on a new Battlestar Galactica movie that doesn't fit with either his original TV series nor the recent silly Ron Moore reboot version.

Hollyweird is just getting chock-full of lazy, talentless hacks who butcher the past (usually someone else's hard work) rather than come up with their own new ideas.

[ShyViolet]

So true...I mean there were always remakes but I think it's worse now than any other time in film history. Definitely the most creatively bankrupt time ever, IMO.

[Buzz Bumble]

As well as the lazy remake / reboot hacks, you've got the lazy bandwagon-jumping hacks who simply clone and copy what someone else is doing (in movies, TV shows, computer games, etc.). One company releases an animated movie about a fish, and "surprise" another company releases an animated movie about a fish - while claiming they knew nothing about the first one.


Apparently Ebert pointed out that every movie that year (reportedly 1993) was a sequel, a reboot, or was based on a TV show, a book, or a play ... it's even worse now.

[EricJ]

So true...I mean there were always remakes but I think it's worse now than any other time in film history. Definitely the most creatively bankrupt time ever, IMO.

Well, there's a reason for that--Studios LITERALLY don't know what it would take to get us back into theaters anymore.
Not that "They've run out of ideas", but that...c'mon, whatever happened to those good ol' 80's of our childhood, when we would actually go to theaters to see Back to the Future or Footloose? Hey, if we did another Back to the Future, would you come back again?

And one of the reasons we don't is, studios have been so playing across genres, trying to keep A-list stars and demographics happy and contented, they don't know how the old genre classics were made anymore. They're so used to an action blockbuster being a hi-roller producer "shark deal" machine-assembled out of an A-list star with a high-priced screenwriter, they can't it imagine it not doing well for not having an original or coherent story, and then are mystified when it doesn't.
I was in a marketing survey for a Scarface reboot (that had little or nothing to do with the original except the title--and don't worry, that was a long while ago), that also asked me which of the following I'd like to see rebooted someday: The Godfather, Pulp Fiction, The Magnificent Seven?
I think the question studio pre-marketers were really asking was: "What's an action movie? We used to know what those were, but you audiences seem to be more excited about seeing the old classics on Blu-ray, and you never see one of ours when Tom Cruise is in one...You liked Robocop and Total Recall, maybe if we made another one of those?"

(In tomorrow's lesson, we move on to why TV networks felt they had to reboot Hawaii Five-O, Ironside and Beauty & the Beast.)

[Buzz Bumble]

The newly-hired director for the next Predator movie is now claiming that it isn't be a reboot ... but will be an "inventive sequel" (whatever that may be!). Collider.com


It's not just movies and TV. Many industries are resurrecting the past - just look at the "new" Mini, and "new" VW Beetle, the return of the Rubicks Cube and Furbies, etc.

Even McDonalds is getting in on the act. Here in New Zealand years ago there used to be a fast food restaurant chain called "Georgie Pie" (which sold various sweet and savoury pies). McDonalds bought the chain and closed them down or took over the locations. Last year they resurrected one of the Georgie Pie flavours and if that sells well they plan to bring back other flavours (although the over-bloated price means it probably won't sell well).

[Dan]

I chuckle to think the guy making the new Predator film was the first commando to get offed in the first film.

[TitusTodd]

I guess the remakes would end if people would quit going to see them.

I don't believe there is actually much enthusiasm for an Indiana Jones reboot but some good stories with a new lead wouldn't disappointment me. They really can't use Harrison Ford and Shia Labeouf apparently is not in a mental state to take over as might have been hoped in the past.

Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich were never pleased with the TV series. I enjoyed all the TV variants that came out. It would be interesting to see how Devlin and Emmerich approach it now and I wonder how "fresh" it would be. I've heard about this reboot for a while now and really wonder if it will actually happen.

I always wanted to see Battlestar Galactica make it to Earth properly and after the Ron Moore reboot travesty, I still do. It ain't gonna happen, I'm afraid. Glen Larson has been trying for a while with no success and I believe that will continue. Battlestar Galactica isn't "a" movie. The story requires a journey and that won't happen right in a couple of hours. Larson won't get a studio to back the project.