What are some properties that could use a remake?

[saintofm]

Remakes are not good or bad, its just a thing. There have been several reimagining's  that have stood the test of time (be it Fist Full of Dollars, an American adaptation of Ujimbo; or Scarface, which was a remake of a black and white era gangster film of the same name. If it can be improved upon, a concept expanded upon, or an audience does not know the power of it and so its time to make a brand new experience. Robin Hood and King Aurther always got expansions for better or for ill with every retelling so why not others?

But for every good one there seems to be 9 that are not up to snuff. Some its do to the name involved such as 1998's Godzilla, or very little has changed so why did they bother like with Psycho. Or the original is still held at a high standard like Ben Hur that one has to wonder what were they thinking (which itself was often remade in the silent Erra, namely the money-making chariot race).

So what are some properties that deserve it and which ones should not be touched?

For my fors, I have 3 ideas.


1. Revenge of the Nerds. Most of it could stay the same, but the elements that need to change are the problematic ones. The blatant racist and homophobic depictions need to be altered. Maybe have some, but it needs to be handled with car and perhaps in a way that pokes fun more at the racists of the homophobes. A way I can see this is maybe instead of a black fraternity for the mostly white nerds but maybe a religious one and the head of the local office of it happens to be a traditional Black Babtist looking guy. Or have some pictures of Latter Day Saint Temples on the wall. And the cut the innovation of the sorority house. If there is something there, maybe in a cyber security class, and one of the students or the processor while scanning signals on the campus to show areas with weak defenses, then notices something odd at a nearby sorority house and all but a couple of the Nerd characters are asked to leave and they are helping security to deal with what was seen. The rest can remain.

2. Ladyhawk: Alot of things can remain, but for the love of all that is still good and pure in the world get a different sound track! This is suppose to be medieval France, not an 80's dance club! 

3. Black Cauldron: It wasn't a bad film, but it didn't make any of the money Disney hoped it would (hence why an actual princess from the film is not on the Disney Princess toy line.) I know its based on a series of books, but don't know much about it other than the Horned King was less litch and more Knight (he got his nickname from the Antlers that decorated his helmet). In this case, I would love to see a Warrior of Chaos looking guy chasing out heroes. 


Ones that probably shouldn't get the remake look

1.The rest of the classic Disney Cartoon movies. There are plenty of live action ones they can use that no one complained got the remake treatment like the Parent Trap or Pete's Dragon. Why not Atlantis, the Black Hole, or another "Failure" that was actually decent and just got screwed over by the studio?


So what are some stuff that fits needs a remake or DOES NOT for the most part?

[RAVENEYE]

I totally agree with you on your Psycho assessment. I watched the old one and the new one back to back, and thought the new one was a waste of time. And money, of course. Why redo a perfectly done classic just so you can show the blood in color? Literally every camera angle was the same, nothing new was added to the story (except having the psycho jacking off as he watches his victim undress), and for some inexplicable reason changing the sister from a dignified woman to a grown-up on skates, literally (as if skates and earphones makes a woman modern? Were they going for trendy? It just made her look foolish, a grown woman stuck in her tweens, ugh.).

And I agree that it would be great to see The Black Cauldron redone, in a way more faithful to the book. The animation was pretty atrocious, and the dead rising to make an army was probably not the best choice for a children's movie. BUT it would make a fabulous live-action film these days, in the flavor or LOTR (or maybe even The Witcher, sans nudity and f-bombs every couple of words). Hell yeah.

I have also enjoyed several renditions of Shakespeare's Macbeth and Hamlet. It seems these two get all the attention, however, and I would love to see film versions of The Tempest and an updated version of Romeo and Juliet (without naked children in it), as well as several of the others. This said, the film version of Othello is still so gorgeous. Don't mess with that one.



I'll be noodling on this question some more, since I'm strapped for time today and love old movies, some of which are in need of some love and new audiences.


Edit: Ah! I remember now. Last weekend my sister and I were discussing film adaptations of Jane Austen's books, and we love the 1990s British version of Persuasion. But back then British film quality was shite. Would LOVE to see a remake of that one where the camera is actually in focus on the actors.

[Bird]

Oh, I agree 100% about Black Cauldron. That was... such a terribly made movie.

I'd love to see parts of Legend of Korra rewritten that allows for a deeper look into the characters, shows Korra and Asami's relationship much earlier, and have the villains be capitalists trying to hide their evil and blame it on Leftists but then like a Scooby-Do get revealed for what they are, thus the Leftists win and good social change happens that helps more people. They kept hinting at things like this and then never went deep enough, and they should have gone deeper into Asami's story in particular. One of the best characters that was under utilized.

I'd like to see every movie that engaged in whitewashing and queer erasure to be remade to show humanity's wonderful diversity and to be more truthful to the actual subject matter. Sadly, this is basically the majority of Hollywood movies. lol


I'm sure I'll think of more later.

[Alatariel]

I'm SO glad Percy Jackson is getting a second chance to be remade. The books are awesome. The movies were atrocious and it was such a huge blow to the fanbase. And now it's gonna be a series on Disney+ and Rick Riordan is highly involved. It already looks way better according to photos and little quotes from Riordan.

Hmm...


I'll have to think about this and come back with more.

[saintofm]

Going to say its been years since I saw Black Cauldron and I am more of an Easy Lay in most of my my entertainment and leave it at that.

Another that might use it depending on how well its done is Gun Smith Cats OVA. I have read a little of the anga, but it might be a big iffy for anyone's tastes. However the OVA was pretty fun. Two ladies own a gun shop and moonlight as bounty hunters. One's a gun nut, the other likes explosives. The team that made the OVA went to Chicago to get the feel of the city and find some good landmarks for the backgrounds. They also shot guns at a gun range and recorded the sounds of a Cobra motor car to get the feel. To paraphrase Bennet the Sage, they got everything but the crippling traffic right (speaking of which, I have been to San Fransico and the most unrealistic thing about Shang Chi wasn't the dragon or the magic but the lack of Traffic in that city). Unlike say Ghost in the Shell or Death Note which needed a more deft hand in translating the Japanese Sensibilities to an USA one, this one would fit better. But the US loved Cowboy Bebop better than its Motherland ever did,and look what happened to THAT. Then again, The Departed was once a Hong Kong film called Internal Affairs and that did well enough.

What about Appleseed?

[Caulder Melhaire]

I LOVED The Black Cauldron as a kid. One of my favorite movies, right up there with Oliver and Company. I think because it was literally not like any other kid's movies I'd ever watched (except maybe the beautiful horror of Fern Gully.) So totally agree, I'd love to see that redone with a modern touch.


I've personally been dying to see a reboot of Witchblade ever since the first run got canceled in 2001. Its such a cool concept, and the world felt like it had so much depth, but I never got into the comic cause it was very fanservicy. As most are lol. There's a point in the comic where they changed artists and I did read that for a bit but I got distracted and never finished. Oops! I think the show was on TNT? Yancy Butler was great as Sara Pezzini. Love to see her come back. Or Rhona Mitra, maybe.


There was the anime adaptation, of course, which... once you cut through all the jiggly bits bouncing everywhere actually ended up being a weirdly heartfelt and touching turn on the concept of the Witchblade. But for sure, I'd love to see the comic get a much longer run of a live action adaptation. Better practical effects, better CGI, tighter storytelling.