Why churning out the same old ideas is big bucks in Hollywood
As you sit in the cinema watching Christian Bale rid Gotham City of crime in
The Dark Knight Rises (
TDKR) later this month, you might want ask yourself this: is Hollywood running out of ideas?
TDKR is just one of many remakes and reboots which have graced the big screen this year and there’s more in the pipeline. We’ve already had
The Amazing Spider-Man and after
Batman, remakes of
Total Recall and
Judge Dredd (just called ‘Dredd’ this time round) hit UAE screens in late August and September.
If that wasn’t enough, 2013 is set to be even bigger for the movie magpies. Next year sees remakes of
Superman (
Man Of Steel) and classic 1980s action blockbusters
Robocop and
Escape From New York. The sequel to the
Star Trek reboot is also out and even a remake of Robin Williams’ hit
Jumanji is promised, which Columbia co-head Douglas Belgrad said will ‘try and re-imagine
Jumanji and update it for the present.’ But we can’t help wondering whether a film as timeless as this is really in need of updating.
Not all remakes have been successful. Turkeys such as the
A Nightmare On Elm Street reboot and
The Stepford Wives have regularly left audiences howling in derision. And one of the worst of all was the 1998 remake of Psycho, which was shot frame for frame to look identical to Alfred Hitchcock’s classic. Why not just watch the original instead?
So why is Hollywood so obsessed with churning out old ideas? Because familiarity doesn’t always breed contempt. Audiences love seeing new takes on their old favourite characters:
The Amazing Spider-Man was the number one release on its opening weekend and has already grossed more than than Dhs2 billion worldwide.
TDKR has already been voted one of the top ten films of all time on movie-geek paradise
www.imdb.com. And in these penny pinching times, another reason the rehash is so loved is cold hard cash. By the time a movie series gets to the third film, the established stars are demanding bigger salaries to play the role again, making it a perfect time to restart with a new, cheaper cast.
So if, like us, you’re getting bored of all these remakes it sucks for you too because it would seem they’re here to stay. They’re even planning on remaking
Police Academy.
By Andy Sherwood
Time Out Bahrain, 6 August 2012
