Why are Hollywood remakes of classic films, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" being a recent example, generally inferior to the originals?

Friday 09th January, 04:00 AM JST

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tigermoth at 04:36 AM JST - 10th January

Hollywood and the entertainment industry have put too much stress on looks over substance and ability when it comes to entertainers. Essentially remakes don't 'make it' because the actors in them cannot compare to the originals. There's no finer example than Keneau Reeves I should think.

Same is true with network news. You used to have to be a genuine reporter who worked their way up through the ranks. Now they get models with pretty faces and hot bodies who can barely read, more less sniff out a newsworthy story.
buttamimi at 05:49 AM JST - 10th January

One movie comes to mind: Alfie. The origianl starred Michael Caine and took place in London in the sixties, with all the overtones of that period. The remake took place in New York, this century, and starred Jude Law. The remake was well out of context of the first, and with all due respects to Jude Law, he is no Michael Caine.
Nessie at 09:17 AM JST - 10th January

Why don't they make historical movie about Cleopatra and Mark Anthony

Check out the HBO series "Rome", which got great reviews but was cancelled for profligate production.
neverknow2 at 09:28 AM JST - 10th January

Who says they are inferior?? I dont remember the originals making hundreds of millions of dollars. Even with inflation taken into account.
buttamimi at 10:08 AM JST - 10th January

The following list ranks the most popular 21 movies of all time after adjusting for inflation, population and per capita ticket purchasing trends: 1. The Sound of Music 1965 2. The Exocist 1973 3. Star Wars 1977 4. E.T 1982 5. Jaws 1975 6. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1937 7. Doctor Zhivago 1965 8. Gone With The Wind 1939 9. Mary Poppins 1964 10. The Jungle Book 1967 Read on: http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/mostpopularmovies.html
GW at 11:57 AM JST - 10th January

Man I love the old Sinbad flicks & Jason & the Argonaughts those are classic, love the monsters, sword & sorcery of those, modern versions of these types of flicks seldom come close to the magic or earlier movies.

So why the hell do so many of us spend our $$ on the new ones, its our own damed fault, least I usually wait for the dvd, I rarely head to the big screen anymore maybe 1-2 a year
Beelzebub at 03:13 PM JST - 10th January

The remake of The Manchurian Candidate (it had originally starred Frank Sinatra and Lawrence Harvey) didn't make much sense. Psycho was almost an exact scene-by-scene copy of the original, but lacked Anthony Perkins' weirdness and the Bates Motel's ambience. King Kong was a tongue-in-cheek parody. Since there are no performers today with the acting skills of Spencer Tracy, Frederick March, Henry Fonda or Rod Steiger, I think there's probably no need for remakes in the first place.
toadold at 07:06 PM JST - 10th January

Most of your Hollywood movies are not written for the general audience anymore but for insiders and critics. A fair number of the good script writers have gone over to TV productions. An old movie studio head once said "If you want to send a message use a telegram not a movie." The industry has apparently forgot that.
UnagiDon at 01:30 AM JST - 11th January

Special effects are a big part of the problem with remakes like The Day the Earth Stood Still. Too much emphasis on CGI and big explosions, less on characters and plot. The original "Day" was probably too cerebral for a modern audience.
Betzee at 02:00 AM JST - 11th January

Hollywood is one of the most risk averse industries in the world. And the cost of making films has ballooned. This makes it very risky to stray from anything but a proven success. Scripts are often green lighted only after a commercially bankable star has signed on.

The Godfather series is a modern-day classic. But when the first one was made, in the early 1970s, nobody had ever made a feature film about an Italian-American family. The studio wanted Robert Redford since he was a known quantity at the box office. Francis Ford Coppola said "No," and in those days directors had clout. Now they don't; producers have the upper hand. And there may be eight of them, answering to "suits" as those who control the purse strings are called.
toadold at 10:04 AM JST - 11th January

Betzee You got that right. I hear the production companies are trimming people in an effort to get costs down. Apparently the tight credit situation is hitting Hollywood also. I figure the era of the non-union movie production is around the corner.
Betzee at 11:00 AM JST - 11th January

I figure the era of the non-union movie production is around the corner.

Hollywood productions left the Golden State long ago in search of cheaper filming locales, (principally Canada and Australia which also offer various tax rebates that Hollywood then lobbies California to match). As anyone who's ever dodged around a location film shoot appreciates, it brings a lot of jobs into the community.

The writers strike has had a big impact on production over the past 18(?) months. It's created a great deal of uncertainty for everyone in the industry.

But the more pernicious trend is inflated star salaries. Michael Caine colorfully described how he is treated these days: "Well, you'll have to drive yourself to the set because the budget for a chauffeur has gone to providing Matthew McConnaughy with an on-set masseuse and three additional trailers to house his personal assistants."

It's not all bad news; there is a thriving indie scene which might not be so vibrant without the internet. Good word of month compensates for a lack of advertising budget. Films are released slowly from major markets out rather than opening wide to take advantage of that.

Moderator: Stay on topic please. The subject is remakes.
gaijintraveller at 11:14 AM JST - 11th January

There are many reasons. Too much reliance on a big budget, effects and stunts immediately comes to mind.

When they had to work with black and white, they really had to understand lighting to create mood and atmosphere. Most people in Hollywood now have never really worked with black and white. Look at a Hitchcock film, for example, to see how mood is created. Skills learnt using black and white were used in his colour films.

Nothing is left to the imagination any more. Effects and computer graphics are used to show monsters we used to have to imagine. We no longer have to imagine the actresses body as we are shown it. Hollywood no longer stimulates our imagination. Monsters in our minds are more frightening than any shown on screen.

Sometimes, I say most Hollywood movies would be better if they were five minutes shorter. The last five minutes are generally spent explaining everything so that there is nothing left to imagine. A notable exception to this was Basic Instinct. What made that a great film was that we were never told who the killer really was: we had to use our imagination and when we left the cinema we argued about it.

Finally, there is the trivialisation of dialogue. Hollywood aims at a world market. As a result, scripts are written so that it is not really necessary to understand the dialogue or even English for that matter to be able to appreciate the film. Thus, by aiming for the lowest common denominator Hollywood misses the mark.

Let's hope that with it now being possible to produce a film with a much smaller budget using digital video cameras and internet distribution, smaller companies will show the giants what can be done.

Perhaps, a true happy ending would be the end of the Hollywood stranglehold on the business.
Wottock_Hunt at 12:06 PM JST - 11th January

I'd say the recent I Am Legend was a sight better than Charlton Heston in The Omega Man - what a tedious pile of 70's manure that was. Will Smith's was certainly nowhere near as good as the book, but stil a vast improvement on either of the previous adaptations.

Similarly War of the Worlds a couple of years back towered above George Pal's bag of nonsense.

And Nessie - Rome wasn't cancelled for profligacy - only two seasons were ever planned. Once Augustus' reign began, a period of relative stability and order got under way (The Golden Age), and although it was undoubtedly much less horrible to live in, wouldn't make for much in the way of entertainment. But I have to say the two series they did makle were about the highest-quality TV I've ever seen. And Atia of the Julii? By Jingo!
telecasterplayer at 04:38 PM JST - 11th January

Why are Hollywood remakes of classic films, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" being a recent example, generally inferior to the originals?

two words: Keanu Reeves