If Not "Ghostbusters," When Is It Okay To Remake Movies?

[leokearon]

The only thing that annoyed/worried me about the Ghostbusters trailer was the scenes that remind me of the first (especially the library Ghost), whether it be a remake or a reboot, it should be different to the original. I don't want another Star Trek into Darkness

[Angilasman]

The remakes of The Fly, The Thing and The Blob (all '80s remakes of '50s B-horrors) are better films than their originals; whether it's because such flicks lend themselves well to reinterpretation/the directorial talents of Cronenberg and Carpenter in 2 of them, who knows for sure.

I think the two versions of The Blob are about equal; Carpenter's The Thing is the better one, but Hawks' original is also excellent; and regardless of quality I actually prefer the original version of The Fly because it's such a sweet movie, and the design of the eponymous Fly-man is one of my favorite monster designs (I'm a sucker for grotesque creatures casually wearing human clothing).

Anyway, remaking is perfectly fine. The lack of quality in films has nothing to do with whether they are remakes or not.

[t hedge coke]

Never. The answer is it is never ok to remake movies.

When something gets us Bogart in The Maltese Falcon or Jeff Goldblum in The Fly it becomes acceptable to weather a few crappy remakes, just the way that when new movies get us fantastic movies, we weather the crappy ones that come out the same year.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Great article. I had a feeling the internet was going to crucify Ghostbusters before the trailer even came out. And they were probably going to crucify it for all the wrong reasons. We live at a time when people, and the internet especially, is irrationally fighting back against excessive political correctness. The whole "social justice warrior" stereotype has become the arch nemesis of everyone on the internet. They are the embodiment of pro-censorship, anti-fun, authoritarian voices that would water down anything and everything deemed fun or entertaining. With Ghostbusters, there's this sense that this movie is pandering to the politically correct crowd. I don't think that's the case.

Here's how I see it. Making another Ghostbusters movie is next to impossible. It's such a storied classic. And no matter who the studio cast, be they male or female, they would never be as iconic as the original actors. I think Freig did something brilliant in trying to be different, using an all-female cast instead. You're not going to find another Bill Murray. So why not do something different? I think it's worth doing and people are rejecting it for all the wrong reasons. I saw in the trailer many of the same enjoyable themes that the first movie had. And I don't see any reason why this movie can't work. But it's the utter hatred of the PC crowd that's going to hinder this movie and I think that's a problem that we, the generation most effected by PC culture, are responsible for.

A lot of the complaints aren't about the women being cast , its the fact the trailer looks very boring as a comedy. It looks like the same recycled comedy Feig has done for years and its why there is an anger at it. Ghostbusters had 2 very talented writers who did the 1st one and that was Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd. It would be daaaamn hard to come close to what a Ramis has done for comedy and themes he could juggle in films.

The 1st Ghostbusters handled a very horror aspect with comedy. There was some wild things in that 1st film and they mixed it well with comedy. The studio seemingly took this from Aykroyd and said....we know better.

[Siddon]

You could also find plenty of examples of terrible original films made every year. Or terrible adaptations made every year. Probably in equal ratio to remakes. But no one ever says, "oh god, ANOTHER adaptation?" or "oh god, ANOTHER original screenplay?"

There's always going to be far more crap than quality, that's just the way it works. So I still don't see any justification for the knee-jerk, "all remakes suck!" attitude.

Every remake last year stunk.

lets look at 2014
Robocop
Godzilla
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Left Behind
Annie

So about 80% of remakes are terrible, and they tend to be the worst movies of the year. We see bad adaptations and bad original movies but not nearly at the same percentages as remakes. All remakes suck...unless proven otherwise. But it's pretty easy to tell when a remake is good, when you saw the Godzilla trailer you knew you were going to get something inspired and special..I didn't get that from Ghostbusters.

[Mister Mets]

I have no problem with remaking Ghostbusters, and think the combination of cast and director currently on board is promising.

But there are some arguments that Ghostbusters shouldn't be remade. It was a good movie the first time around, and a big part of what made it so good was Bill Murray's perfomance/ ad-libbing, which isn't really part of the central formula.

Comparisons to theater don't really work all that well, since theater is inherently ephemereal. Film is permanent.

When considering the artistic merit of a remake, the main question is what they can do that's new and hadn't been done before. It's possible that there'll be plenty with these comedians, and 21st century special effects.

From a financial perspective, the main point for license holders is that a new Ghostbusters will make more money than a similar film with a different title.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

I have no problem with remaking Ghostbusters, and think the combination of cast and director currently on board is promising.

But there are some arguments that Ghostbusters shouldn't be remade. It was a good movie the first time around, and a big part of what made it so good was Bill Murray's perfomance/ ad-libbing, which isn't really part of the central formula.

Comparisons to theater don't really work all that well, since theater is inherently ephemereal. Film is permanent.

When considering the artistic merit of a remake, the main question is what they can do that's new and hadn't been done before. It's possible that there'll be plenty with these comedians, and 21st century special effects.

From a financial perspective, the main point for license holders is that a new Ghostbusters will make more money than a similar film with a different title.

The big debate right now....is will it. The general reaction has been downright terrible. The 2nd trailer is gonna have to repair things. But given how competitive Summer season is at the box office. Ghostbusters will need to do dynamite business to work. (its budget is $154+ million.

[Zero Hunter]

The main problem with the Ghostbusters trailer is that it was just a garbage trailer. It is a full on reboot but some idiot thought it would be a good idea to confuse everyone right off the bat with that "30 Years Ago" tag line? All that did is made most people confused. The movie might be great, but if they put out another garbage trailer like the first one they are killing themselves before the movie even opens.

For me a reboot is fine if it is good. By that I mean you take the original and make it make it better. Very few seem to be able to pull this off. You do not take just some of it and change everything else since that almost guarntees a failure. The further you get away from the original the worse you movie is going to get slagged by critics and fans. Look at Total Recall and how they pretty much changed everything about the plot except for the fact that he had his memory changed. It was a trainwreck because no one cared because they changed too much. You have to find the right balance when doing a reboot.

[Perry]

Every remake last year stunk.

lets look at 2014
Robocop
Godzilla
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Left Behind
Annie

So about 80% of remakes are terrible, and they tend to be the worst movies of the year. We see bad adaptations and bad original movies but not nearly at the same percentages as remakes. All remakes suck...unless proven otherwise. But it's pretty easy to tell when a remake is good, when you saw the Godzilla trailer you knew you were going to get something inspired and special..I didn't get that from Ghostbusters.

You can't make objective statements about something as subjective as taste in movies. You can say "every remake last year stunk," but that's your opinion and your opinion is not objective fact. And when you're talking about 2015, it actually had the lowest number of remakes since 1997.

But hey, it's your life. If you want to make sweeping, blanket statements about a certain type of movie without any evidence backing it up, then that's your business. I prefer to be more open-minded.

[AstroWolfboy]

Never thought of " The Thing" 1982 or " The Fly" remake as remakes because there was a good distance between the originals. You have too many instances of remakes coming out while the originals are still fresh. But I don't have any Hate towards the new Ghostbusters . I think its gunna be funny and a good time , and all the ill press and or reviewers like Angry Joe getting Angry for the sake of ranting, isnt stopping me.

[TheInvisibleMan]

I liked Robocop and TMNT well enough, actually I thought TMNT was a bit better than people want to give it credit for

and it got a sequel

[The Drizzt]

There's not much of a point in doing a remake unless you (a) honor the memory of the first (assuming it was beloved - I doubt anyone minds if Catwoman gets a reboot) and, more importantly, (b) improve on it in some way.

The problem with most of today's remakes is they urinate on the memory of the original while simultaneously seeming to be made up on the fly by a troop of monkeys.

[TheInvisibleMan]

you say honor, I say beholden

if you can great, but it's not a requirement IMO

[lancerman]

Every remake last year stunk.

lets look at 2014
Robocop
Godzilla
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Left Behind
Annie

So about 80% of remakes are terrible, and they tend to be the worst movies of the year. We see bad adaptations and bad original movies but not nearly at the same percentages as remakes. All remakes suck...unless proven otherwise. But it's pretty easy to tell when a remake is good, when you saw the Godzilla trailer you knew you were going to get something inspired and special..I didn't get that from Ghostbusters.

Godzilla is a minority opinion on your part. Most people loved it. I also wouldn't call TMNT or Annie remakes. They are another adaptation from the same source, and it's not like there weren't already multiple versions of the Turtles. And Annie is a stage play. That's like calling every adaptation of a Christmas Carol or Phantom of the Opera a remake.

[TheInvisibleMan]

Godzilla has more movies than McDonalds has restaurants