HOLLYWOOD—In Hollywood, a remake or reboot as it’s now called has gained popularity that exceeds sequels and original ideas. When news was released this week that the 1997 thriller “I Know What You Did Last Summer” was getting a reboot I thought it might be a good idea, but then I thought for a second, what can they do completely different from the original.
I might be one of the very few who know about the novel written by Lois Duncan back in 1973. Let’s just say the novel and the book are nothing alike, which could be interesting for the reboot if they approach the flick with more material from the book.
Hollywood seems more invested in rebooting popular classics than putting out original ideas. This trend first began to make waves in the late 90s, as some popular dramas like “The Thomas Crown Affair” and horror flicks began to hit the big screen. During the 2000s, the horror genre was front and center with the ‘remake’ trend, as “Halloween,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Friday the 13th” to name a few got a makeover.
One of the big arguments is that a remake and reboot are not quite the same. Yeah, they actually are. It’s a fresh approach, at least that’s what Hollywoodwants the viewer to think. I mean just rewind to 2012, where only 10 years after the first “Spiderman” flick hit theaters, audiences were given the reboot treatment with “The Amazing Spiderman.” No offense, but the 2012 version was not that much better than the 2002 version which many fans have deemed superior. I think the craze of a reboot is the ability to tinker and make adjustments to a franchise that could thrive in the future if done better.
The problem with any reboot or remake as I’d like to call it is very few bring fresh things to the table. If you’re going to attempt to bring a fresh approach to a movie that is beloved by fans, you cannot give them something that they’ve seen before with a bevy of fresh faces. Who cares? I mean really, who cares?
If I want to see the same thing again, I’d just go back to the original. I will admit, seeing an updated version of specific movies on better video transfers is a treat. I’m just not the biggest fan of any movie that has such a grainy footage that it comes across as being very bad in my opinion. Picture quality is important in the cinema arena, as directors and studios continue to push the boundaries, hence, the 3D element.
At first I thought the horror genre was at the pinnacle with the reboot craze, but now it appears more comedies, dramas and action flicks are getting the reboot treatment for those audiences who are not well aware of such classics. Could Hollywood titans burn out audiences with such a formula? Absolutely! My concern is that the inability to present fresh ideas to audiences will place them in a lull with the movie going experience.
I mean just think of the past performance at the box-office this summer. Not a single movie surpassed the $100 million mark during a three-day opening weekend in 2014. Yep, that’s extremely scary. I’m used to seeing movie tackle the $150 million plus mark during an opening weekend. If the “Transformers” franchise is unable to reboot its franchise, than what chance does smaller movies or franchises have for audiences. Very little.
Its apparent the Hollywood moguls see dollar signs in the reboot craze, so until audiences slowly, but surely get burnt out by the idea of seeing ‘new’ installments of their favorite movies every 10 years, we’ll continue to see old recycled into something somewhat new.
