by Justin Quizon

“WHY CAN’T HOLLYWOOD JUST MAKE SOMETHING ORIGINAL?!”

This is the age old question that keeps getting brought up more and more, year after year, especially when a remake gets announced.

However, with movie production costs going up, as well as movie ticket prices, the reason to go with a remake is always the same…it SEEMS like less of a risk.

I’ve been a film fan my whole life, and my fascination with remakes has been there from the beginning. 

While I have my reservations when I see a remake announcement, I am always just a bit intrigued to see what they end up doing with it.

One specific day, I did a double feature that solidified my thoughts on remakes as a whole. The movies? Footloose (1984) and it’s remake from 2011. Many dismissed the 2011 Footloose remake, but I held interest because I liked the previous films from it’s director, Craig Brewer.

When I finished both I was not only surprised by how much I liked the 2011 remake, I liked it more because I was able to compare the two movies after watching them so close with each other.  

There was something fun for me about seeing how the new film adapted some of the original movies scenes, and see what they kept and what they even made better. 

I became so intrigued with remakes that I even co-created a podcast ALL ABOUT remakes, NOTHING NEW: A REMAKE PODCAST.

So year after year, month after month, my co-host Andrew Linde and me will watch remake after remake and see how things go. 

What I’ve come to learn about watching so many remakes is that… there is MORE of a risk in making a remake.

When the remake doesn’t work for me as a film, it becomes impossible to not compare it to the original film…thus making it worse because it’s a remake. Being an ORIGINAL film that ends up being bad is one thing, it’s another level of annoyance if it’s a bad version of a better movie. 

But if the remake IS a good film…the comparing is fun. It’s like hearing a good cover of a beloved song. It can even make you love the original even more. Both films can be beneficial.

After 7 years of hosting this show, I’ve come to appreciate the creative risks of a good remake. To see elements of the original and see where you can expand or improve.

 Because at the end of the day, if the remake ends up being a great movie…that just simply means there are MORE great movies out there.