I love movies. I mean I REALLY LOVE movies. The best movies transcend time, trends, and societal shifts; especially those movies based on true events and original stories. Everything is up for interpretation, obviously. Everything is up for re-imagining. Nearly everything is up for debate. All current and aspiring filmmakers are inspired by their predecessors-as they should be. Often times the most famous and memorable scenes will be re-introduced (often in a satirical format). There is no better example of this that I can think of than what has been done on The Simpsons.
The Simpsons and Disney…
Disney makes entire movies based on spoofs and re-imagined masterpieces. “A Bug’s Life” is “Seven Samurai.” (and “The Magnificent Seven”) “The Lion King” is “Hamlet” but that’s more acceptable in my eyes because “Hamlet” is a literary adaptation and not a previous film. There’s a lot more examples but I digress, as I tend to do.
I’ve noticed that there has been lots of movies that have been remade, rebooted, or just rehashed by nearly every major production company in the last few years. I hear about more and more being made almost weekly. I just heard recently about remakes for”Sister Act”, “Point Break” and “Big Trouble in Little China” starring The Rock. This has been going on for quite some time. It just seems rampant now. It’s not bad enough that all these remakes of classic films are being done; but they’re also (for the most part) terrible.
I’m all for re-introducing movies to a new generation. But this is not the way to go about it. Could you imagine the amount of money production companies can save for re-releasing a classic film instead of doing a remake that will likely flop? You know what they should do instead? Bring back the original films to theaters for a limited release. Let the independent theaters make some real money for a change. The best times to do this would be in celebration of an anniversary of the film’s original release or if a sequel is going to be released soon and you want to show the younger moviegoers the original. Let them be educated! What better way to introduce a new generation to classic films than actually showing them the classic films?
This is especially an excellent idea if decades go by between sequels. Off that premise alone, they could’ve re-released “Tron,” and “Indiana Jones” (we all know they were a million times better than “Kingdom of The Crystal Skull”) and they should re-release “Blade Runner” before the sequel hits theaters. Independent theaters are sprinkled all over the country. Most are charming places managed by proud movie lovers like you and me. The tickets are cheaper too. There’s a small independent theater in Coral Gables, FL. called The Coral Gables Art Cinema that has a plethora of quality independent films and will also be screening the original “Friday The 13th” and “Ghostbusters” to name a few.
My point is this: I think Hollywood has gotten profoundly lazy in the last few years when it comes to releasing new, quality films. Coupled with this tremendous improvement in the quality of television, it’s all the more reason for filmmakers to not be so lackluster with their content. Major movie studios should be focusing on presenting more original content. Independent theaters and filmmakers are trying to break the mold when it comes to this. (I am one of them.) But breaking that mold is like trying to dig through a speed bump with a plastic spoon.
My Three-Act Structure Called "Life" 