What movie franchises are you surprised are not getting rebooted?

I just read a new Rocketeer movie has been in development hell for years. There have been new comic books over the last several years so there's some interest in it.

While the 1991 film was fine, it was a little too Disney-fied.

Withe success of R-rated Deadpool, I'm surprised Robocop hasn't been revisited since the 2014 versoin was decried for its PG-13 rating. But honestly the first movie holds up fine and did not need a sequel.

Robocop vs. The Terminator was a comic book I liked from the 1990s. The story is that Murphy's brain forms the basis for Skynet so people time travel to kill him and Terminators follow them.

There was an author back in the 50's named Frank Yerby. George R.R. Martin cites Yerby as an influence on his Game of Thrones novels.

Yerby wrote period piece romantic historical novels.   His characters placed into actual events so you get the story and a history lesson.

Several of his books were made into movies.  The Foxes of Harrow, The Saracen Blade, a few others.   The movies did not do justice to the book. though some famous actors were in them, like Ricardo Montebon in The Saracen Blade.

I would love to see  The Saracen Blade remade in the more serious style of today with period correct clothing, settings and weapons.  

I'm far too cynical to ever expect a remake to be better than the predecessor.

SWIMBO took me to see a swedish film recently. A man called Ova. It was sad and beautiful.

Hollywood watered it down and put Tom Hanks in it.

I recently found out my favourite game is being adapted into a TV show and all I could think was "please don't do this."

As an exercise I tried to write a sequel ti billy joel's we didn't start the fire. Limiting it to the history that happened after the song's release and maintaining the chronological order.

Some lousy pop-punk band beat me to it, except instead of a well crafted historical trail, it was a disjointed mess of pop culture references. Not a remake but a pale imitation of the original made by people who don't understand it.

Films are no longer art, they are business. They don't take risks, they just churn out another 2 hour long green screen film of happy meal toys fighting a blue laser in the sky.

Don't remake something, just make something.

I'll buck the trend here a little bit and say I like seeing talented artists put their spin on existing IP. I mean, we have a thread on this board dozens of pages long about cover songs that are better than the originals, but somehow when it comes to film we demand every exercise be unique. How many adaptations of Shakespeare's work have been done over the years? Batman has been interpreted by multiple filmmakers, and multiple successes have come from them.

Yeah, sometimes regurgitating previous IP for a quick cash grab can be tedious, but sometimes amazing things can happen. We'd never have Heat unless Michael Mann ripped himself off. And the Miami Vice film was an amazing updating of the classic TV tropes.

That's not to say I give an easy pass to every remake or reboot. The Night of the Hunter remake that's been kicking around Hollywood for years finally got greenlit for real, and reworking one of the greatest noir-thrillers of all time sounds like a really, really uphill struggle. Obviously no one is Bob Mitchum, but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't want to watch Matthew McConaghey try his hand at Harry Powell. Or Michael Shannon, or Jude Law, or maybe Timothy Olyphant can take all his brooding intensity and try his hand at a straight up villain for once instead of always being the anti-hero. Ryan Gosling could maybe pull it off, too.

David S. Wallens said:

I have a movie that I legitimately think could be remade: Maximum Overdrive.

Why? Back in the original, every mechanical device magically went red eye. How did a 1970s Mack truck steer and drive itself? Magic, I guess. 

Today, with “internet all things” (plus drive/steer/brake by wire, etc.) I think the original premise could warrant a reboot.

Who to play the lead?

Easy: Emilio Estevez. 

As long as the soundtrack is still entirely done by AC/DC, I'm in.

The survivors of the Dixie Boy truckstop... are still survivors.

We need to listen to the advice of Roger Ebert. He had no problem with reboots and remakes. His criteria was that you should take the idea of a mediocre movie, but make it better. Like the Fly or the Thing. Not like Robocop or Total Recall.

In reply to JG and Appleseed :

And that's my problem with it. They are nearly always lazy cash grabs trying to take advantage of cheap nostalgia.

In reply to Duke :

Exactly. Songs are (generally) covered with passion for the original. Movies and TV shows are remade for profitability at best. 

Exceptions to both rules, blah blah blah, but I can think of far more song covers that were better than the original than I can movie or TV remakes. "It" is the only one that really comes to mind. Maybe the Christian Bale batmans. Oceans 11 almost, but then that series was destroyed by turning it into a series. 

"The Dukes of Hazzard" is all the evidence you need why remakes should not be made unless the original sucked.

A remake of The Shadow might be fun. 

I liked the original but rewatching it now, it's pretty cheezy.

AClockworkGarage said:

Films are no longer art, they are business. They don't take risks, they just churn out another 2 hour long green screen film of happy meal toys fighting a blue laser in the sky.

First off, films have always been business. Artistically, there have been up and down periods, such as the New Hollywood era of the 70s and the indie movement of the 90s.

As for the "all films are franchise CGI fests", that simply isn't true. Some of them are, yes, and those tend to generate a lot of attention and money. But smaller, more intimate, story-driven films still exist. In fact, I'd argue with the rise of streaming, there are more outlets for movies that take risks. Just last year, we had a 3-hour biopic about a scientist that won a boatload of Oscars and made almost a billion dollars. And if you think nobody is out there taking risks with original stories, go watch "Saltburn" or "Poor Things". Those movies are decidedly NOT for everyone, but they are well made films that are intended for adult audiences that want something different and original.

BTW, did you know that over 60% of Best Picture winners in history are based on existing IP?

In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :

In 2023, the #1 grossing film was Barbie. Oppenheimer was #3. So far in 2024, Dune Part 2 is the highest grossing film. So there is even a lot of room in the mega blockbuster space for films that are not just "franchise CGI fests".

(Yes, Dune used a healthy amount of CGI, but it used it very intentionally mixed in with a lot of practical sets and effects.)

John Welsh said:

The Usual Suspects is a long-standing favorite of mine. I am surprised they have not done further character development. But I'm probably glad they have not .

Though I think it is a a great movie, it was not a box office hit. It found its success through rental.

 

One of my favorites as well. Not sure where a sequel would go since the end of the movie reveals everything. 

Hollywood has one movie that set record grosses and yet somehow never got a sequel, even though there were several obvious follow ups.  Yes, I'm talking about Titanic.

Some possibilities:

The outbreak of World War I means a planned Titanic replacement is built as a hospital ship. Several of the Titanic's survivors sign on as crew... Only for the ship to strike a mine that causes a lot more damage.

A prequel. Captain Smith takes the Titanic prototype out for a voyage only to crash it into a ramming warship.

More sequels - the Royal Navy pulls the Titanic's prototype out of storage to fit out as an armed troop transport. This time the ship has to avoid a torpedo attack by playing chicken with a U-boat.

Come on, Hollywood is sitting on a gold mine here!

And while those sound like absurd movie writing, all three of these sequel ideas actually happened.

Beer Baron 🍺 said:

In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :

In 2023, the #1 grossing film was Barbie.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a Ken movie coming, but I'd rather see a G.I. Joe movie instead - base it on that old TV commercial for the Nissan 300ZX where Joe steals Barbie away from Ken.  

MadScientistMatt said:

Hollywood has one movie that set record grosses and yet somehow never got a sequel, even though there were several obvious follow ups.  Yes, I'm talking about Titanic.

Some possibilities:

The outbreak of World War I means a planned Titanic replacement is built as a hospital ship. Several of the Titanic's survivors sign on as crew... Only for the ship to strike a mine that causes a lot more damage.

A prequel. Captain Smith takes the Titanic prototype out for a voyage only to crash it into a ramming warship.

More sequels - the Royal Navy pulls the Titanic's prototype out of storage to fit out as an armed troop transport. This time the ship has to avoid a torpedo attack by playing chicken with a U-boat.

Come on, Hollywood is sitting on a gold mine here!

And while those sound like absurd movie writing, all three of these sequel ideas actually happened.

The Titanic Cinematic Universe, I love it! Actually, you could argue that the 1997 "Titanic" was a prequel this cinematic classic from 1980:

stuart in mn said:

Beer Baron 🍺 said:

In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :

In 2023, the #1 grossing film was Barbie.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a Ken movie coming, but I'd rather see a G.I. Joe movie instead - base it on that old TV commercial for the Nissan 300ZX where Joe steals Barbie away from Ken.  

They did GI Joe. Twice. And it sucked ass. The cartoon had more depth and heart.

ShawnG said:

A remake of The Shadow might be fun. 

I liked the original but rewatching it now, it's pretty cheezy.

 

Or you could embrace the cheese and go B-movie with the remake, as long as it's fun. The original seemed like it didn't know if it wanted to be cheesy or serious, horror or comedy. Being more decisive would improve a remake.

It would definitely need a Cord 810 again, whichever route you go. 

In reply to MadScientistMatt :

Maybe a real 810 this time.

I liked it, and The Rocketeer but I love Deco era anything so there's that. 

I wish they had done a better job with The Green Hornet, I just couldn't buy into Seth Rogen as a crimefighter.

And, to prove my point about being artistically bankrupt, I'm now seeing ads for Back To The Future - The Musical.

I'm looking forward to a few years from now when they are advertising Back To The Future - The Musical - The Movie.

NOT

I was not happy to see "Roadhouse" being re-imagined. You just can't remake a movie of that quality nor replace Swayze (like the sh1t a$s remake of Point Break). I was actually very entertained by the new one, that it made fun of itself, and didn't try to re-do the exact story. The CGI was terrible as was some of the acting but I enjoyed it. 

BTTF is a ntaional treasure and should never be remade, ever. Also they can't remake National Treasure either. 

Thinking while tractoring this morning...

The 80s provided plenty of sword and sorcery movies that could be made better / worse by a remake.

Conan would be worse I'm sure but Krull and The Beastmaster would probably get better.

ShawnG said:

Thinking while tractoring this morning...

The 80s provided plenty of sword and sorcery movies that could be made better / worse by a remake.

Conan would be worse I'm sure but Krull and The Beastmaster would probably get better.

 

Conan got a remake in 2011 with Jason Momoa. It was... quite poor.