# Movies BEGGING to be remade **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 17, 2012, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762 "2012-01-17T02:51:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762/81 "2012-01-19T18:07:46Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > There’s also _Never Say Never Again_, where I think the terms of the court decision that allowed it to be made specified that it use the same script as _Thunderball_. Not the same script. The producers had the film rights to that book and that book only. The Broccolis owned the rest. They could make a movie as long as it was based on that book. I don’t know if it still stands but they could have kept making more and more films as long as it could be proved it was based at least a little on the book. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762/82 "2012-01-19T19:33:05Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I’m surprised that no one has mentioned _War of the Worlds_, this time done as a period piece as Wells envisioned it. Wells _didn’t_ envision it as a period piece. It was set at the time he wrote it, and a large part of the intended effect was from the ineffectiveness of our most high-tech weaponry against the martians. I’m sure you could make a charming adventure out of a _War of the Worlds_ set in the 1890s, but it would be a long way from the serious message that Wells was trying to send. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762/83 "2012-01-19T22:14:46Z")
> [@Maiira](#): > > Yup. There was a recent Cracked article that made a very good point: the goal of the prequels should have been to answer one question: how did Anakin Skywalker become Darth Vader? Everything else (the droids, the trade federation, Chewbacca, etc.) is unimportant. Even making it a trilogy was a mistake. It should have been a single movie, starting with Anakin as a hero with some flashbacks to his training or whatever and proceeding through his downfall. ---
**Author:** ![Neo-Calredic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/96bed5/32.png) [@Neo-Calredic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neo-Calredic)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762/84 "2012-01-19T23:42:34Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I’m surprised that no one has mentioned _War of the Worlds_, this time done as a period piece as Wells envisioned it. I would LOVE to see this. The book is one of the bleakest, most humbling bits of sci-fi I’ve ever read. I’d love to see a great-looking in-period adaptation of it. Ditto for The Time Machine. Why has no one ever made a movie that featured the best part of the entire book, when the Time Traveller witnesses the distant future in which no life exists on Earth? It literally puts the entire story into perspective, and would be visually stunning if done right. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762/85 "2012-01-20T02:09:15Z")
> [@Neo-Calredic](#): > > I would LOVE to see this. The book is one of the bleakest, most humbling bits of sci-fi I’ve ever read. I’d love to see a great-looking in-period adaptation of it. > > Ditto for The Time Machine. Why has no one ever made a movie that featured the best part of the entire book, when the Time Traveller witnesses the distant future in which no life exists on Earth? It literally puts the entire story into perspective, and would be visually stunning if done right. Look up at my post #11. I’d love to see Wells done right. I would’ve loved to have seen the un-made Harryhausen film **War of the Worlds**. The problem is that George Pal got to it first. Harryhausen’s would’ve had animated tripods, for which the “strobing” of animation makes the mechanical motion look natural (as with the AT-ATs in _Empire Strikes Back_) Here’s some of his test footage: https://www.youtube.com/embed/tr2H6dJhiyA?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762/86 "2012-01-20T05:51:35Z")
They need to remake _Back to the Future_ in time to come out in 2015, so the new Marty can travel back to 1985 to see his parents as teens. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762/87 "2012-01-20T15:23:11Z")
**This Island Earth** (Of _couse_. What else would _CalMeacham_ say?) I just re-watched this last night. The movie has some great iconic scenes, but it’s unbelievably _dumb_. The original stories and book by Raymond F. Jones are not. Apparently what happened was that the producers got their hands on the source material and duimbed it down. About the only part they kept was the Interociter Test at the beginning\*. They jettisoned the rest of the story and seem to have cobbled a new one together from free-associating from pulp SF magazine covers (but not actually reading the magazines). The result is inconsistent and stupid, and doesn’t even explain the movie’s title. The original story needs work, but it’d stuill be better than what they filmed. \*and even _that_ they screwed up. The Metalunans didn’t send Cal all the parts for an Interociter with a schematic of it – like an interstellar HeathKit. Cal had to figure out what to get and how to fit it together from the clues in the catalog. And he had to repair broken parts. It was, safter all, supposed to be a _test_. They also left out the other tests sent to other scientists at Rydberg Electronics. The other guys flunked theirs. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762/88 "2012-01-20T16:19:20Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > _The Prisoner of Zenda_. 1937 version, starring Ronald Coleman, and the 1952 version, staring Stewart Granger. Not exactly identical, but close. I think they were both based on the stage play. They’re based on an 1894 novel by Anthony Hope. Plays, musicals, and _Get Smart_ episodes have been based on the book, but it all started with the book. And :: nitpick :: it’s Colman. He’s my #1 movie boyfriend, so I must keep his name sacred. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762/89 "2012-01-21T00:02:34Z")
Confederacy of Dunces. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762/90 "2012-01-21T00:14:22Z")
> [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](#): > > Confederacy of Dunces. _Remade_? I don’t think it’s ever been filmed before. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762/91 "2012-01-21T13:52:54Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > They’re based on an 1894 novel by Anthony Hope. Plays, musicals, and _Get Smart_ episodes have been based on the book, but it all started with the book. And :: nitpick :: it’s Colman. He’s my #1 movie boyfriend, so I must keep his name sacred. I knew I should have mentioned the novel. But imdb credits John L. Balderston with the screenplays for both movies, and I remember one of them saying “adapted from the play”. So I think they are grandchildren, rather than children, of the novel. I mentioned _Arsenic and Old Lace_, with Chistopher Walken as the psychopath. I am visualizing Kevin Spacey in the Peter Lorre role. In an earlier thread on this topic, someone suggested George Clooney in the Cary Grant role. Though I am not sure Clooney has the comedic chops for it. Just thought of another one: _The Maltese Falcon_ (And by the way, the Humphrey Bogart version was the **third** time that that novel had been filmed.) Michael Clark Duncan as Kasper Gutman. Denzel Washington as Joel Cairo. Halle Berry as Brigid O’Shaughnessy. Tim Meadows as Wilmer Cook. Billy Dee Williams as detective Miles Archer. and starring Samuel Jackson as detective Sam Cracker. (surname changed to prevent the PC mavens from going ballistic.) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762/92 "2012-01-22T04:14:10Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > _Remade_? I don’t think it’s ever been filmed before. I know. I forgot what the OP said. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762/93 "2012-01-22T05:06:05Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > _Remade_? I don’t think it’s ever been filmed before. Well, they threatened one, with Will Farrell as Ignatius, but I assume God smote anybody associated with the idea. Except, unfortunately, Will Farrell. Wife used to lull me to sleep with tales of how she would cast it. I’ve been sleeping poorly lately. Maybe I should ask her to start doing it with a 2012 cast, though she might be hard-pressed to beat Eddie Murphy as Burma Jones. ---
**Author:** ![LaurenIpsum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@LaurenIpsum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LaurenIpsum)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762/94 "2012-01-23T17:39:22Z")
**Invisible Chimp** mentioned Back to the Future, but I think the remake should be BTTF part 2, and have it come out in 2015 (I know I’ve mentioned this before). They could do it as a straight continuation of part 1, picking up right when the car flies away - and this time Christopher Lloyd wouldn’t need the “old man” makeup anymore! Plus they could lose the part about him going to a rejuvenation clinic. Obviously Marty and the other parts would need to be recast, but we could see Marty & Doc entering the real 2015, and maybe get a better plot out of it. It would be interesting to see how an 80s teen would react to the current culture. They could explain the flying car by saying Doc got it in the farther future. ---
**Author:** ![3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/47e85d/32.png) [@3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3_20_59_or_bust)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762/95 "2012-01-23T22:24:11Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Avatar:TheLastAirbender > Keep Shamalamadingdong away from it and make it into 3 movies. This one right here…times 3! Just watched it on Netflix over the weekend. What a botched up mess! Had to watch a few of the old cartoon episodes afterwards just to remember what a great show it actually was. ---
**Author:** ![Musky\_Moon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90db22/32.png) [@Musky\_Moon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musky_Moon)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762/96 "2012-01-23T23:01:39Z")
I would love to see them remake The Black Hole. They would have to do away with the bad acid trip ending though. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762/97 "2012-01-23T23:17:55Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Well, they threatened one, with Will Farrell as Ignatius, but I assume God smote anybody associated with the idea. Except, unfortunately, Will Farrell. God already smote Will Farrel. That’s why he’s like that. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2012, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762/98 "2012-01-26T03:35:58Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I think _A Clockwork Orange_ could fuel a remake…[snip] People, people! Let’s keep our ham-handed mitts off of movies that were powerful or wonderful originally. _A Clockwork Orange_ gave me shivers at the time, and my kids think _The Last Starfighter_ is a perfect time capsule of early 80s sfx, fashions, hair… and trailer parks. ps: Sampiro, we need your story-telling skills over in [Workplace Griping](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=585296&page=60)… ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762/99 "2012-01-27T01:38:12Z")
Both **Johnny Mnemonic** and **New Rose Hotel** , two supposedly ‘cyberpunk’ movies based on William Gibson works, are, indeed, begging to be re-made by someone with sensitivity to the genre. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762/100 "2012-01-27T02:19:13Z")
My mom (who is in her 70s) thought a remake of _Ten North Frederick_ would go over with Kevin Costner in Gary Cooper’s role. I told her people who read books don’t go to the movies anymore, and besides, even people who read books don’t read John O’Hara anymore. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-begging-to-be-remade/609762.md?page=6)