# Movies that have been remade the most
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 9, 2003, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204 "2003-07-09T11:47:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@godzillatemple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/godzillatemple)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2003, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204/1 "2003-07-09T11:47:20Z")
Kurosawa’s _Yojimbo_ has been remade twice to my knowledge, once as _Per un pugno di dollari_ (a.k.a. _A Fistful of Dollars_) with Clint Eastwood, and more recently as _Last Man Standing_ with Bruce Willis.
Kurosawa’s _The Seven Samurai_, on the other hand, has been remade at least three times as far as I am aware: once as a western (_The Magnificent Seven_), once as science fiction (_Battle Beyond the Stars_), and once as a comedy (_The Three Amigos_).
Can anybody think of other films that have been remade at least twice? And can any movie top _Seven Samurai_ for most remakes?
Regards,
Barry
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### Author:  [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2003, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204/2 "2003-07-09T12:02:01Z")
_Godzilla_ has been remade quite a few times, hasn’t it?
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### Author:  [@godzillatemple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/godzillatemple)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2003, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204/3 "2003-07-09T12:04:23Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by green\_bladder \*
> \*\*_Godzilla_ has been remade quite a few times, hasn’t it? \*\*
Well, there _have_ been a whole lot of sequels, but I don’t consider those “remakes” as such.
Barry
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2003, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204/4 "2003-07-09T12:06:43Z")
**A Christmas Carol**. The IMDB lists 12 film adaptations and 27 TV adapatations, and that’s just searching on the name – there are versions that aren’t called “A Christmas Carol.”
There are also dozens of adaptations of **Frankenstein**
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### Author:  [@godzillatemple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/godzillatemple)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2003, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204/5 "2003-07-09T12:09:22Z")
**RealityChuck** : Nice try, but I don’t think those qualify since those are all film adaptations of _books_ and not remakes of films, _per se_.
Remakes are what I’m looking for, not adaptations…
Barry
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### Author:  [@godzillatemple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/godzillatemple)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2003, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204/6 "2003-07-09T12:29:06Z")
**RealityChuck** : Nice try, but I don’t think those qualify since those are all film adaptations of _books_ and not remakes of films, _per se_.
Remakes are what I’m looking for, not adaptations…
Barry
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### Author:  [@annaplurabelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annaplurabelle)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2003, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204/7 "2003-07-09T12:29:59Z")
Over 20 Godzilla films made since the 1954 original.
94 versions of Cinderella - the current number to beat, so far.
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### Author:  [@annaplurabelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annaplurabelle)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2003, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204/8 "2003-07-09T12:34:09Z")
Sorry - posted before I read your latest criteria. So Cinderella et al doesn’t count? Hmmm…
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### Author:  [@godzillatemple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/godzillatemple)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2003, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204/9 "2003-07-09T12:35:30Z")
**annaplurabelle** : Again, sequels and adaptations from books don’t count.
There have actually been 25 Godzilla movies to date (with another on the way), but none of them were remakes of the original. You’ll have to trust me on this one, since I’ve actually watched each and every one.
As for Cinderella, I beileve that they are all adaptations of the original novel and not simply remakes of the Disney version.
I’m talking about films that have the same basic plot and characters as earlier films (usually with a completely different name), but that are not just adapting the same source material as the first movie.
Barry
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### Author:  [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2003, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204/10 "2003-07-09T13:12:47Z")
**A Star is Born** was remade twice under that title, plus \*\*What Price Hollywood?[b/]
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204/11 "2003-07-09T13:42:19Z")
**Hamlet** , with 25 English-language versions between 1907 and 2001, not including such gems as _Green Eggs and Hamlet_ (1995), and _Fuck Hamlet_ (1996).
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### Author:  [@godzillatemple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/godzillatemple)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2003, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204/12 "2003-07-09T13:47:26Z")
**Eve** : So, what your saying is that _Hamlet_ was originally a movie before Shakespeare wrote his play? Wow, I had no idea…
Barry
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### Author:  [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204/13 "2003-07-09T13:53:55Z")
UM
> [@](#):
>
> “Yojimbo” is an uncredited film version of Dashiell Hammett’s novel “Red Harvest”. “Red Harvest” is about a detective who comes to a small city and sets two sides of a gang war against one another until both are almost completely wiped out.
So even your original post does not fall within the confines of your later “Remakes are what I’m looking for, not adaptations…” rule.
Yojimbo, A Fistful of Dollars and Last Man Standing are all ultimately based on a Dashiell Hammett novel.
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### Author:  [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2003, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204/14 "2003-07-09T13:55:41Z")
I think the **four feathers** has been done as a film at least 4 or 5 times.
**a star is born**'s been done 3 times
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### Author:  [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2003, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204/15 "2003-07-09T13:55:59Z")
Sorry, meant to add.
I think you will find that there are very few movies that are likely to be done more than once that are not adaptations of either plays or books.
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### Author:  [@godzillatemple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/godzillatemple)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2003, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204/16 "2003-07-09T14:16:28Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Degrance \*
> \*\*Sorry, meant to add.
>
> I think you will find that there are very few movies that are likely to be done more than once that are not adaptations of either plays or books. \*\*
Hmmmm… Well, I obviously didn’t know that _Yojimbo_ was an “uncredited film version” of a novel by Dashiell Hammett. Still, I think it’s pretty obvious (to me, at least ;)) that the later films were remakes of _Yojimbo_ and not of the source novel. Although, to be honest, I suppose one could take that argument a step further and claim that _Battle Beyond the Stars_ and _Last Man Standing_ were therefore remakes of _The Magnificent Seven_ if you don’t credit the filmmakers with having seen _Yojimbo_.
_sigh_
Maybe I should say that this doesn’t include films that are adaptations of **well known** books or plays. What I’m looking for are movies where the filmmakers saw a previous movie and said “Gee – I want to remake that film,” NOT where the filmmakers said, “I really liked that book/play and want to do my own adaptation of it.” Come on, people – this shouldn’t be _that_ hard, should it?
Barry
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### Author:  [@annaplurabelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annaplurabelle)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204/17 "2003-07-09T14:46:37Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by godzillatemple \*
> Maybe I should say that this doesn’t include films that are adaptations of **well known** books or plays. What I’m looking for are movies where the filmmakers saw a previous movie and said “Gee – I want to remake that film,” NOT where the filmmakers said, “I really liked that book/play and want to do my own adaptation of it.” Come on, people – this shouldn’t be _that_ hard, should it?
>
> Barry
I’m not sure about this, but I’m assuming that it would be either more difficult or more costly to secure the rights to remake an original screenplay - as opposed to adapting a literary work which has entered public domain (which of course explains why so many Hamlets, Christmas Carols, Romeo and Juliets, and even Cinderella, no?).
But thanks for asking - now I’m driving myself and co-workers crazy trying to think of an example…
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2003, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204/18 "2003-07-09T14:50:21Z")
I recall a listing of all the versions of **Doctor Jeckyll and Mister Hyde** in the magazine “Famous Monsters of Filmland” back in the 1960s. There were a _lot_ of them, including many with different titles (like **Der Januskopf** ). The IMDB doesn’t conveniently list them all. Looking through their lists, I find about 20 or so versions which are all based directly on the Stevenson novel (and not weird variations like “Jekyll and Hyde … Together Again!” or “Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde” or “Abbott and Costello mett…”), and I don’t think that’s at all exhaustive. I think J&H is in the running.
The Godzilla films are emphatically _not_ “versions”. And I dispute that there are “dozens” of versions of Frankenstein. There are now quite a few versions of Shelley’s original novel, but I doubt if there is even a single dozen of them.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2003, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204/19 "2003-07-09T15:23:20Z")
_The Front Page_ was adapted from a play in 1931, and I’m pretty sure the numerous remakes (under that title, or _His Girl Friday_ or _Switching Channels_) were inspired by that film (or each other) instead of the original play.
I count at least six versions of the film after the original.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2003, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-been-remade-the-most/187204/20 "2003-07-09T17:15:54Z")
It should be mentioned that two of those adaptations of _The Front Page_ were live television productions from the 1940s.
Now, following the rules of this thread, we are _excluding movies based on previously published literary works_, e.g., novels, plays, stories, comics. We are looking for movies based only on previous movies. My educated guess is that, among English-language features, the winner is the 1954 and 1976 remakes of _A Star Is Born_ (1937), which was officially an original screenplay (William A. Wellman and
Robert Carson won Oscars in the “Original Story” category), although it borrowed some plot elements from _What Price Hollywood?_ (1932).
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