Remakes of foreign movies don’t count, even English-to-American, nor do remakes by the original director.
Sorry for the double post, but movies based on the same source do not count either, like Dangerous Liasons/Valmont/Cruel Intentions, unless it’s obvious that the later filmmakers are cribbing from the original filmmakers.
This is going back a long time, but “Hotel Imperial” was made four times between 1918 and 1939. Cite.
The movies Gloria come to mind. Gena Rowlands starred in the 1980 version and Sharon Stone in the 1999 version. Both had the same basic plot (a feisty broad protecting a child marked for death by the mob), though there was some tweaking and ethnicity changing in the 19 year interrim (though there’s no question about whether it’s a remake). That’s half the time between the production of the two Psychos.
If TV to big screen adaptations count, No Time for Sergeants was a TV movie on an anthology show in 1955, then was remade (with a different director but still starring Andy Griffith) as a motion picture in 1958. I believe The Miracle Worker went from TV to Broadway to movie in about 4 years as well.
How about eight years, between the two versions of Meet the Parents?
I nominate Fever Pitch. The first version was released in 1997, the second in 2005. Both are based on the same novel and have the same story, except the 2005 version substitutes baseball for soccer.
Gaslight was made in 1940 and 1944 as a movie, and in 1947 and 1957 for TV. I doubt you’ll get anything else remotely close to that.
Rio Bravo in 1959, El Dorado in 1966, Rio Lobo in 1971. 
Sorry; that’s English-to-American, and thus violates the rules delineated in the OP. Good movies, though (both of them; same basic story with different sensibilities).
Three versions of The Maltese Falcon were filmed from 1931 to 1941 – but I think those would be considered different versions of the same source material, rather than remakes of previous movies.
Got it – Exorcist: The Beginning. That sucker was remade before it was even released. Paul Schrader directed the movie; the studio didn’t like it, and had the whole film reshot by Renny Harlin (hack) with a bigger budget. The Renny Harlin movie was released in 2004, got poor reviews and tanked. The Paul Schrader version (titled Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist) was released in 2005 and got pretty good reviews. (Isn’t there something wrong with having the word “Prequel” in the title of the movie?)
Manhunter(1986)
Red Dragon(2002)
Man on Fire was the first movie that popped into my mind but it’s not as close as the two Meet the Parents.
Marc
I must nitpick here. Fever Pitch is my all time favourite adaptation because the book is not a novel, it is a series of essays by Nick Hornby based on his football fan fanaticism (and life in general). How anyone thought to make it the basis of even one movie is astounding.
Freaky Friday was originally released in 1976, had a TV remake in 1995, and a theatrical remake in 2003.
Well, Askance already gave us the smallest one so far (four years,) but another two that have a small amount of time are the two Punishers and two Fantastic Fours.
The Punsiher was released in 1998 and 2004. That’s 16 years.
Fantastic Four was made (never released) in 1994 and the newest one out now (2005) so that’s 11 years.
I heard a story (most likely apocryphal) about John Wayne who, upon receiving the script for Rio Lobo from Howard Hawks and asked if he had read it, replied something to the effect of “I don’t have to, I’ve already made the movie twice!”?
Elmore Leonard’s 52 Pick-Up * (1986) was made two years earlier as The Ambassador*.
Satan Met a Lady (1936) & The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Front Page (1931) & His Girl Friday (1940)
Snow White (1933; Betty Boop short) & Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937; Walt Disney feature)
(I hate to do this, because I feel like some old geezer trying to stop kids from having fun.)
Everybody: read the OP. Sometimes the constriction of rules improves the challenge. Also, read my previous post, and see if you can beat it.