Good day, family and friends!
Just about one year ago, I posted in this blog an open letter to the motion picture industry...particularly to the corporate boardrooms in Hollywood and New York City that control the 'mainstream' production companies. In that letter, I posed the question, "where has all the creativity gone?" Well, it's been a year. In the original letter, I noted seventeen movie remakes or 'revisionings' over the 13-year period spanning 1996 - 2009. I suspected my comments would fall on deaf ears...and I was right.
About two months ago, as the media blitz for the Summer releases began in earnest, one of my friends and I started discussing the culture of 'cash over creativity' in the motion picture industry. I decided to start doing a little casual research on projects currently underway. What I found appalled me. The following list is of movies that have been announced, have at least begun pre-production*, and are slated to be released sometime between April 2010 (when I started the list) and Summer 2013. I've divided it into three categories: Remakes/Revisionings, Old TV Series being made into Motion Pictures, and Animated Series being made into either Live Action Movies or Movies with CGI characters interacting with the real world. Remember, this list is from a casual search from very public sources and not from some sort of special 'insider' sources:
Remakes/Revisionings:
1. “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” (1954) – two different versions are in production…one scheduled for 2011 and one for 2012;
2. “All Quiet on the Western Front” (1930) – 2012;
3. “Barbarella” (1968) – 2012;
4. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (1992) – 2012;
5. “Captain America” (1944, 1966, 1979, 1990) – 2011 (as “Captain America: The First Avenger”);
6. “Carousel” (1956) – 2013;
7. “Charly” (1968) – 2013 (as “Flowers for Algernon”);
8. “Dune” (1984) – 2012 (already remade once as a low-quality mini-series in 2000);
9. “Escape from New York” (1981) – 2011;
10. “Excalibur” (1981) – two different projects scheduled for 2012: one definitely listed as a remake of the 1981 John Boorman film, the other only defined as an ‘action fantasy’;
11. “Flash Gordon” (1980) – 2012;
12. “Footloose” (1984) – 2011;
13. “Harvey” (1950) – 2011;
14. “Highlander” (1986) – 2012 (after a number of progressively worse sequels and two half-way decent TV shows, it looks like the franchise is being completely reset to the beginning);
15. “Logan’s Run” (1976) – 2012;
16. “M*A*S*H” (1970) – 2010 (as “M.A.S.H”);
17. “My Fair Lady” (1964) – 2012;
18. “Poltergeist” (1982) – 2011;
19. “Popeye” (1980) – 2013;
20. “Red Dawn” (1984) – 2010;
21. “Romancing the Stone” (1984) – 2011;
22. “Short Circuit” (1986) – 2011;
23. “Soylent Green” (1973) – 2012;
24. “Spider-Man” (2002) – 2012 (complete reboot of the franchise with a petition being circulated to change Peter Parker's ethnic background to 'African American');
25. “Tarzan” (1932, 1966, 1981, 1984, 1999) – 2011;
26. “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” (1982) – 2011;
27. “The Dirty Dozen” (1967) – 2012 (as “Dirty Dozen”);
28. “The Evil Dead” (1981) – Renaissance Pictures alternates between saying this is a ‘revisioning’ of the first “Evil Dead” movie and that it’s actually going to be “Evil Dead IV”. Tentatively set for a 2011 release;
29. “The Hobbit” (1977) – 2011/2012 (should probably be in the ‘animation to live action category since the 1977 version was animated);
30. “The Karate Kid” (1984) – 2010;
31. “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (1975) – 2010;
32. “The Thing” (1951, 1982) – 2011;
33. “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) – 2011 (following the original L. Frank Baum story as “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”) and 2013 (a ‘revisioning’ from the point of view of the Wizard as “Oz, the Great and Powerful”);
34. “True Grit” (1969) – Coen Bros. version due in 2010;
35. “Westworld” (1973) – 2012;
36. “Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?” (1978) – 2010 (as “Who is Killing the Great Chefs?”)
Old TV Series becoming Movies:
1. “I Dream of Jeannie” (1965) – 2010;
2. “Knight Rider” (1982, 2008) – 2012 (after failing to resurrect the franchise on TV, they are now trying to bring it to the big screen);
3. “Kung Fu” (1972) – 2011;
4. “The A-Team” (1983) – 2010;
5. “The Green Hornet” (1966) – 2010;
6. “Hawaii Five-0” (1968) – 2012
Animated Series becoming Live Action Movies:
1. “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (2005) – 2010 (as “The Last Airbender”);
2. “Cowboy Bebop” (1998) – 2011;
3. “Ghost in the Shell” (1995) – 2011;
4. “Scooby Doo” (1969, 1972) – 2010 (as “Scooby Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster”. This is a complete reboot of the live-action Scooby Doo movies with a whole new cast and some revisioning…including making Velma Asian.);
5. “The Smurfs” (1965, 1976, 1982) – 2011 (combination live action/CGI);
6. “Thundercats” (1985) – 2012
Where my previous casual research found 17 remakes spread over 13 years, this list is 48 movies coming out over the next 36 months! (A couple have already been released since I began compiling this list in April.) Come on, people! Show some artistic integrity. Once again, where has all the creativity gone? Don't get me wrong...there are some wonderfully creative projects coming out of the big studios; adaptations of both comic books and novels and completely new creative works such as "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag", "Jane Eyre", "The Green Lantern", "Hamlet", "Despicable Me". Unfortunately, these seem to be the exceptions rather than the rule. It should be the other way around; remakes of old movies and TV shows should be the exception.
The bottom line, film moguls, is stop underestimating the intelligence of the average American and start backing more creative and unique projects. Keep in mind that, when you are taking a chance on something new and unique, you can probably do so for a lot less than you would pay for an established, over-used formula. Will there be flops? Of course! But that is true of the big-budget movies with A-list stars now (how much did you lose with "Alexander", "The Adventures of Pluto Nash", and "Gigli"?) Who knows, your creative courage may result in the discovery of the next "Star Wars", "The Matrix", or (heaven forbid!) "Napoleon Dynamite".
Best regards...
* pre-production is the state of motion picture production where the parts are being cast, locations are being scouted and obtained, and sets and props are being made.
© 2010 James P. Rice
