No, I haven’t seen the remake of “Footloose,” in theaters now.
And I don’t plan to.
The original movie, which hit screens in 1984, wasn’t that good to begin with. Why would I watch a remake?
Granted, it’s starring one of my favorite dancers-turned-actress — the adorable Julianne Hough — and this version doesn’t feature Kevin Bacon in those faded jeans or that equally bad red suit. (Although the skinny tie has made some kind of comeback.)
While there are legions of diehard fans, I don’t think the movie was remake-worthy.
(And, to be honest, classics shouldn’t be remade, either.)
And if I can’t convince you, maybe movie guru Roger Ebert can: “This new ‘Footloose’ is a film without wit, humor or purpose. It sets up the town elders as old farts who hate rock ‘n’ roll. Does it have a clue that the Rev. Moore and all the other city council members are young enough that they grew up on rock ‘n’ roll? The film’s message is: A bad movie, if faithfully remade, will produce another bad movie.”
There.
There were two ’80s-related movies that opened last weekend. The revival of “Footloose” racked in $16.1 million in its opening weekend; the prequel of a 1982 John Carpenter cult hit, “The Thing,” pulled in just $8.7 million.
Those two join the list of ’80s remakes — “Fright Night,” “Conan,” “Arthur,” “The A-Team” — that didn’t have radical results at the box office.
So why can’t these classics — or, at the very least, cult flicks — make it in 2011?
Don’t get me wrong, some of my favorite films — “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “The Breakfast Club,” “The Goonies,” “Say Anything” — were from the ’80s. But I wouldn’t want to see a remake of them, shot with different actors, in a different era, in a different context. It just wouldn’t work.
What do you think?
15 Comments
The lone exception for me so far has been Karate Kid. My son wanted to see it and I figured it would be survivable. Wound up liking it quite a lot and he really enjoyed it. Of course I liked Ip Man II way better.
Not sure I understand remakes. To me it is like trying to get together with an old girlfriend. If it didn’t work the first time better to remember the good times. For the record there were a lot of people that loved the original and that’s cool but it was not my cup of tea. Any movie that plays on bad stereotypes doesn’t cut it. Growing up Southern you hear it everywhere you go. Way more of us are well educated and open minded than the Hollywood type would like for folks to believe. It is an acceptable form of bigotry in the USA. As a white male Southerner working around the country I can assure you I’ve heard it all.
it’s all in the execution.
Some remakes sound like bad ideas, until they come out
Good remakes :
Ben Hur
True Lies
Dawn of the Dead
The 10 Commandments
The Hills Have Eyes
The Magnificent Seven
The Thomas Crown Affair
The Ring
The Grudge
Ocean’s 11
Inglorious Basterds
A Star is Born ( 1954 version )
Waterloo Bridge
The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Departed
Heaven Can Wait
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
No Way Out
Ransom
Payback
The Thing ( 1982 version )
Scarface
The Wolfman
Whoa, didn’t know some of those were remakes! Thanks for sharing!
I have to agree, I much preferred the remake of “Ocean’s 11” to the original. But I wonder how people who grew up with the original feel about the remake. I think that makes a difference, you know?
You can add True Grit to that list too! I thought the Cohen Bros. version with Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld was better than the original. Not that the original was bad at all.
@MaxMaxMax Funny, I thought the opposite. I thought the original True Grit was good, but not great. But the remake just fell short for me.
I think the bigger and better the original movie, the harder it is to make a successful remake. A remake can shine if it somehow improves on the original in some way. Sometimes I’ll be watching an old movie and think, you know, this could work if it were updated.
I wonder if it’s easier to remake a BAD movie than try to best the original…
Cat, you can take the “Land of the Lost” approach. I read where they couldn’t get a script to come of as a thriller type movie, so they went CAMPY on purpose, LOL! Maybe not a bad concept, huh?
Hey Cat … I mostly agree with you … I think that classics should never be redone … what’s the point? … other than making more money … I guess they figure It worked once, so it should work again …
… but I don’t mind if they try to remake old obscure or unsuccesful originals … maybe a tweak in the storyline or a bigger budget and better actors can turn the film around … who knows? …
… never really cared for Footloose … but I’ve seen it because it was on countless times on TBS or USA or some cable channel … couldn’t avoid it …
… and I won’t see the remake until it gets on cable …
The only remake that to me is vastly superior to the original is “Cape Fear.” Robert Mitchum was laughable in the role of the evil one. Robert DeNiro in that role still scares me.
“Come out, come out wherever you are!”
The remake of Red Dawn is supposed to be coming out soon. I had to cringe at the thought – it was one of my favorites from the ’80s!
I watched it a couple months ago, and realized how cheesy it was – but isn’t that part of the charm? 😉
I generally agree that remakes show more devotion to the dollar than to the audience. Raise your hands if you wanted to see a new Footloose, or Prime Suspect, or Charlie’s Angels (tv)! …I didn’t think so. However, there’s just enough of the infrequent remake successes (I agree – Thomas Crowne Affair and Ocean’s 11 rock) to keep movie and tv studios going.
Just looked at the photo again, did you notice the dude checking that girl out… too much photography these days, can’t get away with anything anymore!
I loved the original flashdance so I disagree there but I do agree certain movies just wouldn’t fit in a new era. Like several of the John Huges movies which were so quintessentially ’80s; The Breakfast Club or Pretty in Pink.
It all depends on how they go about it. Remake or reimagining. The new Footloose movie is a remake. It pretty much is the same movie with a new cast. It takes place in the 80’s, the same soundtrack songs done by new artists and pretty much the same story.
As for The Coen Brothers True Grit. That is a reimagining of the book. A new screenplay based off the book and not the original film. The upcomming Total Recall movie would fall into this catagory. Not passing judgement till I see it.
Take all the Batman films. Nobody calls the Modern Batman films remakes of the original 60’s series even though it has all the same characters and basic story. Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight isn’t considered a remake of Tim Burton’s Batman even though it’s the same Batman vs.The Joker movie.
The new Thing movie claims it’s not a remake of the original movie but a prequel. But it’s pretty much the same movie. I have no idea how to catogirize that film.
Then there’s the remake done by the originals writer/director. Takashi Shimizu did the American version of The Grude and the original Japanese version. He considers the remake a part of the mythology he created for the Japanese original. These types of remakes rarely ever happen.
Then there are the cash in remakes like The Katate Kid. In all the asian markets it was called The Kung Fu Kid. He didn’t learn karate in the film, he learned kung fu. Why it wasn’t called that in the western markets……oh yeah….name recognition=profit.
In general, remake = bad.
reimagining = good.