So they dont have the rights to it yet? If that rights holder has any goddamn sense, he's gonna tell them to GO TO FUCKING HELL and NOT SELL THE RIGHTS! Please motherfucker, put and end to SOME of this madness!

On the bright side, occasionally the re-imagining works out. Battlestar Galactica, for example.

WE SLEEP

btw speaking of living the future predicted by bleak-ass sci-fi back in the 80's, Bruce Sterling was among those that predicted the Euro would replace the Dollar way back before there even WAS a Euro (I think he called them ECU's)

CRIPPLE FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!

Fred Zinnemann was well very astute and had foresight when he fought Universal to prevent them from letting the remake of his "Day of the Jackal" retaining the name. He knew that would damage his movie by confusing future audiences and the bad association with the Bruce Willis version.

For all we know the Democrats could actually be as nasty as the Republicans (though I doubt it) but they'd be a lot more subtle about any underhandedness.

Never leaving your poor heart alooone.

Every night and every daaaay

Blah blah blah

YOU DO NOT NEED TO REMAKE A FILM THAT WORKED PERFECTLY WELL IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Save the fucking remakes for good ideas that didn't work! The Thing fucking works! Romancing the Stone fucking works! etc etc

And getting the talentless fuckwit who wrote (stole is more like it) Eagle Eye is just a slap in the face.

I know where this is leading... And the moment anyone even hints towards a Back to the Future remake I'm going to start punching people.

Just random people.

It won't matter if you're responsible or not.

Fuck this never ending stream of fucking remakes.

tell me I'm lying

I'm reminded of something a Hollywood producer once me when I started complaining to him about all the crap Hollywood produces - he reminded me I had seen all these movies and I may think they're rubbish but it doesn't matter because, as he put it "WE GOT YOUR MONEY" - and there is probably a whole laundry list of "good" movies I have yet to shell out a few bucks to catch, because I'm sooooo busy spending all my time watching CRAP that I wasn't even EXPECTING to be good...

they got our money guys - and they'll keep churning out this crap until we STOP handing it over to them

I'll give you one example: Scarface. I love both versions, but the DiPalma movie has now supplanted Hawk's version as the one found in video store and computer databases. Anyone who perhaps hears how "Scarface" helped inspire the Departed will instead be misdirected to the 80's version.

So what is my answer? Something you yourself suggested Jack: re-imaginings (as well as inspired by). I wound prefer if the movies made were movies inspired by the original; you can much of the same premise, just change the title (like the Departed did with Infernal Affairs; or how I am Legend was filmed three times under different titles). This way both movies get a chance to shine and maybe last, instead of one being thrown into obscurity.

Obviously this isn’t a rule carved in stone. I readily admit that audiences rediscover many movies because they are a remake and people are curious to see the original. But to be honest, this rarely happens and it is more common for one of the movies to only become a trivia question.

Day of the Jackal is a fucking magnificent book and neither film is worthy.

I actually like The Departed. Is it Academy Award winning? Maybe not (can't really remember the competition that year). Is it as good as Infernal Affairs? In same ways better, in many others no. But while I don't think it equals his earlier, greater films, I do think Scorsese captures the effects of leading a double life and betrayal of loyalty has on a man, and how it erodes your soul.

And I am one person who will admit I prefer the original Scarface over the Pacino version. I now have lost my street cred and can no longer be a gangsta rapper.

For me it was driving by the Tomcat theatre on Santa Monica and seeing a double-feature of "Drill Bill, Vol. II" & "Sweet Homo, Alabama." I was laughing so hard I had to pull over.

Throw in Dick Cheney's "So" when told a majority of Americans were against the Iraq war in a poll and that he had "better things to do" as to why didn't go to Vietnam - well actually a lot of things Dick Cheney did and you have a better subject for a "They Live" film. Democrats seem to be more wishy washy about being nasty and evil.

A lot of people also don't know that the Charlton Heston Ben Hur is also a remake of the original, there was one made in the 20's I think and also a version predating that.

Oh and....

Fuck you Hollywood.

However, I suppose the film could be tweaked to address pop-culture media obsession to get a somewhat similar message across (i.e. all the Britneys/Mileys/Lindsays could be aliens; I-pod screens flashing the word "obey" over and over again...)

Well, I'd actually prefer the Norwegian POV version that was mentioned earlier...that could work if done in a similar way to the original....fuck CG!

Don't do shot by shot remakes - pointless - make sure they're cast properly - i.e not like the Fog remake - and get a good script and director. It shouldn't be hard, but Hollywood usually finds a way to fuck up one of those simple steps.

Any creative medium requires new fresh blood and ideas to thrive and grow. Using the same old ideas, and writers, and locking the door on new talent is a mistake that will eventually cost Hollywood billions in lost revenue.

What new writers show up in Hollywood make it on how hard they worked their contacts, not how much talent they have.

If you want to be a Hollywood screenwriter, I would suggest you forget about screenplays, and get into writing comics. Hollywood will option even the most obscure online comics...

As a storyline, I suggest a YOUNG MAN who comes to Douglas, now in retirement, to get his help finding his now lost Mom (Turner). Then they go to South America where the first film took place (bringing things full circle)... we toss in some action... Douglas and Young Guy find Turner, we then have the obvious revelation that everyone saw coming from a mile away that Young Guy is actually Douglas and Turner's kid, that Douglas never knew about (thus hopefully setting up future sequels with a newer, younger star if this goes over)... and just to make this box office secure for modern, summer teen audiences, the movie ends with them at some old South American ruins -- where they also get betrayed by guest star Danny DeVito -- which are actually hiding a UFO and aliens so we get a big SFX finale and--

Oh fuck. They made this already, didn't they? Okay, forget it then. Screw the remake.

To be honest, speaking as a freelance writer, I sort of see this an extension of the Internet explosion, where (for example) you have web portals that give people dummy-proof tools to instantly create and upload a professional-looking blog, at which point the average sits back in his chair, they look at the final, slick looking blog online, and so now they believe they are a professional writer and every bit as good as the next person, or as good as any actual income-earning writer. So, in some regards it becomes a mix of personal ego and the fact we have so many modern tools that can make something look slick or professional.

But that's where I think the free market comes in (or it should come in) to weed out the good from the bad, not to mention the truly atrocious! And it should be the market that then allows the up-and-coming a chance to be seen and gain even more momentum.

When it comes to the "million spec scripts" floating around Hollwood, I just see weeding through them as simply the job of the script readers and low end producers and whoever, who generally do weed through them fairly fast. To be honest, it's not too hard to get only 10-20 pages into a script to realize just how horrible it is. Much like the Sundance entries you mentioned, sure, it may be time consuming to wade through them, but that's also part of the fun and frankly it is somebody's job. I mean, you can't say you're going to have an open film contest and then say "Yeah, but only film grads from USC can enter." Then it becomes so exclusive you lose the whole POINT of having an open competition and showcase for new talent.

So, I don't see the number of spec scripts as being the problem. In fact, I would argue that IF if you had a million spec scripts piled up on one side of a room versus only 10,000 on the other side, mathematically you still have better odds with the million of actually finding a newer, fresher idea worth buying/making or at least developing. The problem here -- as others have noted in this thread -- is that Hollywood producers just want to take the easiest way out. They figure if they do a remake it must have SOME pre-established marketability, and thus part of the job is already done for them. So, rather than looking for a new, fresh horror idea that could be a new, fresh film (or even franchise) you get a lazy producer who thinks people actually give a fuck about a remake of TERROR TRAIN or PROM NIGHT or some C-level shit like that which was fine for it's time, but certainly doesn't need to be remade. And when you start upscaling from there, that's when it becomes even lazier and more stupifying.

I mean, seriously, who the fuck thinks remaking ARTHUR is a good idea? It was a hit film...it's modern enough that if you released it today it would still stand up, it's in color and still looks fine... and most importantly of all, what MADE it such a big hit was the star performance of Dudley Moore, who was so perfect he got an Oscar nod and the performance of John Geilgud who DID win an Oscar. For crying out loud, remaking ARTHUR is fucking ridiculous on every level and further proof that Hollywood just is lazy and creatively bankrupt and SHOULD be pouring through those million spec scripts.