G wl 5 [8406]

1. Some of the reasons why Hollywood remake older films could
be because the studio could have more money/equipment to
make the film better. An example of a film that was remade
because of the improvement in technology was RoboCop (Paul
Verhoeven, 1987) the film was remade with the same name
RoboCop (José Padilha,2014). According to IMDB the box office
takings for the original RoboCop was $53,424,681 whereas the
remake broughtin$58,607,007. Anotherreasonwhya company
would remake a film is because there could be different social
and political issuesthanthere waswhenthe original was made,
this is basically where there are more topics which is more
relevantthantheywaswhenthe original wasmade.Distribution
and exhibition isanother reason why Hollywood might remake
an older film. An example of this would be Zoolander 2 (Ben
Stiller,2016).This filmisanexample because itisthe sequel too
Zoolander(BenStiller,2001) the sequel alsogota differentstyle
of promotion thanwhatthe original wouldhave done in2001. Zoolander2 wasmostly promoted on
various social media sites, including; Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also as another way to
promote the sequel the mainstars walked down a runway on Paris fashion week which was filmed
and ended up going viral. The last five reasons why Hollywood would remake a film are; genres,
cycles and trends, stars, regulatory issues, synergy, and finally
vertical and horizontal integration. Genres, cycles and trends
influences the decision to remake a film for example currently
Superhero films is the most popular genre so films that fit into
thisgenre are beingmilkedforall theirworth.Anexampleof this
would be Superman movies are being slightly remade because
theyare mergingSupermanwithBatmanin Batman v Superman:
Dawn of Justice (Zack Snyder, 2016). Hollywood could also
remake a film based on the stars are popular at the time. An
example of this would be Scarface (Howard Hawks, 1932), this
film wouldn’t still be watched now because it stars Paul Muni
and Ann Dvorak, both of these stars aren’t as well known as the
stars in the remake. The remake of Scarface (Brian De Palma,
1984), this film is more known than the original this could be
partlydue to the remake starringAl Pacino.If you lookat the box
office takingsonIMDB the original took in $600,000 whereas the
1984 remake brought in $44,700,000. Regulatory issues are the
censorshiplawssetbythe BBFC andthe MPAA. Synergyiswhendifferentcompaniescome together
for example StarWars:TheForce Awakens (J.J.Abrams,2015) was releasedwithagame of the show
and numerous items of clothes with the Star Wars logo on them.

2. Batman: The Movie (Leslie H Martinson, 1966) is the first batman instalment within the batman
franchise.Obviously because the film was produced in 1966 there wasn’t really any special effects
that wasused,plusthere wasn’tmanywaysto promote the film. This has been reflected in the box
office takings according to IMDB the original brought in $3 million. Even though the box office
takings was so low 20th
century fox, which was the producers and distributors for the original, still
made a profit. According to IMDB the budget that was spent on the film $1.378 million. If we
compare the original to the most recent instalments which is The Dark Night Trilogy (Christopher
Nolan, 2005, 2008, 2012) the trilogy was produced and distributed by Warner Bros. and the budget
was $150 million.Thiswasthe lowest budget out of the three instalments in the dark night trilogy.
The franchise keepsgettingremadebecause of the trend for superhero there is nowadays, another
reason the film keeps getting remade is because the production companies might have more
funding bodies.
The next remake I will be looking at is War of the Worlds. The original was made in 1953 and
directedby Byron Haskin; the film was later remade in 2005 and was directed by Steven Spielberg.
Both versions of the film cover different social and political issues. The 1953 original was loosely
coveringthe Americansfearof the Russians attackingthe U.S. the film covered this issue because it
was produced/releasedduringthe time of the coldwar.The 2005 remake coveredthe feareveryone
had aboutterroristsinvadingtheircountry;the filmcoveredthisissuebecause 9/11 was what made
StevenSpielberg.We knowthisbecause Steven Spielberg publically said that if 9/11 didn’t happen
then the film wouldn’t have been remade.
The third remake I am looking at is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was originally made in 1974 and
was directedbyTobe Hooper. When the film was released the regulatory issues were a lot stricter
than theyare now. As a result of this it led to the original being banned in a lot of countries, in the
countrieswhere itwasreleased itwas given an 18 certificate due to the blood and gore in the film.
In Londonthe filmwasreleasedwithout any editing and it was given an X rating. The film was later
remade in2003 by Marcus Nispel whichwas made to tell the original story with more violence and
gore. The remake was released in all countries and only given an 18. This highlights the change in
regulatory issues with the BBFC.
The final remake I am going to look at is The Ring (Gore Verbisnki, 2002) which is originally a
Japanese horror film called Ringu (Hideo Nakata, 2000). The film was adapted into English so it
would be a lot more popular than the original which has been described as one of the most
successful Japanesehorrorfilms.Bythe time the filmwasremade Hollywood producers started the
trendof remakingsuccessfulJapanese Horrorfilms.Some of these include; The Grudge, Pulse, One
Missed Call, and Dark Water. The remake of Ringu starred Hollywood starlet Naomi Watts, by
castingher to star inthe filmitattracts a biggeraudience because her fans would have been drawn
to see the film.