CHRIS GIANCAMILLI

PRIDE STAFF WRITER

Recycling revolution

Hollywood remakes favorite films

Nowadays, television and theater are being overrun by unoriginal ideas being recycled for a new audience. These remakes attract press by flaunting their big budgets while original independent films and television shows are overlooked. What is it these new writers and directors hope to accomplish? Do they wish to surpass the original? Are they attempting to pay homage to the source material? Or are they merely trying to offer their own take on a classic?

While many writers and directors have their reasons, these remakes are not often well received by reviewers and audiences. This year alone audiences have seen “Clash of the Titans,” “Death at a Funeral,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” and “The Wolfman” reappear. According to RottenTomatoes.com, none of these films have garnered favorable reviews, yet audiences made them a financial success.

So who is truly to blame for this plague on our silver screens: the audiences or the filmmakers? Although the filmmakers are ultimately the source of the material in question, audiences who continue to support the remade films are only supporting recycled scripts and ideas. If moviegoers were to stop making the recycled films box-office successes, perhaps the filmmakers would be encouraged to create films that are more original.

Filmmakers have also expressed their views on remakes. The director of the original Swedish film “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” Niels Arden Oplev, said in an interview withwordandfilm.com, “Even in Hollywood there seems to be a kind of anger about the remake, like, ‘Why would they remake something when they can just go see the original?’ Everybody who loves film will go see the original one.”

Oplev’s film received favorable reviews, but Hollywood decided to remake the film regardless of the original movie’s reception. In the case of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” the language barrier between Swedish and English becomes a problem if the original were to make its way to American theaters. Foreign films struggle with American audiences, so releasing them here becomes less desirable.

Remakes are also made on the small screen, with shows like “Battlestar Galactica,” “The Office,” and “V.” These shows have their differences from the original material; however, they are still based on the same premise. As remade television shows are given the green light, Hollywood chooses not to support original content. Though some remakes are successful, for example “The Office,” most seem to fall short of surpassing the original material. Until Hollywood considers this, audiences can expect to see more recycled movies and shows.