Unit 26
- 1. Unit 26: Film Studies. PR5, Remakes. There are many reasons why certain films are remade and in the following essay I will be discussing those varying factors. Some of the reasons can include trends, synergies, vertical and horizontal integration, current issues and technological advances. I will now list some of the reasons why films are remade, though I will also mention them further on in my essay where the topic demands it. Technology has advanced greatly over the years. With the advancement in CGI and other computer-related software and effects, films can be made on a grander scale than ever. Remade films can now look far better than they once did and look much more realistic, clearer and bigger. An example of a remade film is King Kong. The original film from 1933 was groundbreaking for its time with very effective stop-motion animation and puppets. However, compared to the current quality of films, the original looks somewhat boring and poorly made. The filmwas remade in 1976, with better effects and animatronics. In 2005, Peter Jackson helmed the creation of a second remake of King Kong, which featured award winning CGI and effects. The filmlooks much better and is on a much grander scale than the original and the first remake and is a perfect example of technological advances being the reason for a remake. King Kong 1933 (Adjusted for Inflation): Budget: $12 million Box Office: $51 million King Kong 1976 (Adjusted for Inflation): Budget: $99 million
- 2. Box Office: $376 million King Kong 2005: Budget: $207 million Box Office: $550 million Trends: A film may be created due to that genre of filmincreasing in popularity and gaining interest from a large audience of people. If a certain genre/theme of filmis becoming popular and attracting attention, then movie companies will usually look to ‘cash in’ on their popularity. For example, the Blair Witch Project (Dir. Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez) was released in 1999 and received critical and commercial acclaim, especially as the budget was a mere $22,500. Over the following ten years many films were made in the ‘found footage’ style of the Blair Witch Project, including Rec, Cloverfield, Diary of the Dead and The Paranormal Activity franchise. Rec was almost revived the genre as between it and The Blair Witch Project, the amount of found footage films were few and far between. Stars: A big, popular star will often appear in a remakes, which would help push the film as a spectacle and therefore increase interest and box-office takings. Chloe Grace Moretz appeared in the 2013 remake of 'Carrie', playing the title role of a telepathic girl who can read people's minds and possesses supernatural strength. Moretz break out role in Kick-Ass has made her into one of the biggest young actress' in Hollywood and also one of the most in-demand. By having Moretz in the movie, the producers and company bosses will have hoped her popularity would have increased interest. Genre interest can coincide with trends. If a certain genre of film is popular then a film company may decide to remake a film from years ago which has similar themes. This will be in order to gain more money by the genre’s increased popularity. For example, popularity fantasy and sci-fi movies are at an all-time high and this will have most likely influenced the decision to remake the Star Trek movies and series into a film in 2009. Social, political and regulatory factors can have huge influences on filmcompany’s decisions to remake films. Social factors may change depending on the circumstances of the time. For example, some things that people were shocked by 50 years ago may be viewed differently by today’s generation, who generally have a more liberal perspective. Political factors may influence the creation of movies and remakes depending on their context and if they fits in with a current situation. The war of the worlds was created to show the threat of an attack on the
- 3. United States. The backdrop to the filmis the 9/11 attacks which occurred 4 years earlier. The threat of an attack on the country by terrorists was high at the time and so the aliens can represent the enemy. The original 50’s version would have implications that the Soviet Union was the enemy, due to the then ongoing cold war. In the end however, the aliens are deterred and the Americans are the victors. This would have been to show the might of the Americans in the face of even the most hostile of enemies (first the Russians then the terrorists). Synergies can have great effects on the influence of the creation of remakes. A synergy is the relationship between the filmand other merchandise. Merchandise can relate to any books, clothing, toys, magazines and video games among many other things. If remaking a film will increase interest in certain products, then more money can be made. Vertical integration is where a production company owns the rights to the production, distribution and exhibition of a film, thereby receiving all of the profits. Sony are an example of a vertically integrated company. They bought the smaller production company ‘Screen Gems’ who bought the rights off ‘Filmax’ for Rec, in order for Quarantine to be made. Horizontal integration is where a filmcompany expands into one area of a film’s process, such as its distribution or production. Sony are also horizontally integrated as they own the rights to Columbia Pictures and therefore their previous films. Judge Dredd/ Dredd
- 4. Judge Dredd was made in 1995 and based off the original 2000AD comic book. 17 years later, the film was remade with a new cast and story. The original ‘Judge Dredd’ film was released in 1995 and directed by Danny Cannon. From a budget of $70 million it had takings of over $113.5 million dollars. The remade film simply entitled ‘Dredd’ was released in 2012 and directed by Pete Travis. From a budget of $45 million it made a loss by only taking $41.4 million at the box office. In the original film, Dredd is found guilty of a murder he did not commit and is sentenced to life in prison. However, he soon learns that the murderer was a renegade judge with the same DNA as him. He subsequently sets out to clear his name and take down the corrupt judge. In the newer film, Dredd and his telepathic sidekick Anderson go to a tower block to investigate the deaths of drug dealers as well as the drug they had been making. The building is put on lock down by the woman who runs it- ‘Ma-ma’ and she instructs its inhabitants to kill both of the judges. They both eventually make their way to the top and kill ma-ma, but not before some intensive, brutal battle scenes. The production company for original Judge Dredd film was Hollywood pictures and for the remake, DNA films and IMGlobal. Strangely, despite having better critical reviews than the 1995 version, Dredd made a loss of over $3.5 million. The first did much better at the box office, taking in profits of over $40 million. Sylvester Stallone played Dredd in the original film, with Karl Urban taking over the role in the remake. I think that they are both very suitable actors for the role as they are known for their ‘tough guy’ roles and appearance. Urban was most likely picked because of this. I believe the filmwas remade because of huge technological advancements. The filmlooks much more gritty and realistic, an aspect which fans of the comic book enjoyed, as it stayed truer to the series. The original filmwas regarded as being somewhat cheesy and not as serious as the comics. There are also scenes slowed down to extreme lengths which is a very good effect which would not have been available in 1995. There are many fantastic moments of CGI in the film, such as the sprawling ‘Mega City One’ and the epic action sequences. As the slow motion effect is quite ground-breaking and eye-catching, as well as the fact the film did not make as much money as expected at the box-office, I think that Pete Travis can possibly be identified as an auteur. Another reason why the film was resurrected may be due to the influx of superhero and comic- book films that have been widespread over the past 10 years. They are highly in-demand and popular films at the moment and I think that the trend may have contributed in the contribution of the making of the film. There are also many synergy benefits for the film, as many will watch the film and buy the toys, comics and other merchandise related to the film. Recently, there was a Judge Dredd graphic novel on sale for £1.99 in a newsagents, which is part of the wider synergy. The fallout popularity of the film may have contributed to the release of the book over two years later.
- 5. Rec/Quarantine Rec is a 2007 Spanish language horror film directed and written by Jaume Balaguero. Quarantine is an English language American film that was released a year later and is a shot by shot remake of Rec. The filmwas directed by John Erick Dowdle. Rec’s filmproduction company was Filmax and from a budget of $2 million it made $32.5 million. Quarantine’s production company was Vertigo Entertainment and from a budget of $12 million it made just over $41 million. The film’s plots are both the same, apart from the obvious fact one is set in America and the other in Spain. A news crew is following the activities of a group of firefighters at their station and follow them when they get a call out to an apartment block. While there, they are placed under quarantine by armed soldiers and are forced to remain in the building. Throughout the film, they are slowly picked off one by one by people with infections which give them cannibalistic urges. Both films end the same, with all the people being killed and the last shot being of the main news reporter being dragged off into the darkness. Rec is from the ‘found footage’ genre of films which have been growing in popularity and number since the release of the blair witch project in 1999. By having the camera shake, wobble and be from the point of view of someone, it makes the viewer feel like they are in the film and helps give them a more exciting and thrilling experience. It is almost like a first-person video game but on a different media format. I believe Rec was remade into quarantine as it was
- 6. a very good film, but American audiences may be deterred by the fact it is Spanish-language. The situation is an example of vertical integration. The American production company Screen gems, which is owned by the larger Sony Company, bought the rights to Rec from its company, Filmax. This allowed them the rights to Filmax’s films and therefore the right to remake its films. Screen Gems will have seen the critical and commercial success of Rec and therefore may have wanted to ‘cash in’ on its popularity by creating a remake. Screen gems will have also wanted to capitalise on the genre’s increase in interest around the time of Rec. Point of view films such as Cloverfield and Diary of the dead were released around the same time and performed fairly well at the box office. It is an example of vertical integration because Sony owns Screen Gems, which is the distributor for quarantine. The film Quarantine was released so soon after Rec as Screen Gems will have wanted to put the filmout while the genre was still popular and to try and make American audiences think that it was the original. By obtaining the rights to Filmax, Screen Gems also gets the rights to Rec’s synergies. Therefore, it can make money from all merchandise sales of the filmsuch as DVD’s, clothing, books, toys and much more. This means that they would be receiving financial profits from both Rec and Quarantine. Overall, there are no major differences between the films, which is strange as directors will usually have their own take on movie scripts. However, Quarantine may have been made the exact same in order to repeat the success of Rec but, for an American and (therefore) English- speaking audience. Lolita
- 7. Lolita was a 1962 filmdirected by Stanley Kubrick, distributed by MGM and based on the novel of the same name by Vladimir Nabokov. The filmwas remade in 1997 and directed by Adrian Lyne, with it being distributed by The Samuel Goldwyn Company. The original film made $9.25 million from a budget of $2 million, while the remake made $1.1 million from a budget of $62 million (the production company had problems with acquiring a distributor, which resulted in a very limited theatrical release). The initial problem with the film in 1962 was the concept of a young sexually-outgoing teenager being attracted to her stepfather. The whole idea seemed completely wrong and did not warrant thought or discussion at the time, which resulted in a lot of controversy and censorship. Kubrick himself later stated that, had he known how severe the censorship was going to be, he probably would never have made the film. When Lyne remade the film some 35 years later, he remade the novel and not Kubrick’s adaptation. This was because Kubrick’s film was not as serious as the novel, due to heavy limitations on what he could do in 1962. Lyne confronted the darker themes of the novel and made them more apparent in his film, as censorship was not as strict as it once had been. Lyne stayed closer to the novel, something picked up on by critics. I believe that Lolita was remade as people are generally more liberal minded than they were 50 years ago, with people more willing to tackle forbidden subjects and taboos. By remaking the film, Lyne was also able to show Lolita in its full nature, rather than having it heavily censored.
- 8. War of the Worlds The first War of the Worlds was released in 1953 and directed by Byron Haskin. It was produced by paramount pictures and based off the H.G Wells novel of the same name. In the film, meteors crash onto the earth and aliens emerge from them, intent on taking over the world. In the 2005 remake directed by Steven Spielberg, meteors also crash into the ground, waking up aliens that have lived beneath the surface for thousands of years. They burst up from the ground and begin to kill all humans in sight. The original film made $2 million from a $2 million budget, while the remake made an incredible $591 million from a budget of $132 million. This will have most likely been due to it being that year’s summer blockbuster. The 1953 version served as a backdrop to the cold war and the emerging threat of the Soviet Union. Their frosty tensions with the US led to fears of a third world war and possible nuclear annihilation. The idea of an evil aggressor invading the country and killing thousands of people was a genuine fear for people and the film played on that at the time. It’s underlying themes and at the time, fantastic effects, would have increased awareness of the film and encouraged people to go and see it. The 2005 version of the film also did something similar, in that it had the backdrop of 9/11. The aliens can be seen to represent the terrorists that American feared would attack the nation for years to come. Steven Spielberg himself also said that it would have been unlikely that he would have remade War of the Worlds had 9/11 never happened. However, despite this, I think that the filmmay have been remade due to the advancements in technology, which greatly
- 9. improved how the film looks. Star theory fits into the remake of the war of the worlds as well, as Tom Cruise is a big, profitable star. Carrie The original Carrie was released in 1976 and was based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. The film was directed by Brian De Palma and the production company was United Artists. From a budget of $1.8 million the film made just under $34 million. The film was remade in 2013 and from a budget of $30 million, it made just under $85 million. The distribution companies were Misher Films and Screen Gems and the director was Kimberley Peirce. Carrie is a horror film which follows the life of a roughly 16 year old girl who is being brought up by her very religious mother. She is often bullied at school for her outsider tendencies and is tormented for not knowing certain things. At prom, she lashes out with her telepathic abilities and kills hundreds of students at her prom, after a prank is played on her in which she is covered in pig’s blood. One of the reasons the film may have been remade may have been to introduce a new generation to the film and Stephen king’s horror. Another reason may be down to the ‘star theory’. This is where a famous prominent movie star will feature in a film, as an almost guarantee of success. Chloe Grace Moretz is one of the most in-demand and popular young
- 10. actress’s in Hollywood. She also fits the description of Carrie- young, pretty and blonde, so it made logical sense to cast her in this role. By having her in the film, many people may be further encouraged to go and see it for the sole purpose of seeing her. Moretz has been a big, prominent star since her breakout role in Kick Ass (dir. Matthew Vaughn, 2010). Another example of a remake using the star theory is The Karate Kid. The original film was released in 1984 and was directed by John G Avildsen, being produced by Columbia Pictures. With a budget of $8 million, the filmhad box-office takings of over $90 million. The remake was released in 2010 and directed by Harald Zwart. From a budget of $40 million, it made well over $359 million. Both of the films follow a similar premise, in which a newcomer to an area (California and China respectively) becomes targeted by bullies. He is saved by a martial arts expert both times, who help teach him about their style. In the end of both films, the main character defeats his rival in a match and earns the respect of them. The filmmay have been remade due to star theory. Jaden Smith is a prominent film star and had just emerged onto the Hollywood scene around the time of the film. He was popular with younger children as well, as he was a common acquaintance of Justin Bieber. By having him in the film, the producers would have expected to earn a lot of money, which they did. Jackie Chan is also a popular actor and is almost eponymous with karate and martial arts. He in a way can be classified as a star, though he is no longer as prominent as he once was.