Reboots And Remakes That Fail To Please.

A reboot of Ghostbusters. A remake of Total Recall. An adaptation of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Entertainment companies are creating a trend of capitalizing on old franchises that seems to be all the rage these days. Each property has an established fanbase and name recognition, so what could possibly be bad about having another go at an old movie?

The Power Of Nostalgia

They’ve done the impossible! They’ve made this show even worse! Oh-hohohoho!

The studios of the world tend to forget the old expression that time heals all wounds. In a similar vein, time has the capacity to remove a ton of the flaws from the entertainment that we all know and love. We tend to forget a little plot point that doesn’t make sense, but always remember the actors and actresses that perform on the screen. Or what about that one scene that was poorly shot because of limitations on technology at the time? It doesn’t matter in the mind of the fan.

  To be clear, that doesn’t mean that modern audiences are dumb. In fact, recent examples point to quite the opposite trend. In spite of all those tiny flaws that we forget with time, audiences are growing far more savvy about how to spend their money than ever before. You can blame the economy or general tiredness or whatever you’d like, but I can think of a number of problems that can drive away people that are desperately searching for an evening of ass-kicking entertainment.

1. Why should I see your movie if it is just going to rip off prior films that we love?

Terminator: Genisys is the most recent offender that falls under this category. While the franchise has always had a problem with the effects of time travel, we were usually able to accept it if the movie was good. Unfortunately, box office returns for the series have been declining up until the release of Salvation, which called for a new approach. Now, this would have been okay, if the trailers hadn’t ripped off scenes from the prior movies beat-for-beat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlecdMadynY

If we put aside the fact that the Genisys trailers also spoiled the John Connor reveal, why should we see this movie when we can just take the DVDs (or Blu-Rays or Digital Copies) that we already own and enjoy them? There is not enough here to justify the full price tag of going to the theaters.

2. If it is not going to even follow the brand, why even bother with it?

I like the early work of Tom Clancy. That portion of his career always had a decent mixture of technical substance and good storytelling to justify sitting through 400+ pages of material. While his later work never captured the same magic (especially past The Bear and the Dragon), he did provide two great characters in the form of Jack Ryan and John Clark.

Unfortunately, the films that were based on his work never really took off after the 1990s, which I would argue is because of a failure to adjust the source material to modern threats. However, there is a difference between not understanding the source material and chucking it out entirely. Enter Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.

Or don’t…

This story is not based on any of the novels, which is fine for a reboot. However, the film didn’t really do justice to the franchise because of one simple rule: Ryan was never the super-spy of Clancy’s work. That honor belonged to Clark. This distinction may seem trivial, but an update like this is liable to confuse the fans that might propel the word of mouth for a reborn franchise. I know I felt that way.

On top of that, a switch to Clark enables the telling of a more expansive set of stories because he is out in the field instead of sitting behind a desk, especially since it places Rainbow Six on the table. Even if you don’t want to follow the books or the games that include the famed counter-terrorist team, the framework of the story can be used to do wherever you want.

How To Do It Right.

I don’t need an invisible car to beat you.

There are really only two ways that a reboot or remake has met with success in the modern era.

1. The franchise has previously failed to please and desperately needs an update, such as with Star Trek, Batman, or James Bond.
2. It needs an update to tell a more expansive story, such as with Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Other than that, why mess with the past?