Cinema thrives on great story-telling, so it is little surprise that some stories are told over and over again on the big screen, with various actors and directors trying their hand at recreating the world's favourite tales. But cinemas nowadays seem to be overflowing with sequels, prequels, adaptations and remakes, all of which begs the question; has the re-telling of tales gone too far?
Contrary to modern belief, movie remakes are not exactly a 21st century phenomenon. In fact, The Great Train Robbery, which was directed by Edwin S. Porter in 1902, was remade just a year later by his biggest directorial rival Sigmund Lubin. Many directors over the 100-year-plus history of cinema have made classics their own, winning and losing fans in the process.
Fast forward 107 years, and during over a century of film-making there have been multiple features derived from that first pioneering movie. The world has also witnessed countless original movies that have enchanted people in every continent and captured the global imagination. Remakes and adaptations now make up a huge portion of the new film releases each year.
Amongst those back with another bang in the next couple of years are Arnold Schwarzenegger's Total Recall and Sly Stallone's Judge Dredd, along with the third interpretation of Al Pacino's Scarface. Even Robocop is getting the directorial brush cast over it once again.
Some movie fans revel in the remakes of their old favourites, while others resent them. Of course, nobody can please everybody but many critics simply see these remakes as money-spinners and an indication that Hollywood's writers are deficient in ideas.
Guy Adams of The Independent wrote: "There's an expression that perfectly describes the sort of environment in which these projects get green-lit, and it's two words long: creative vacuum. For as long as the film industry has existed, it has of course re-appropriated ideas from other mediums. Gone With the Wind was adapted from a novel, and The Sound of Music was originally a Broadway musical.
"But in the past, these movies tended to improve on their source material, and were released alongside a host of completely original titles, Nowadays, underwhelming adaptations, re-workings of old ideas and endless sequels are pretty much all we ever get to see."
But there is hope, even in Hollywood. In 2010, Christopher Nolan's Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, proved that there is still room for original scripts and new ideas when it comes to big budget blockbusters. In the animation studios of Dreamworks, too, there are new characters like Megamind coming to entertain the world. For the sake of cinema lovers everywhere, let's pray that those in charge of the purse strings in Hollywood keep putting their faith in the new and leave beloved films of the past alone.
Contrary to modern belief, movie remakes are not exactly a 21st century phenomenon. In fact, The Great Train Robbery, which was directed by Edwin S. Porter in 1902, was remade just a year later by his biggest directorial rival Sigmund Lubin. Many directors over the 100-year-plus history of cinema have made classics their own, winning and losing fans in the process.
Fast forward 107 years, and during over a century of film-making there have been multiple features derived from that first pioneering movie. The world has also witnessed countless original movies that have enchanted people in every continent and captured the global imagination. Remakes and adaptations now make up a huge portion of the new film releases each year.
Amongst those back with another bang in the next couple of years are Arnold Schwarzenegger's Total Recall and Sly Stallone's Judge Dredd, along with the third interpretation of Al Pacino's Scarface. Even Robocop is getting the directorial brush cast over it once again.
Some movie fans revel in the remakes of their old favourites, while others resent them. Of course, nobody can please everybody but many critics simply see these remakes as money-spinners and an indication that Hollywood's writers are deficient in ideas.
Guy Adams of The Independent wrote: "There's an expression that perfectly describes the sort of environment in which these projects get green-lit, and it's two words long: creative vacuum. For as long as the film industry has existed, it has of course re-appropriated ideas from other mediums. Gone With the Wind was adapted from a novel, and The Sound of Music was originally a Broadway musical.
"But in the past, these movies tended to improve on their source material, and were released alongside a host of completely original titles, Nowadays, underwhelming adaptations, re-workings of old ideas and endless sequels are pretty much all we ever get to see."
But there is hope, even in Hollywood. In 2010, Christopher Nolan's Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, proved that there is still room for original scripts and new ideas when it comes to big budget blockbusters. In the animation studios of Dreamworks, too, there are new characters like Megamind coming to entertain the world. For the sake of cinema lovers everywhere, let's pray that those in charge of the purse strings in Hollywood keep putting their faith in the new and leave beloved films of the past alone.
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