With every new reboot that is announced, I die a little inside.
Why I, as a woman, hate the idea of a female-centric Ghostbusters
There’s only one thing worse than a bad sequel and that’s a reboot. Up until recent history, remakes of movies were fairly uncommon and, when they did happen, there was usually a fair amount of time in between the release dates of the films. For example, Angels in the Outfield was originally released in 1951 and was remade as a perfectly entertaining family movie in 1994.
But now, it’s like Hollywood is hell-bent on gathering all of my cherished childhood dreams and memories, gathering them in the palm of its hand and then crumbling them into a pile of dust, blowing it into my eyes and leaving nothing but tears to run down my cheeks.
Flight of the Navigator. Gremlins. The Crow. Point Break. Dirty Dancing. Short Circuit. Footloose. TeenageMutant Ninja Turtles. Beloved sitcom Full House.Annie. God, the announcement of the Annie reboot really hurt. I didn’t sleep for a week after watching the trailer. These are all movies that I loved to watch on repeat as a small child and adolescent. This is just a sampling of reboots that have either already been remade or have been given the go-ahead from studios. According IMDb, there are up to 100 remakes currently in development.
The recent announcement that Say Anything will be rebooted as a new TV series comes as the latest sting and it seems that those involved with the original classic are just as disgruntled as I am. Cameron Crowe, who wrote and directed the 1989 version, and John Cusack, who starred in the film and has previously gone so far as to compare Hollywood to a whorehouse, both took to Twitter earlier this week to express their dismay.
Regarding the announcement of a "Say Anything" tv show… @JohnCusack, @IoneSkye1 and I have no involvement… except in trying to stop it.
— Cameron Crowe (@CameronCrowe) October 7, 2014
Hell no !! “@readdreamwrite: .@johncusack Are you or @CameronCrowe involved with this series?http://t.co/CAIfVIR9L3”
— John Cusack (@johncusack) October 7, 2014
No end to the exploitation of other people's sincere efforts in shameless slime “@auntyK007: @CameronCrowe No imagination for new ideas”
— John Cusack (@johncusack) October 7, 2014
Cusack and Crowe pretty much hit the nail on the head. The influx of reboots is insulting to both the cast and crew who originated the movies and also to the audience. Does Hollywood think that we, as viewers, are stupid enough to not realize they are regurgitating previously successful material so that they can make a quick buck?
It’s not that there is any shortage of talent left in Tinseltown. I live in Los Angeles; there are still tons of brilliant actors, writers and filmmakers. It just seems like studios are playing off the sentimentality of the audience to pump out some rip-off moneymakers.
Let’s be honest: Everyone feels a bit nostalgic when they hear that a movie they loved as a kid is going to be redone. But with every movie reboot that comes out, it’s reinforced that the new version is a complete desecration of the first.
And will the next generation of movie-goers even feel the need to watch the awesome original movies if they can see their favorite actors in the new ones? How will we gain a new generation of cinephiles if every film post-1985 has already been remade at least once.
21 Jump Street, the 1987 undercover cop TV show starring Johnny Depp, was remade into a movie starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum in 2012. As far as reboots go, it was actually pretty good and there may be one large reason why: They recognized the fact that they were ripping off the original and were up front about it. “We’re reviving an undercover police program from the ’80s and revamping it for modern times,” the police chief says to Hill and Tatum’s characters in the movie. “You see, the guys in charge of this stuff lack creativity and are completely out of ideas. So all they do now is recycle s*** from the past and expect us all not to notice.”
Hey, Hollywood, we’re on to you. Knock it off with the reboots already, before you completely alienate your audience. And if anyone tries to remake The Sandlot, heads are gonna roll.
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