Why fight it? Reboots, remakes and sequels are an inevitable part of Hollywood today.
And bemoaning the trend will only give you agita.
So … let’s hit the Hot Tub Time Machine and come up with some ’80s films that could actually stand a reboot.
- “9 1/2 Weeks” – Sexuality in modern movies is far different than what it was two decades ago. From an anthropological angle alone I’d like to see it (with Kate Winslet).
- “Back to School” – Please not Jack Black … please not Jack Black … repeat as needed. The late Bernie Mac was once rumored to take Rodney Dangerfield’s place in a “School” reboot but it never came to be.
- “Coming to America” – The fish-out-of-water template never gets old, and all you need to do is change the Prince’s country of origin and you’ve got a hit on your hands.
- “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” – Cast Sean Penn as a teacher getting hassled by punk students and I’m there.
- “The Lost Boys” – It’s bizarre this one isn’t already in the works. You’ve got teens, hit music and vampires – the box office trifecta.
- “Tootsie” – Drag comedy needs a comeback vehicle, and what’s better than Tootsie? The film could even have plenty to say about gender steroetypes and other male/female concerns in our modern age.
- “Poltergeist” – This ’80s classic remains utterly watchable, but those special effects could use a tuneup.
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I could definitely see Hollywood doing a “Back to School” remake, and I cannot imagine it being anywhere near as good as the first one. They’d either go with George Lopez or Martin Lawrence.
Good call on “The Lost Boys.” It is a natural.
I’d like to see sequels to “A View to a Kill,” and “The Big Chill.”
The Lost Boys and Fast Times at Ridgemont High are too far steeped in the 80′s context, for me at least. I generally flee from most remakes and reboots but Back to School could use an update. Never been a huge Rodney Dangerfield fan.
Does this have to be 80′s films? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the MST3K fodder Wild Rebels had a decent premise and terrible execution, so I think it’s begging for a remake.
I actually liked the MST writers’ suggestion that all the stupid ideas in that movie were actually the writers making fun of themselves.
(re-posting my comment that I left on the WWTW post) Most of the classic 80s movies had a “lightning in a bottle” chemistry that probably couldn’t be recreated in a reboot, so I’m going to pick movies that were good but had the potential to be more:
-The Last Starfighter: I’d love to see a sequel or remake with modern special effects. With video games even more popular now than they were in the 80s, the premise would be very appealing to kids today. It’s a shame that the late Robert Preston can’t return as the fast-talking Centauri, but James Woods would do just fine.
-Red Sonja: Robert Rodriguez almost did a reboot of it a couple years ago that sounded awesome. I hope he goes forward with it one of these days, but he should dump the ditzy Rose McGowan from the lead role and replace her with Christina Hendricks from Mad Men.
-Gung Ho: A very funny Ron Howard comedy with Michael Keaton trying to keep his company from being taken over by the Japanese. Keaton could return for a reboot set in modern times, with him fighting to keep it from being outsourced to India (or maybe, fighting against a government takeover, but I doubt anyone in Hollywood would have the guts to go in that direction).
I don’t know about the LAST STARFIGHTER thing. The problem is that CGI has advanced too far, in my opinion — to the point where it all looks alike. The only real issue I have with the forthcoming TRON sequel is that it looks too much like every other computer-animation-heavy SF film already out — unlike the original, there’s nothing there that totally has me convinced that the characters are inside a computer. If we’re going to do that, there needs to be some special quality to the graphics that sets it apart from the usual CGI… maybe something involving pixels, I don’t know.
It all depends on how they do the CGI, Jake. I’ll be the first to admit that most CGI looks cartoonish (the Star Wars prequels, for example) but if it’s done right, it blends together seemlessly with reality (District 9, for example).
But God damn it, it’s not SUPPOSED to be realistic. This is TRON we’re talking about. I want it to look at least a little fake — trying to make this universe look real is missing the point. I like what I’ve seen in the trailers so far, but it’s a little too polished and not “cyberspacey” enough.
I’m all for seeing more of Christina Hendricks, Jimmy. As long as she doesn’t have to “buff up” for the role.
I think The Lost Boys remake won’t happen anytime soon because they’re still making sequels, believe it or not. Didn’t you people see that train-wreck The Two Coreys? Lost Boys 3 hits the video stores this year.
Here you go … Back to School … not a remake but kind of a remake/sequel with Robert Downey Jr. reprising his role from the original. Maybe he didn’t really graduate and went to work for Dangerfield instead and made millions. He goes back to school at his son’s college and sleeps with all the hot women professors and students. Comedy, T&A shots, and then the serious love interest.
No more drag movies. Period.
How about a Howling or Wolfen remake?
Coming to America is perfect as is…despite Arsenio Hall.
There are some great films from the 80s that would make interesting updates on the culture, but I mistrust the ability of any current studio to produce them. Coming of age films seem particularly apt: Footloose, 16 Candles (or Weird Science, or almost any John Hughes film), Breaking Away (technically, 1979, but still a good possible) or Ricky Business? Optimally, it ought be a film marginally successful at best (e.g., The Front Page into His Girl Friday) but such films tend to be forgettable, don’t they?
Fer cryin’ out loud, Eddie and the Cruisers deserved a much better sequel than it got … and Michael Pare needs the non-straight-to-DVD work, dammit.
>>Ricky Business>>
Already done, quite well I thought, too: The Girl Next Door.
P.S. Though Michael Keaton could sure use a decent vehicle for an overdue comeback, leave Night Shift the hell alone.
I was thinking about a remake of Body Heat, but it would be nearly impossible to match the hotness that was Kathleen Turner back then.
Ooooooh, that voice. They’d probably put Angelina in a remake, too.
Wonder if someone in the Big Hollywood crowd would be up for penning an anti-Birdy, which I still think’s a great movie, show a vet come home from war and actually adjusting quite normally to civilian life, as so many do.