First thing’s first, remakes are evil. They’re one of the very worst things in modern cinema, but there is a weird situation in which remakes are actually okay. What happens when a movie or even an adaptation of a book is put in the wrong hands? A great story that deserves the big-screen treatment gets shredded and mocked. Here’s a list of 5 movies that deserve to be remade.
5 Movies That Deserve to Be Remade
The Hobbit
The Hobbit movies were garbage. They were just terrible. I’m sure someone, somewhere really enjoyed this trilogy, but as someone who read the book as a kid, I did not. The Hobbit is an iconic work of fiction, and it isn’t Peter Jackson’s place or anyone but J.R.R. Tolkien’s to change the source material. Adding unnecessary conflict and romance to a book that has sold over 100,000 copies? Shame. Shame on you, New Line Cinemas.
This book deserves one remake down the line, hopefully with actors like Viggo Mortensen that respected the source material. It’ll make big box office bucks, and hopefully it’ll help redeem the legacy of an iconic book.
Eragon
Do you remember Eragon? Probably not. Based on a book series by Christopher Paolini, Eragon was basically medieval Star Wars… with dragons. Sounds awesome, right? Well, that’s not what audiences saw when they bought tickets to the movie in 2006. It was corny, badly acted, and unfaithful to the source material. What could, and should, have been a blockbuster series was abandoned after one hideously mediocre movie.
This book series deserves another shot in Hollywood, maybe by someone who actually read the books this time.
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender series was phenomenal. It was a children’s cartoon, but it hardly felt like it. A mix of Kung Fu, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter, it was well written, viscerally appealing, and stylistically brilliant. Fans were ecstatic when they heard the series was being given a live-action movie.
The movie? Earned a 6% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and was named the worst movie of 2011. It was an absolute disaster, and M. Night Shyamalan didn’t find himself in good light again until Split came out last year.
This. Show. Was. Awesome. It doesn’t deserve to be associated with such a dumpster fire. This many years after the failed movie and the end of the original television show, it’s unlikely that it’ll get another big screen adaptation, but it really should.
Water for Elephants
Another book, another terrible movie adaptation. Here’s a fun game. Take a great book about romance, and find a good movie. The Notebook is almost the beginning and the end of the conversation. This spot could’ve easily gone to the Great Gatsby, that relied heavily on stylism and Beyonce covers. Style over substance is fine, but not when the there’s so much more to the substance than makes the final cut.
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Slight disclaimer, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is my favorite book of all time. I have a soft and hard cover, a digital copy, and the audiobook. No matter where I am, I am less than 100 yards away from a copy of this book in one capacity or another. However, that doesn’t change the fact that the 2005 version of this movie was absolute garbage. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, like all of Douglas Adams’ work needs to be handled with gloves and goggles.
The book is silly, and the dialogue is downright goofy, but if you treat it like a Tim Burton movie, you completely neuter it. It’s silly, but it’s also very smart. You can’t let the camp overshadow the creativity. This movie doomed itself the minute it cast Zooey Deschanel. They might as well have just cast Joseph Gordon-Levitt and call it a day.
This movie deserves a remake with someone who takes the source material seriously. These characters are almost too colorful and wacky to be brought to life, but you can’t make them cartoons. This movie deserves a big-studio budget with a director that understands the source material.