It’s Thursday, and you know what that means: Most Craved! Every week, hosts William Bibbiani (CraveOnline), Jenna Busch (Legion of Leia) and Silas Lesnick (ComingSoon) cover all the biggest entertainment news stories on the internet, and this week they’re tackling the age-old debate about remakes.
Every week, more and more remakes are announced. But with a remake of Big Trouble in Little China newly announced, starring Dwayne Johnson as cult icon Jack Burton, has Hollywood finally gone too far? Or did they already go too far with Point Break? Or is “too far” completely subjective, and dependent on just how nostalgic each individual person is for the films now sluicing back through the studio machine?
And besides, aren’t some films simply of their time? Didn’t bringing a subversively funny film like Total Recall into the grim and gritty 21st Century turn out to be a huge mistake?
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But then again, maybe a film like Big Trouble in Little China could be expanded in the modern Hollywood climate? John Carpenter’s film wasn’t a big hit in its day, receiving a massive cult following on video instead of blockbuster bucks at the box office. Could we finally have the whole expanded universe that screenwriter W.D. Richter teased with Big Trouble in Little China and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension?
What’s more, Hollywood is increasingly vague about what even constitutes a remake. A remake? A reboot? A reimagining? Are all these terms just different ways to hide the industry’s lack of creativity? What do they even mean, and should audiences even care when it all amounts to the same thing: we did the movie before, and now we’re doing it again?
And then we come to the issue of films like Tomorrowland and Jupiter Ascending bombing at the box office, telling Hollywood that audiences don’t want to see original properties. But is that really true? And what’s more, is it wise?
But finally, we have to consider that some remakes are actually great. Which ones are good, and which films might actually be fodder for an excellent new remake? And which films are completely sacrosanct, and should never be touched at all?
The answers to all these questions and more await you on this week’s Most Craved! Come back next week for a scintillating new episode, follow us on Twitter at @MostCraved. Follow your hosts at @WilliamBibbiani, @SilasLesnick and @JennaBusch, follow our guest at @EmbryEthan, and come back every single week for an all-new debate on Most Craved!
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
