Remake

ADAPTATIONS OF BOOKS THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN MADE INTO MOVIES DO NOT COUNT (True Grit, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Let Me In, etc.)

Re-Makes Through the Years

While they've been quite popular in recent years, the remakes have been around since the early days of film. When remaking a film, the goal is usually to improve the original (a rare feat), update the source material for a new audience, or to re-boot a failing franchise. There have been remakes released of cinematic treasures such as 1933's King Kong and its subsequent remakes in both 1976 and 2005. The 1976 remake is often disregarded by fans of the original, and was a critical failure. Peter Jackson's 2005 remake was praised by some and despised by others, as remakes tend to polarize critics.

Remakes have a bad reputation among critics and fans of cinema, due to the fact that few of them have proved themselves better than the original or necessary at all. John Carpenter's 1981 film The Thing, a remake of the 1951 film The Thing From Another World has been hailed as one of the best remakes of all time, given its special effects, performances, and the incredibly intense plot elements brought about by its ambiguous villain.

Sometimes, remakes can even win Academy Awards. Martin Scorsese's 2006 film The Departed was a remake of the 2004 Chinese film Internal Affairs. Scorsese's version deviates from the original in several ways, but the film's basic premise was left in tact. The Departed won a score of awards at the time of its release for its all-star cast and the masterful direction from Scorsese.