8 films that proved that a remake can be more successful than the original

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Today, the fascination with remakes in cinema is so great that sometimes it seems as if the Dream Factory have forgotten how to invent new plots. In our country, after several extremely unsuccessful attempts, this tendency, fortunately, has outlived its usefulness, but Hollywood producers do not get tired of rearranging old ideas. Most often, an appeal to a plot familiar to the viewer is not very interesting, but there have been examples in the history of cinema when remakes turned out to be more popular than the original. It is difficult to compare the artistic value of films in such cases, so this selection includes films that received more views at the box office than the older versions, that is, were more popular with viewers.

"Sabrina" 1954 and 1995

The film about a poor girl who made her dream come true, but realized that not always children's love can bring happiness, conquered in 1954 not only America, but the whole world. The film received well-deserved Oscar and Golden Globe awards and is considered an undoubted masterpiece of world cinema. He brought in a profit of $ 2 million at the box office, and for the films of those years, this was considered a very good result.

Forty years later, the famous director Sidney Pollack, all at the same Paramount Pictures, decided to reshoot Sabrina. The action of the film was moved to a new time and, perhaps, this was the main reason for the success of the remake. The new heroine, who is now mastering the more fashionable profession of a photographer, not a cook, looks a little more confident than Sabrina performed by the incomparable Audrey Hepburn, or maybe Harrison Ford managed to win women's hearts, but the success of the new film was overwhelming. In just a couple of years after its release, more viewers watched it than the old film in all the years of distribution. However, there are ardent fans of the original film who do not even want to look at this "remake".

Sweet November 1968 and 2001

In the course of the development of the plot, this melodrama gradually turns into a poignant story about a terminally ill girl who wants to remain in the memory of people young, strong and beautiful. The play by Herman Raucher was filmed twice. The first film was not well remembered by the audience, but the second caused a lot of conflicting reviews.

Many accused Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron of inconclusiveness, and the film itself was criticized for the contrived situation. For the actress, the Golden Raspberry she received turned out to be all the more offensive because Theron refused the lead role in the Pearl Harbor film for filming in this film. However, despite the negative reviews from experts, viewers voted for the new "Sweet November" - both with attention and wallets. Still, this unusual love story turned out to be very touching, and a couple of great actors managed to reach even the hardest of hearts.

"The Smell of a Woman" 1974 and 1992

In this case, the success of the remake is so undeniable that the movie of the 70s is simply forgotten today. Giovanni Arpino's novel Dark and Honey was written in 1969 and was filmed in Italy five years later. The first film is by no means a failure. He collected several prestigious film awards, including the Oscar for the best film in a foreign language, but he did not receive wide recognition in the world.

But the Hollywood remake, filmed almost 20 years later, really broke all popularity records. The film received about ten prestigious film awards, including three Golden Globes. Al Pacino won an Oscar for Best Actor in 1993, and the image of the blind retired lieutenant colonel is considered one of the best in his acting career.

"Elusive" 2005 and "Tourist" 2010

Americans try to reshoot French films with enviable regularity. At one time from this "suffered": the comedy "Toy", in which a little-known black comedian tried to outplay Pierre Richard; “Tall blond in a black boot”, where Tom Hanks competed with the same French actor; "Dads", "Unlucky" and others. Some of these remakes received a decent number of views at the box office, but more often they were ridiculed by critics and received Golden Raspberries. However, in 2010, American filmmakers were so lucky.

Perhaps the success of the new version of the film "The Elusive" was facilitated by the fact that in this case the Americans "played in their own field" - after all, they always succeeded in detective stories and action-packed thrillers better than subtle and touching comedies. And the star couple Angelina Jolie with Johnny Depp turned out to be no worse than Sophie Marceau and Ivana Attal. In general, the success was predictable, so no one was surprised that even in the homeland of the original, in France, "Tourist" was watched by more viewers than the French film.

They also often tried to reshoot Russian films in other countries, and our viewers might not always like the results: 6 foreign remakes based on popular Soviet films