From iconic characters such as Scarlett O’Hara to creative storytelling such as The Wizard of Oz, Hollywood has never shied away from adopting book-based stories. These classics have enthralled audiences for decades and continue to be favorites among the young and the old. From the characters’ charismatic brilliance to breathtaking cinematography and cult dialogues, Hollywood movies have always maintained a high standard that movie buffs expect every time they buy tickets to the big screen.
One trend that has been quite common of late, however, is that of producing remakes and reboots. It seems as though every other director wants to try his hand at remaking a classic, with a majority failing to have an impact on movie going audiences. There is hardly any creativity in these-run off the mill remakes, let alone a semblance of nostalgia.
From Star Wars to Karate Kid to Ghostbusters, there is a never-ending list of reboots that have failed miserably. It is apparent that most people are not interested in watching remakes and reboots that do not bring anything interesting to the table, and they often end up leaving the audiences gravely disappointed.
There is little to be achieved when it comes to making reboots, since they will rarely go down in history as cinematic brilliance, as there is simply no beating the original. Repeating the storylines can lead to redundancies and a waste of actors’ acting abilities. To top it off, many
of the reboots being made are of movies that aren’t even half a decade old! That is simply unacceptable, considering how smart audiences have become, and they are quick to boycott a movie that is not going to offer them anything different from the original one.
Box office failures have not managed to send this message to the showrunners, though – more and more still seem to be interested in picking up classics and rebooting them. Add to it the urgency filmmakers feel to revive movies that flopped in the first place. They don’t realize that there is no changing the fact that the audience will not be so eager to accept a movie that already left a sour taste in their mouth.
The bad news extends to the small screen, where few reboots have managed to keep the audiences engaged. Right from Melrose Place to Full House (Fuller House), nostalgia is being wielded to target audiences with little to no positive impact. Nobody wants to watch their favorite character being chewed up and spit out by actors who do not fit the bill. Add to it cheesy dialogue and an excessive effort to recreate the same kind of feeling as the original, and the show no longer has anything interesting to offer, leading it to go off air within a few months.
All that can be said at this point in time is, unless the director and producer come up with a winning formula to reboot a movie and its iconic characters, there is simply no point in going back to classics, especially those that have a special place in people’s hearts.
