How do you feel about American remakes of foreign films?

PaulGriffith said:
After Dark Knight Rises would you want to see Batman with different actors and director?
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After DKR we WILL see another Batman. The question is, do you want another actor/director carrying on Nolan's storyline and universe, or just ignoring that it ever happened?
 
Well this latest Batman series so far are two of the best movies I have ever seen. Looking forward to the third. So therefore, I since the first two have been so great, I would not like to see Batman done as a reboot, or a continuation. Warner Bros. should end it here and NOT do it again. That's what I think. However since they don't think like that, and I have to pick, I would much rather see it as a continuation. I'm pretty sure they will not be able to top Batman Begins, so why even try to remake the origin story? Might as well just make a fourth sequel with different actors, writer, and director.

They can try to beat Batman Begins, but it's so good for me, that it will be tough for them to beat. The chances of them screwing up a sequel are far less, then screwing up a remake, that has to surpass BB.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KBPru-Pu5Q

I love Fincher's work. I love that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are working on it and doing soundtracks in general.

I definately don't want to rain on this parade. I want it to succeed. It's Fincher, after all, and what looks like a ++good cast, smartly brought together.

But have you seen the original? It's very good. It already looks and feels like a Fincher film. So, though I wish them only well, I still don't feel like I'm really feeling this all that much.

Also, Godbless Trent and Atticus. But I wish they'd polish this trailer soundtrack a bit more. This, like the previously released and shorter teaser trailer, sounds a bit too much like a track tacked onto the trailer rather than a carefully applied score. Is such a thing necessary for a trailer? Well, I guess I don't know. But, yeah, I think it could use some tinkering.

Anyway, cool! I hope it's an awesome film.
 
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I was just thinking about something like that.

I think remakes can be good, but they have to be done properly. The Magnificent Seven was a great remake of the Seven Samurai, and La Femme Nikita also had a good redo. But many remakes or rehashes coming out don't seem to be that great - look at "Land of the Lost", which was a remake of a very good TV series, but didn't do that well.
 
Regarding remakes in general, I most enjoy a new director's (along with budget and cast) completely new vision on a viable premise, especially when redressed with a new genre.

I genuinely encourage remakes that have a mindful purpose other than to exclusively generate revenue from a younger generation.

Regarding the OP's specific "American remake of foreign films", so far I'm not impressed with the very few I've seen both versions.
I've seen a single version of many from one side of the ocean.
I don't care for an essential re-shot-for-shot remake with new actors and weenie little changes in lines and story.
And I don't care for "Americanization" for the express purpose of "making it approachable" for the (insufferably delicate) larger American audience.
F#ck me.
Learn to read subtitles, you lazy sh!ts.

But I am wrong.
The bean counters are right.
Exchange product for cash whenever possible, lest someone else beat you to it.


The Americanized remake of Godzilla... OMG. Just... quit. Please.
The Americanized remake of [REC] is a pointless re-shot-for-shot.
The Americanized remake of Let the Right One In is dreadful.
The Americanized remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo doesn't look much better.


Some resources:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ForeignRemake
http://www.lofficier.com/wgaarticle.htm
http://movies.bestcovery.com/best-american-remakes-foreign-films
http://www.**************/feature/Five_Failed_American_Remakes_Of_Foreign_Films/7057691
http://www.filmcritic.com/features/2010/01/ten-best-foreign-horror-remakes/
 
You're talking to a bunch of people who are into film. If you didn't tell the majority of people going to the movie that it was a remake of a foreign film, they wouldn't know. Basically it's new to them. Hopefully if they find out it's a remake they'll watch the foreign version. They're doing it with TV too. Obviously The Office, Life On Mars, Being Human and Skins. That's just the British shows I know of.

As for comic movies. I'm fine with what people call rebooting. In comics how many times have they changed a story? Or created a whole new universe just to tell a story a different way? So I like to look at comic movies as a different universe. Do they follow the story? Pretty much, but they can add their own twists to the story. Lately Marvels been doing a great job making a big screen universe. DC needs to catch up.
 
The only good reboots I've seen are the last two Batmans. Every other one has been inferior to the original film adaptations, with the acception to maybe some of the straight to video 90s Marvel films. The biggest flaw is all the latest reboots seem rushed, and don't flesh out the depth as much.
 
I couldn't care less if something is an "american" remake. What people should really care about is whether it's a good movie or not.
 
I don't know if I can find one movie so far, where America did a better job, but still a lot of remakes I haven't seen the originals of. So how no foreign countries seem to be remaking American films at all?
 
harmonica44 said:
I don't know if I can find one movie so far, where America did a better job, but still a lot of remakes I haven't seen the originals of. So how no foreign countries seem to be remaking American films at all?
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Actually, Bollywood does a decent number of Low-Budget American movie remakes.

Here's a short list.

The reasons that most American movies don't tend to get a remake in other countries are pretty simple.

  1. American movies have a tendency to be prohibitively expensive to make, especially for other countries.
  2. American distribution companies tend to be pretty comprehensive about shoving releases of a movie anywhere that it could potentialy make a profit.
  3. American companies are very (and perhaps overly) attached to their intellectual property.

The way I figure it, why inject a ton of money buying the rights to and attempting to out-perform a company that has FAR more disposable income for projects like this. It's much more affordable to just produce original scripts that cater to your market. At least, that seems to be the most logical way to view the foreign market in my opinion.
 
harmonica44 said:
I don't know if I can find one movie so far, where America did a better job, but still a lot of remakes I haven't seen the originals of. So how no foreign countries seem to be remaking American films at all?
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Watch 12, its a Russian remake of 12 Angry Men; great film
 
Sometimes the remake is technically good, but the acting just doesn't quite work. If you watch the Hitchhiker's Guide miniseries from the BBC, and then the American movie, you can see that they did a pretty good job recreating the events up to a point. But the delivery of the jokes from the actors is all . . . wrong. Just little bits and pieces of nuance here and there that make it inferior to the original.
 
Haven't seen it. I mentioned before how I thought The Departed was a better than the original for an American remake, although I did visit the original again, and now I am not so sure. Are they American remakes of foreign films, where you consider the American one to be an improvement?
 
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