It only took 22 years

Loud Orange Cat

Loud Orange Cat

Pro Member
indiePRO
Back in 1985, I remember getting off the school bus and running home as fast as my legs would move just to sit my butt down in front of the TV at home to watch my favorite TV show... that's NOW being made into a feature film by Hollywood! I just hope they DON'T screw it up.

Thundercats: The Movie

I'm so psyched, I can't see straight. :D
 
They'll probably screw it up. It's clear Hollywood has run out of ideas because the remakes and ripoffs just keep coming.

"There's no need to fear; Underdog is here!"
 
I'm holding out for Super Chicken. :D

Yes, I really liked Thundercats, but I'm not getting my hopes up like I did for Transformers only to be sorely disappointed again.

Now a live action Robotech would be cool. I had a die-cast Valkyrie that transformed.
 
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VPTurner said:
They'll probably screw it up. It's clear Hollywood has run out of ideas because the remakes and ripoffs just keep coming.
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"Hollywood" hasn't run out of ideas. Writers, directors and producers are continuously coming up with new, interesting ideas. The audience continues to pay a lot of money to see remakes and sequels. When more people will pay to see a movie based on a TV show in one weekend than they will pay to see an original story in it's entire run....
 
directorik said:
"Hollywood" hasn't run out of ideas. Writers, directors and producers are continuously coming up with new, interesting ideas. The audience continues to pay a lot of money to see remakes and sequels. When more people will pay to see a movie based on a TV show in one weekend than they will pay to see an original story in it's entire run....
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Well, true. The Simsons box office receipts even caught the producers by surprise. Maybe I should've said it "seems" as though they're running out of original ideas. I wasn't referring to commercial success, just something we (audiences) haven't seen before, and the older I get the more I've already seen. But that adds a whole new dynamic to the discussion because most of these films aren't even targetted towards my age group. Some examples of movies (or TV series adaptations) that were remade that destroyed the artistic integrity of the originals, IMO:

Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
The Honeymooners
Night of the Living Dead
Dawn of the Dead
Anything "colorized" (Thanks, Uncle Ted - yes, we're blood related, but several times removed ;))

Commercial successes that really needed some story help:

Independence Day
Armageddon
The Fifth Element (cult status more than anything, but I can watch it over and over, so something's working)
Star Wars prequels (more successful in merchandizing probably)
Transformers
Fantastic 4 (Was it a commercial success? Must have been to the production company because they made a sequel.)

And, last, an example of a TV Series/comic that made a successful and enjoyable transition to the big screen, IMO:

Spiderman

I like to watch and to write high-budget science fiction, but I have spent years trying to find something that hasn't been done before. It's not easy. On that note, I can empathize with the Hollywood execs. Maybe I should just go with the flow and churn out the same old stuff repackaged with different characters and settings, get commercially successful, and then focus on originality when I can have enough cash to quit my day job and do it full time, huh? :)

And how much of the contribution to originality is "Hollywood" versus Indie filmmakers?
 
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VPTurner said:
I'm holding out for Super Chicken. :D
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When you find yourself in danger,

When you're threatened by a stranger,

When it looks like you will take a lickin',

(cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck)

There is someone waiting,

Who will hurry up and rescue you,

just Call for Super Chicken!

...google is a dangerous thing!:D


....now, seriously....

I would guess that the reason that the remakes keep coming is that the demographic that is going to see them, never saw the original. All I had to do was hear who was in "Starsky & Hutch" to know that it wasn't going to be what I remembered. At the time, Starsky & Hutch was cutting edge drama. All of a sudden its a comedy? :huh: Call me a purist, but I didn't go see it....

And movies aren't the only culprits...
"I Love Lucy" (Lucy & Ethel) was revamped and called "Laverne & Shirley", which was revamped and called "Perfect Strangers". You can see the storylines lifted from what came before. And as much as I loved "Alias" when it was on, I saw storylines lifted from "La Femme Nikita" as well...

-- spinner :cool:
 
VPTurner said:
They'll probably screw it up. It's clear Hollywood has run out of ideas because the remakes and ripoffs just keep coming.
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I disagree, this isn't a new phenomenon...even roman and greek literature borrowed from older stories...Shakespeare retold his stories from the greeks and romans...and kurosawa stole his from Shakespeare (throne of blood=macbeth, ran=king lear)...pixar from kurosawa (bug's life = seven samurai)...this goes on forever.

http://imdb.com/find?s=all&q=zenda
http://imdb.com/find?s=tt&q=robin+hood
 
knightly said:
I disagree, this isn't a new phenomenon...even roman and greek literature borrowed from older stories...Shakespeare retold his stories from the greeks and romans...and kurosawa stole his from Shakespeare (throne of blood=macbeth, ran=king lear)...pixar from kurosawa (bug's life = seven samurai)...this goes on forever.

http://imdb.com/find?s=all&q=zenda
http://imdb.com/find?s=tt&q=robin+hood
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"Borrowing" and "remaking" are very different things. I'm not talking about "boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl-back" type rehashes of the same basic plot line or theme, or basing stories strongly on "myth", i.e. proven story structures that have a profound resonance even though the audience doesn't immediately understand why. I'm talking about taking something that has already been done, repackaging it with a different cast or a different look and slapping it back on the screen. To me it's, "let's not take the time to create something new and different; let's just dig up someone else's idea and throw it against the wall to see if it sticks, and if it does we can make sequel after sequel..." Plus, not many TV series translate well to the big screen and vice versa. Starsky & Hutch and The Dukes of Hazzard are good examples (to me, at least).

Did we digress from the original topic? Sorry. :)
 
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I saw "The Hidden Fortress" in High School a few years before "Star Wars" came out. I spent the summer of 1977 trying to convince people that "Star Wars" was practically a re-make. Of course then a few years later I discovered the Campbell book and suddenly knew better.

VPTurner said:
Well, true. The Simsons box office receipts even caught the producers by surprise. Maybe I should've said it "seems" as though they're running out of original ideas. I wasn't referring to commercial success, just something we (audiences) haven't seen before, and the older I get the more I've already seen.
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I wasn't referring to commercial success either. But "Hollywood" is first a business. If people won't pay to see something original, we (the audience) will get less and less originality. Don't forget, what we see in the theaters is but a tiny tip of the iceberg that is the movie business. "Hollywood" hasn't run out of ideas - writers haven't run out of ideas - it's the general audience that isn't interested in original ideas.

But many original ideas are still being written and many original films are still being made - even by "Hollywood". Sometimes you have to look a little deeper. Find the films that only get a limited release or even a DTV release.
 
So when are they doing he-man...oh wait, they did that...how about that one with the broken moon and the puffy horse "Ariel, Ookla...RIDE!"
 
knightly said:
So when are they doing he-man...oh wait, they did that...how about that one with the broken moon and the puffy horse "Ariel, Ookla...RIDE!"
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...I don't know about He-Man, but I do know that there is a Speed Racer film coming up....

-- spinner :cool:
 
directorik said:
I wasn't referring to commercial success either. But "Hollywood" is first a business. If people won't pay to see something original, we (the audience) will get less and less originality. Don't forget, what we see in the theaters is but a tiny tip of the iceberg that is the movie business. "Hollywood" hasn't run out of ideas - writers haven't run out of ideas - it's the general audience that isn't interested in original ideas.

But many original ideas are still being written and many original films are still being made - even by "Hollywood". Sometimes you have to look a little deeper. Find the films that only get a limited release or even a DTV release.
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...I guess I can agree with that. I suppose if someone actually wants to see Ben Stiller and Luke...(I forget.) in a movie, I guess who am I to say they can't. It doesn't mean that some chances shouldn't be taken at least sometimes...

At the same time I also would suppose that as filmmakers we need to tell good stories and produce them well. But if breaking a new unusual film was easy there would be no need for an independent films market, right? If all you needed was a great idea, it would seem to me that there would at least appear to be more variety in subject matter, in racially diverse characters, etc. Maybe the general public, or at least the age 14 to 35 demographic, does go to see those films, but at the same time, there isn't much else to choose from. Where I live, Pan's Labrynth was only in theaters for a weekend anywhere....

As for original ideas, well I did just see Shattered Glass about Stephen Glass, the reporter from the New Republic who got fired for fabricating 27 of his 41 articles and passing them off as fact. One of the best films I've seen in a while and no explosions!:lol: But I did have to find it, if you don't have the independent film channels on cable, you will probably be stuck with Starsky & Hutch remake type films.....

I think Shattered Glass came through Lions Gate....

-- spinner :cool:
 
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I'm just glad there's no big-budgeted live action Smurf movie. The conversations could be R-rated but no one would ever know...

"Dude, how'd your date go with Smurfette last night?"
"I smurfed her."
"Get the smurf out!"
 
Loud Orange Cat said:
I'm just glad there's no big-budgeted live action Smurf movie. The conversations could be R-rated but no one would ever know...

"Dude, how'd your date go with Smurfette last night?"
"I smurfed her."
"Get the smurf out!"
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Smurfs! :lol:

Nothing good could come from that!

-- spinner :cool:
 
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