'The Effects of Remakes' Article

It seems every year that a remake, a re-imagining or a re-boot hits our cinema
screens, dividing the public’s opinion. Sometimes the general reaction is positive, but
most of the time people are left asking ‘why?’

I will be looking at 3 movie remakes and discussing how well they did and why they
were made.

I will begin with ‘War of the Worlds’.

War of the Worlds started life as an 1898 novel written by H.G Wells, split into two
volumes. Taking place in England, it tells the story of unnamed character and his
brother looking for his wife after an alien invasion. The book was immensely popular,
having never gone out of publication to this date, and various adaptations were
made. A 1938 radio broadcast, narrated by Orson Welles, was very famous as it was
read as a news bulletin which fooled many listeners into thinking that it was real.
Due to the book’s and radio programme’s success; a theatrical movie was released by
Paramount Pictures in 1953, directed by Byron Haskin.

The film’s plot was slightly different from the book. Set in America, it tells the story
of a scientist who tries to find out how to defeat the aliens.

Dr. Clayton Forrester witnesses a large meteorite crashing into the town of Linda
Rosa. Before he gets the chance to examine it an alien escapes and immediately kills
3 people before knocking out the town’s power. As other meteorites crash land
around the world, the Marines step in, looking for peace with the alien soldiers. The
aliens attack, killing many so the Marines flee. Forrester and his friend Sylvia escape
in a small military plane. They hide in an abandoned farmhouse surrounded by
several unsuspecting Martians. Forrester wounds one with an axe and takes a sample
of its blood. The scientist discovers the alien’s weaknesses from the sample. The
military drop 3 atomic bombs on the Martians that prove unsuccessful. It is
estimated that the Aliens will take over Earth in just 6 days. When all hope is lost,
and people begin to accept their fate, it is revealed that the Martians have no
biological defences against the bacteria and virus’ in the Earth and suddenly die.

The film was well received with the public and critics. It was officially the most
successful Sci-Fi of the year, earning a $2 million profit in the box office. It was also
nominated for 3 Academy Awards, winning 1, picking up the Oscar for Best Special
Effects.

Stephen Spielberg, after working with Tom Cruise on the 2002 film, Minority Report,
declared that he’d love to work with him on another film. A meeting took place where
the director explained to Cruise that he had 3 possible films that he would like to
make. They both agreed on a remake of War of the Worlds, and in 2005 it was
released horizontally by Paramount and Dreamworks.

The film’s plot differs from the original, but does bear small similarities with the
book. It follows the story of Ray Ferrier, (Cruise) an estranged single father living

alone in New Jersey. His kids come to stay over for the weekend as their Mum is
visiting her parents in Boston. They witness a huge lightning storm, which turns out
to be an alien attack. The aliens operate huge machines with three long legs, known
as a Tripod, and begin to kill many people and destroy the city. Ray and his kids,
Robbie and Rachel, escape in his car. After spending the night in his ex-wife’s empty
home, they begin a journey to Boston in order to reunite his kids with their mother.
On the way, Robbie leaves his Dad and his sister to help the military in bringing
down the Tripods. A bitter man trying to avenge the death of his family at the hands
of the aliens, Harlan, takes in Ray and Rachel. Harlan is going crazy, and after a
couple of days staying there, they begin to notice this. Hiding from an alien, Ray
makes the tough choice of killing Harlan when it becomes clear his screaming and
shouting is putting all three of them at risk. Rachel, scared, runs outside but is
captured by a Tripod. Ray intentionally gets himself caught so he can get to his
daughter, but is chosen at random for harvesting. All of the other captives help him
escape, and Ray drops a grenade inside the Tripod – freeing all of the prisoners. They
finally arrive at Boston, where Robbie, his Mum and his grandparents are all alive.
Ray notices that plants are dying due to bacteria. Suddenly the Tripod’s collapse and
die as it is revealed that they have no biological defences against natural bacteria.

Although made on a huge budget, $132 million to be precise, the film was a massive
commercial success, earning over half a billion dollars at a cool $591 million. The
film was also successful with the critics too, with the most praise aimed toward the
special effects and the fresh storyline related to a film that had already been adapted
for film, TV, radio and stage. Cruise’s acting was also commended, although the
ending to the film was slightly criticised as it was seen as quite flat. That didn’t deter
the film when it came to the Academy Awards though, earning three nominations in
the Sound Mixing, Sound Editing and Visual Effects categories.

Ever since the release of the book way back in 1898, the several adaptations of the
story have all featured a political undertone. The book was inspired by the
devastation that colonial powers visited upon the colonised. The 1938 Orson Welles
radio broadcast, although faithful to the book, drew on the on-going Second World
War. The original film represents the fear of the Soviets during the Cold War while
the remake represents the fear of the terrorists who played a part in the 9/11 attacks.

The second film I will be looking at is REC.

REC is a Spanish horror movie released in 2007, featuring English subtitles for the
UK and USA audience where it gained a cult following. Directed and written by
JaumeBalagueró and Paco Plaza, it follows the story of a TV presenter who is at a fire
station filming a documentary when the fire fighters are called out to an apartment
block after a woman has locked herself into her room. While there though, they
realise that the situation is a lot worse than first anticipated.

Balagueró and Plaza had previously worked together before, directing the
documentary OT, The Movie back in 2002. Both fans of the horror genre, they

decided to create a horror movie of their own. Little did they know that their little
movie, on a slim budget, would find itself ranked alongside the true horror classics.

Going back to their documentary making days, the pair decided to have the film
played out in a handheld fashion, giving the impression that the film wasn’t a work of
fiction at all. Abandoning music and dramatic Hollywood-style stunts, the movie
achieved what it always wanted to do; sometimes shifting aside an understandable
plot for the sole purpose to terrify. And terrify it does.

Casting real life TV presenter Manuela Velasco in the lead role as a reporter made the
film even more feasible, making people believe that what they are watching is a
documentary. This was more apparent in Spain, where Velasco is a household name.

REC beginswith Velasco’s character, Angela Vidal and her cameraman attempting to
film a documentary called ‘While You Sleep’. They are working with the fire-fighters
of Barcelona, who allow Angela and her cameraman, Pablo, to accompany them on
what seems to be a routine call. An elderly woman is trapped inside her apartment,
while the other residents are gathered in the entrance hall. The woman is acting
erratically and aggressively, biting officers and throwing one of them down the stairs.
She is shot dead by the police, who then order Angela and Pablo to stop recording.
Despite the warning, they continue to do so and begin interviewing an unwell little
girl named Jennifer. Jennifer tells Angela that her dog is at the vets, and a health
inspector arrives. He reveals that a dog taken to the vets earlier in the day went crazy
and attacked the other animals. Jennifer then attacks her mother and runs away.
Keeping the mother handcuffed to the stairs, they go looking for Jennifer. More and
more people are becoming infected, making them bloodthirsty. Angela and Pablo are
left to fight them off before learning of a key located on the third floor which leads to
an exit on the ground floor. The only survivors left, they are forced further upstairs
and stumble into the former owner’s penthouse. They discover that he used to be an
agent for the Vatican – who captured an infected girl in order to create a cure.
Realising she was contagious; he locked her away and left town.

Angela and Pablo enter the attic. Something jumps up and smashes the light from
the camera. Using night vision, they blindly try to escape from the infected girl who
was abandoned by the former owner. Pablo is killed by her when he trips, leaving
Angela as the sole survivor. After finding the camera, she tries to run, but in the
darkness she falls too. Frantically searching for the camera, which is right in front of
her and still recording, the girl arrives out of nowhere – dragging the screaming
Angela into the darkness – leaving her fate unknown.

The movie was widely acclaimed by the majority of critics, the most praise attached
to the hand-held style and the originality. The movie was nominated and won many
awards in Spain as well as being described as the best ‘shaky-cam’ movie ever made.
Two sequels were released; REC 2 and REC 3: Genesis in 2009 and 2012
respectively. A fourth and final installment is due for release in late 2013.

Quarantine, the American remake released in 2008, isn’t your average remake.
Hitting the cinema screens only a year after REC did, there were many factors as to
why a movie described as a ‘carbon-copy of REC’ was created.

Created on a larger budget, as is to be expected with Hollywood remakes, Quarantine
wasn’t as well-received as the original Spanish version, earning poor-to-mixed
reviews from critics. The reason this film was made was down to the sheer success of
the original, and the slightly greedy American companies wanting to join the ride,
which explains the reason as to why Quarantine was made and released so soon after
REC. REC was still carrying a buzz around the world, so the makers of Quarantine
thought their movie would be a success because many people enjoyed the original.

Although the critical response was largely poor, the Americans were proved right as
they enjoyed a decent return at the Box Office, earning over $40 million compared to
the $12 million budget. This was largely helped by the intrigue and curiosity of
moviegoers who wanted to see the American interpretation of a modern classic. The
fact that REC was being sold on DVD at the same time that Quarantine was being
shown in the cinemas also helped too. Quarantine’s box office returns earned them a
sequel, Quarantine 2: Terminal in 2010 – where the plot was completely different to
the REC sequels.

Quarantine is an example of vertical integration. Screen Gems, a subsidiary of Sony,
bought the rights to REC from Filmax – who are an independent Spanish company.
This led to Sony profiting from the production, distribution and exhibition of
Quarantine.

Sony was able to profit further because of synergy. Synergy is probably the biggest
reason for a remake. Because Screen Gems/Sony now owned the rights to REC, they
were now able to sell products related to that film. Now having the rights to do
whatever they wanted to with 2 films that many people were interested in, they were
able to release many synergies related to both films. This saw the release of
DVD/Blu-Ray version of all REC and Quarantine films, box sets featuring the three
REC films and the two Quarantine movies, online games related to the movies,
posters, and many more. This led to Sony making a lot of money. Vertical integration
has its pro’s and con’s though; they create a lot of money and a higher demand, but
also risk the stability and existence of the independent companies.

The third and final films I will be looking at are Karate Kid and its 2010 remake.

The original Karate Kid was released in 1984 by Columbia and directed by John G.
Avildsen. The film is about how a 16 year old called Daniel is told by his mother that
they are moving from New Jersey to Los Angeles, where he is immediately bullied
and decides to ask the apartment handyman to teach him karate in order to get back
at his tormenters.

Written by Robert Mark Kamen as a underdog story, this is what attracted Avildsen
to the project as he has great success with a previous underdog film - the hugely
successful Rocky, from 1976.

Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) moves from New Jersey to L.A with his mother.
Becoming friends with popular cheerleader Ali (Elizabeth Shue) irritates her
boyfriend, Johnny – who happens to be the best student at the local karate dojo.
Mercilessly bullied by Johnny and his gang, Daniel turns to his apartment’s
maintenance man, Mr. Miyagi, a karate expert, in order to face his bullying problem
head on. Entered into a karate tournament in two months’ time, Daniel and Miyagi
begin to train. Using strange methods that don’t make sense to Daniel, such as
waxing his car, Daniel considers quitting. What he has actually been learning though
are important defensive moves. As Daniel and Mr. Miyagi’s relationship develops,
the tournament arrives. Newcomer Daniel surprises everyone by making it to the
semifinal, where he faces Bobby, Johnny’s friend and student of the brutish Sensei
John Kreese. Kreese orders Bobby to perform an illegal move, sending both himself
and Daniel out – one with disqualification and the other with injury. After receiving
an apology from Bobby and medical attention, Daniel is advised to drop out. He
refuses, feeling his bullies win this way, so makes his way out to the stage to face
Johnny in the final. Daniel is doing well, and forces blood from his opponent’s nose.
Kreese then orders his star pupil to sweep Daniel’s leg, which disgusts Johnny but he
does it anyway out of fear. Daniel won’t give up though and the fight is down to a tie
breaker. After another illegal move from Johnny, Daniel only has the strength for one
last move. He attempts the ‘crane kick’, something he has never tried before – only
watching Mr. Miyagi doing it. Daniel’s attempt lands and he wins the tournament.
Johnny hands him the trophy, gaining a new found respect for his ex-victim. The film
ends as Daniel celebrates his unbelievable win.

The film was a hit, with both critics and at the box office, earning over $90 million in
the USA alone from an $8 million budget. The praise was mainly attached to the
relationship between student and teacher, as it got more and more personal into a
father-son kind closeness. The film was nominated for many awards, picking up the
Best Family Film as well as Elizabeth Shue awarded with Best Young Supporting
Actress at the Young Artist Awards for her performance as Ali. Pat Morita also won
praise from critics for his performance as Mr. Miyagi, earning an Oscar and Golden
Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The film was so successful that it was
rewarded with 3 sequels – two of them starring Macchio and Morita whereas the 4th
film was seen as a re-boot with Morita teaching a new student played by newcomer
Hilary Swank. The first sequel was well received by critics and even grossed more at
the box office than the first film. However the 3rd and 4th parts were panned and the
series was put on hold for many years until the 2010 remake.

The remake, distributed by the same distributors of the original, Columbia, was
released in 2010. Directed by HaraldZwart and with Hollywood mega star Will Smith
and his wife, actress Jada Pinkett-Smith credited with producer roles, the movie was

produced on a much higher budget than the original - $28 million more to be
precise.

Will and Jada’s son, Jaden was announced as the main character of the film, this
time called Dre. The plot was almost identical to the original, apart from a few
differences, such as Dre being 12 years old, Dre and his mother moving from the USA
to China, the re-naming of Mr. Miyagi to Mr. Han (now played by Jackie Chan) and
the ‘wax on, wax off’ method becoming the ‘jacket on, jacket off’ technique.

Prior to its release, there was an issue regarding the name of the film. Some decided
that it should not be called The Karate Kid as karate isn’t actually featured in the
remake. Karate originates from Okinawa, but as the film is set in China, Mr. Han
teaches Dre the art of Kung-Fu. A compromise was made however, with the film
being known as The Kung Fu Dream in China, Japan and South Korea.

The remake did very well at the box office, grossing just under $360 million
worldwide. The critics praised the film too. Although pointing out that is wasn’t as
good as the original, they said that it was a satisfying 21st Century version of a classic
film, praising the performances and chemistry between young Smith and veteran
Chan. As the demographic age was lowered for the remake, the nominations and
awards came from award ceremonies like the MTV Awards and Nickelodeon Kids’
Choice Awards.

The remake was a success for many reasons. One being star theory. Will Smith and
his wife Jada as producers and their son Jaden and Jackie Chan starring was always
going to be a big draw for audiences. Synergy played a big part too. The original
movie only had a handful of associated products, such as posters and t-shirts. The
remake was made in an era where technology is rife and Twitter and Facebook play a
huge part in helping a movie to succeed which is why the remake made a lot more
money than the original. Examples of the 2010 version’s merchandise are DVD/Blu-
ray sales (which didn’t exist when the original was released), a soundtrack album
featuring many popular artists such as Justin Bieber, Akon, Lady Gaga and Flo Rida
being sold on iTunes, iPod/iPad apps and games, downloadable posters as well as
many others.

The film is an example of horizontal integration. The 1984 version was distributed by
Columbia Pictures, which was purchased by Sony for $3.4 billion back in 1989.
Because Columbia was now a subsidiary of Sony, any money made by Columbia
became Sony’s. Sony was able to release the DVD/Blu-Ray versions on the 1984 film,
something they couldn’t have done back then. Because of the new ways that Sony
could endorse both films, they make more money. The popularity, either from the
original to the remake based on star theory, helped with the advertising of the
remake thus, again, attracting the money.

'The Effects of Remakes' Article

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