Movie remakes surge in popularity

Pet Sematary was originally made in 1989 and was remade in 2019. Graphic by Darian William.

“Pet Sematary” was originally made in 1989 and was remade in 2019. Graphic by Darian William.

Mackenzie Quinn, Editor-in-Chief

Remakes are a huge part of the film industry. With technology advancing, like CGI, movies can be made better. This new form of movie-making has become a plague that is taking over all genres of the film industry.

In the last decade, Disney has made ten remakes for their animated movies. Some of them are logical, such as the princess movies because the cartoons can be played by real people. However, movies like “The Lion King” and “Lady and the Tramp,” focus on animals, so the films are completely CGI.

On the completely opposite side of the spectrum are Stephen King movies, like “IT” and “Pet Sematary.” The old movies are rarely seen as scary by a majority of horror fans due to the dated technology ruining the scare factor, so the new technology is an advantage for the horror genre.

Some movies have just been done too many times. “Pride and Prejudice” has been remade a total of 17 times. Same goes for the “Cinderella” with 22 movies and “Snow White” has 28 movies.

There are many movies people think are the original, but they are just another addition to the adaptation-remake pile. Popular movies from the 90s and present are not the first one; “Freaky Friday” was made in 1977, “The Parent Trap” was made in 1961 and “A Star is Born” came out in 1937.

Movies are not the only victims. Television shows have also been greatly affected by this improvement in the film industry. Shows like “One Day At A Time,” “The Office,” “Shameless” and “The Twilight Zone” are all remakes. In some cases, they were adapted for American television and others just because they were outdated. There were also movies changed into shows, such as  “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” which was a Netflix Original show.

With the new technology and the current times, these remakes allow for better quality movies with more diversity. However, there are several die-hard fans who hate how the originals are being messed with. Many Disney fans are not looking forward to the changes being made to the future film “Mulan,” like changing characters and not being a musical.

After many years of this repetitive film watching some movies become dry and predictable. It is an endless cycle that probably will not end anytime soon because the world is always advancing.