A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

© 2013 Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment On Quora, Jason Handleman asks:  Do you look forward to cinematic reboots and remakes or do you prefer original, untested offerings? My reply: It really depends on the film and/or genre, as well as other considerations, such as  who  is making the reboot/remake, the cast, as well as the  why. For instance, I would not care for remakes of such films as  Casablanca, North by Northwest, Jaws,  the original  Star Wars  Trilogy,  Raiders of the Lost Ark,  or  Stand By Me.  Those are films that are representative of the times in which they were made, and no matter how hard one tries, they can’t be replicated and be expected to catch lightning in a bottle twice. I am open to remakes and/or reboots of comic book movies; DC and Marvel Comics reboot their established titles every so often, so if the source material can be revamped by their respective publishers, then their movie adaptations can be given the same treatment. (That being sai

If the Star Wars series was remastered with every lightsaber choreography redesigned and dialogues given more attention, would it be profitable for the company making it? What? Hell, no! First of all, what you’re suggesting is not technically a  remastering.  What you are really saying here is  Why doesn’t Lucasfilm simply remake the entire pre-2015  Star Wars  series with new choreography and improved dialogue. Why on Earth would you suggest such a thing? I mean, just because a technically adept fan made his own version of  Star Wars  Scene 38 with computer animation software to make the iconic lightsaber duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader more dynamic, and just because fans raised on video games and the faster, more intense lightsaber fights of the Prequels think it’s  amazeballs,  it does not mean that the vast majority of  Star Wars  fans   want a remake that “improves” the lightsaber duels or the dialogue of the Classic  Star Wars  Trilogy and the Prequels.

I think the main reason for so many remakes and “reboots” is simple: economics. The movie industry - or “Hollywood” - is not an altruistic community of artists who seek to entertain and/or enlighten us  just for the sake of it.  It’s a business, and its primary goal is to make a profit by producing a product that is intended to entertain or enlighten us, the consumers. The artists themselves may have some artistic impulse to create, of course, but “Hollywood” really means  the studios,  which are run by business people. Superman: The Movie  is a classic….did it need a reboot? Now, studio executives are extremely risk-adverse when it comes to making movies. Financing a film project is almost like gambling; the suits at 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Universal, and Sony don’t have a money-printing machine in their basements, so they prefer to play it safe and go with tried-and-true concepts instead of taking a leap of faith and financing an original script based on an ori