10 Best Film Remakes Of All Time

Remakes have gotten a bad rap. When you end up seeing the third Spider-Man origin story in less than 15 years, it's easy to think Hollywood have just run out of ideas, or are just recycling old properties to try and rake in your nostalgia bucks.

But not every remake is the same soulless money-grab as 2017's The Mummy or 2001's Planet of the Apes. Some of them are as good as, or even better than, their source material, sharing some of the best stories in cinema with a whole new audience that might have never found them before.

When you're done with the list, you might have gained a whole new appreciation for these classic films that weren't even an original idea.

Asian horror is famously excellent. From The Grudge to Train to Busan, and the soul-crushingly horrifying works of Junji Ito, it’s no wonder that Hollywood loves to bring their ideas to the West. Directed by Hideo Nakata, Ringu was one of the first films to really grab Hollywood’s attention, with a premise that’s so good it’s even touted as a real curse in some small circles. You watch a creepy video, then 7 days later, you die.

Gore Verbinski, the director of Pirates of the Caribbean, was handed the adaptation - and he knocked it out of the park. Fans and critics praised the film for staying faithful to the original with its creeping sense of dread and strong visuals, and Naomi Watts’ performance was celebrated.

Both films are great, but they have two very different styles, giving viewers the freedom of choice to see whichever they wanted - and that’s the purest essence of remakes: not to outdo the original, but to broaden its modern audience while respecting what made it great.