12 Movie Remakes That Completely Screwed Up Iconic Scenes

Misunderstanding what made the originals so great.

Planet of the apes lincoln
20th Century Fox

Creating an iconic movie scene is no easy feat: no matter how much planning and blood, sweat and tears your pour into a movie, there's just no guarantee it's going to catch on with audiences. On the other hand, sometimes luck seems to play a big part: a last-minute change or ad-lib can come out of nowhere and charm audiences, just as it did with Indiana Jones' famous gun vs. sword fight in Raiders of the Lost Ark, which was cut down to a single gunshot because of Harrison Ford's illness on the day of shooting.

Remakes of classic movies are a whole other bag altogether. The delicacy often rests between making a movie that will appeal to a whole new generation, and one that will upset the die-hard fans of the original as little as possible.

However, most of the time these remakes can't resist trying their own take on a supremely iconic scene, and usually the results are pretty disastrous. After all, why would audiences want to see a (usually inferior) replication of something they've already spent years, even decades enjoying, when many of the best remakes simply go their own way and try to spin a similar riff on the same idea?

These 12 remakes, whether good or bad, got one classic scene fundamentally wrong. Some, naturally, are going to be up for debate, so feel free to contribute to the argument in the comments, and include any similar scenes we didn't!

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.