News broke earlier last week that 50 years after its original cinematic release, director Walter Hill is set to embark upon a remake of the classic Grand Guignal horror-fest What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Remakes are always a risky business – but one that Hollywood seems ever more hell bent on taking as the years go by – and a film with such a cult following is surely bound to be a box office blunder.

Read on for 5 reasons why a What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? remake will undoubtedly be a flop…

5. The Story

Director Robert Aldrich’s Baby Jane is set amongst the decaying façade of Hollywood’s golden era. Jane is a former vaudeville child star who failed to make it in movies after her sister Blanche becomes big box office property in the 1930s.

Set in the 1960s, both sisters are relics from an age of former glory and the passing of fame and fortune has lead them to live lives that are crumbling as much as their once beautiful mansion now does. The very heart of the narrative is reliant upon this setting and the success of the original film lies partly in the fact that its two leading ladies had found themselves in very similar situations in reality. The possibilities of updating this story and transcending it into the present day are extremely limited without completely destroying the very soul of the story.

Hill will certainly have to tread carefully if he is going to successfully helm a credible remake set in the 21st Century. If he decides to considerably reduce the age of the principle characters (in an attempt to attract younger audiences) the film will lack all conviction, but if he decides to set the film back in the 1960s (to retain the tone of the source material) it will undoubtedly beg the question of “why bother at all?”

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