10 Films That Would Make Great TV Shows
Because straight-up film remakes just aren't cutting anymore.
With the recent television successes of the fascinating Westworld and the fantastic Fargo, producers are beginning to sense that simply remaking an older film into a new film may not always be the best way to get the most out of the original property's wider potential.
We're undoubtedly in the golden age of television, with larger budgets, more stars, and better directors and writers than ever before, so it's fair to say that we can expect more television series in the future based on classic films.
In fact, there are already even more films currently in the process of being given the television treatment, such as science-fiction romance masterpiece Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, cult classic The Warriors (which is definitely worth keeping an eye on as it is being developed by the Russo brothers), and a spin-off of the recent, brilliant New Zealand vampire comedy, What We Do in the Shadows.
Let's just hope the following don't turn out like the Limitless or Minority Report...
10. Total Recall
Sure, Paul Verhoeven and Arnold Schwarzenegger's barmy, three-breasted, science-fiction classic, Total Recall, may have only just been given an underwhelming remake in 2012, but we've had three different Spider-Men in fifteen years so it practically happened decades ago in the world of showbiz.
If you haven't seen the 1990 original yet, then do so soon. In the year 2084 Douglas Quaid is bored of life so he gets memory implants to trick him into believing he was a secret agent, and then things get weird - crazy action on Mars, mutants and aliens, and Arnie pulling that face in the picture above.
Loosely based on Phillip K. Dick's We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, Total Recall's incredibly original and psychedelic trip of a story has the legs that could provide an unlimited number of narrative directions. It wouldn't even have to involve Quaid, leading to more inadequate recasting, as it could follow a new character visiting the Rekall company.
Anyone thinking there isn't anything more to explore in this story should be dragged to the nearest television in order to binge-watch HBO's Westworld to show you how a science-fiction story that can be told in two hours can also be told in ten, and with excellent results.