10 Movie Remakes Nobody Expected Or Wanted
Remakes that pretty much nobody was looking for, but were made anyway
There's nothing inherently wrong with remaking a film. In fact, some of the greatest films of all time are remakes. Movies like Scarface, The Departed, and The Magnificent Seven all found huge critical and commercial success by taking an old idea, looking at it from a different perspective, and turning it into something new.
Even when remakes aren't particularly good, there's usually some sort of logic as to why they got made (even if it is a cynical, financially motivated sort of logic). The 2000s trend of horror remakes wasn't generally well-received, but there's no denying it made studios money, and as frustrating as certain film lovers may find the endless reboots of Batman and Spider-Man, they're always going to be safe bets to entice people into cinemas.
But sometimes there are remakes that don't make much sense to anyone - films that make everybody ask, "what was the point?"
From missing the soul of what made the originals good, to misguided attempts to jumpstart franchises, to being so close to the original it defeats the entire point of a remake, here are 10 such remakes that nobody was expecting or hoping for, but were made anyway.
10. The Italian Job (2003)
The Italian Job is one of the great British films of the 1960s. A bunch of “cheeky chappy” Cockney stereotypes - led by Michael Caine - in decked-out Minis execute an audacious heist in Milan, all while trying to outwit the fearsome Italian Mafia. During production, Fiat offered to pay for all cars used and abused if the iconic trio of Mini Coopers were swapped for Fiat 500s. The filmmakers said no.
And then there’s the 2003 remake… starring Americans… set mostly in America… with a revenge plot involving robbing an American.
It isn't necessarily bad, it’s an enjoyable enough 2000s action film with some good set-pieces, but it's hard not to feel like the Minis could have been swapped out for any other brand of car and the film released under a totally different name without anybody noticing. And unlike most questionable remakes there isn't the argument that it's trying to bank on name recognition, since the original wasn't particularly successful in the United States.
It doesn’t even bother to remake cinema’s most impressive (and most literal) cliffhanger! What’s even the point?