10 Recent Movie Remakes That You Already Forgot Existed
6. Red Dawn (2012)
The Original: Red Dawn is such a product of its era that it cannot be taken seriously in 2016. It's about a bunch of American teens fighting Communist forces in small-town America, and so is essentially a fantasy - one that went down well with young audiences living in genuine fear of Russia and its nuclear capabilities back in 1984. It's tacky, stupid and overblown, but it offers a certain cathartic pleasure.
The Forgotten Remake: "Let's try and tap into two emerging markets," said the studio head who finally unveiled this thing three years after it was shot and shelved. "The world's current obsession with and fear of North Korea, and Chris Hemsworth." But people don't want Chris Hemsworth - not really. They're just being tricked into thinking they do, like they once were with Sam Worthington. Anyway, this remake: bad. It should've gone full-on camp, but instead it tried to sell us its inherently dumb premise as if it were "topical." Oh, and everyone in it is immensely unlikeable.
Given that nobody wanted to watch it, Red Dawn came and went like Sam Worthington's career; the marketing was terrible and it flopped. A man off the street would not know that they remade Red Dawn back in 2012, I can promise you that.