11 Flat Out Lies We Were Told Just To Sell A Movie (And We Stupidly Believed)
3. "We're Going Back To The Source" - Mark Waters On Freaky Friday
Remakes are a pretty taboo phrase when it comes to audiences. Producers still love them though because it's a proven concept that needs only to be updated slightly. So as cinemagoers become increasingly wise to the laziness of the process a new tact has been taken.
The whole notion of a reimagining was born from this, putting the focus of the project's creative merits first, even though money was still the main objective. A remake under another name, a popular sub term used when the original was based on a novel is readaptation. All the director needs to do is say they're going back to the source and everyone will think this is a fresh idea.
In 2003 Mark Waters attempted this, saying his Linsey Lohan/Jamie Lee Curtis body swap comedy took its inspiration from the book Freaky Friday, rather than the popular seventies film. Unfortunately, he followed this up by offering Jodie Foster, the original's teenager, the role of the adult, showing where the real interest lied.