It seems these days, movie studios are less willing to take risks on original creative ideas. Instead, they would rather use the same stories, the same characters, and the same properties that we have seen dozens of times. Gone are the days of creative storytelling. Now, if an idea cannot be made into a seven part franchise, it is not worth the studios time. There are times when sequels, reboots, and remakes work well and are received well. But these are not those times, and today we look at lesser films with 25 Reboots, Remakes, and Sequels That Never Should’ve Been Touched. But things quickly took a turn for the worse when the director of the original Ghostbusters, Ivan Reitman, stepped down after the death of Harold Ramis. Things were then made even worse when the movie studio announced that the story of the original films would be ignored, causing a mass backlash from fans of the original. Upon release, Ghostbusters (2016) was criticized for poor writing, poor direction, and poor acting. The jokes fell flat, the story failed to make sense, and the performances from the entire cast made this movie feel more like a two hour Saturday Night Live sketch. The Mummy (2017) tried so hard to start a shared universe, that it lacked the proper storytelling to even warrant a sequel. Universal was too concerned with future movies they would make, that they forgot to make The Mummy (2017) decent. In a time when sequels were not nearly as common as they are today, it was risky to try to cash in on a popular film’s success. But that didn’t stop them from making Jaws 2. Over the years, Jaws 2 has received mixed reviews, but when it first opened at the box office critics gave it overwhelmingly negative feedback. It is largely accepted nowadays as a decent sequel, but that ultimately still had no chance of living up to the classic. Its visual effects still hold up today, and its masterful use of suspense make it an instant classic. The sequels and subsequent reboot to the Jurassic Park franchise just don’t do justice to that first journey on Isla Nublar. They lack the suspense and scientific approach to writing that made Jurassic Park so good to begin with. While the sequels are still fun to watch, we feel they diminish the overall quality of that first movie. If a remake is being made, it should be so that you can bring new ideas and themes to the project, so it confused many people when Gus Van Sant’s version was a literal remake. Van Sant filmed a shot for shot remake of the original Psycho. The point was missed of remaking a movie to make the exact same one as before. The remake did poorly and Van Sant received heavy criticism for it. The film often felt slow and the complicated story made it difficult for audiences to follow the plot. While an update to the style and overall look of the Tron world was welcome and made for impressive visuals and fun action scenes, it was not enough to curb the disappointment of fans of the first film. Ultimately, Tron Legacy just could not live up to the legacy that Tron would leave behind. Fans of the original film were attracted to its violent fast-paced action, satirical take on media, and an interesting take on mortality. Robocop (2014) does not achieve the same feats. It removes the heart of the original movie to make more room for action. The largest factor to Robocop’s failure was that audiences did not ask for Robocop to be remade and did not want it to be. Needless to say, it’s gotten a mixed reception, and Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 certainly didn’t help its reputation. Book of Shadows is painful to watch if you’re a fan of the first and unbearable if you’re not. It’s inconsistencies constantly confuses the audience, the plot and writing is laughably bad, and the acting makes the cast of the first film look like Oscar performances. What’s Book of Shadows’ biggest sin? Never, not once, do they explain what the Book of Shadows is. Reeve’s performance was the perfect portrayal of Superman and Clark Kent, which gave new star Brandon Routh big shoes to fill. While Routh’s performance was an admirable one it didn’t hold a candle to Christopher Reeve’s Superman. Unfortunately, Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Willy Wonka lacks the subtlety of the role that Gene Wilder brought years before. But Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was and still is a classic. Its imaginative design, memorable songs, and whimsical writing captured the hearts of children and adults alike. Remaking it did little to improve upon a movie that was already beloved by millions. It relied on character, suspense, and a small but engaging amount of action. With a bigger budget, Chronicles of Riddick aimed to be a fully fledged action movie. As an action movie, it performs well enough with some fun action, but as a sequel to Pitch Black, Chronicles of Riddick ends up being a disappointment. Rob Zombie’s 2007 remake of Halloween took a deeper look at the character and expanded on Michael’s backstory. The first forty minutes of the movie was dedicated to a case study on Michael Myers, we see what his home life was like as a child and we see him being put in a mental institution after he brutally murders his family. The case study may be an interesting take on the character, but it’s largely unwarranted. We don’t need nor do we want to know why Myers does the things that he does, all we need to know is that he kills. What people don’t talk about is A Goofy Movie’s sequel, An Extremely Goofy Movie. It features Max leaving college with his friends, but then Goofy gets fired from the job he has to go to the same school as Max to get a degree. As far as sequels go, it does its job admirably, but it doesn’t have the same heart and charm that the first movie has. It’s still enjoyable, but it’s just not as good. Quaid selects a trip to Mars as a secret agent but as he sits in the chair getting prepared for the procedure, it is revealed that he actually is a secret agent. Throughout the film, he goes to mars and saves the planet. It constantly has you wondering if the whole movie is actually the virtual vacation being played out, but it never gives a definitive answer to the audience. The remake starring Colin Farrell removes significant plot points which results in a lacking story and the characters feeling less realistic. The updated style and visual effects are an improvement on its1990 original, but that is where the improvements end. Total Recall (2012) does a poor job trying to improve and update an excellent original. We’ll take any chance to dive back into the Wizarding World to feel even a little bit of the same magic. Unfortunately, the Fantastic Beasts franchise has failed to so as of yet. It feels like a shallow attempt to make money off the success of Harry Potter. The main character Newt feels overshadowed by an overarching plot that has little to do with him, and the supporting cast doesn’t hold a candle to the likes of the original franchise. Sorry, Newt. Maybe those concerns were justified. In the end, Ghostbusters 2 was only mediocre at best. It was fun to see the Ghostbusters again, but it was easy to tell that lightning would not strike twice. Ghostbusters 2 failed to match the same clever writing and witty humor the first movie achieved. Ultimately, it would do so-so at the box office and disappoint fans of the first film. Fans seemed to agree at first as The Hobbit was a fun, lighthearted book that would be enjoyable to see on the big screen. However, fans soured on the idea after it was announced that that the book would be stretched to make three movies. The production of the films was rushed and it showed in the final product. While they can be fun for fantasy fans to watch, The Hobbit trilogy tarnishes what was otherwise a perfect trilogy in The Lord of the Rings. The adaptation of the original comic was perfect and no one needed or wanted another movie, but they made one anyway. While it could have been decent, the company behind the film, Miramax, wanted it to be as close to the original film as possible. It had large portions of the movie cut to feel even more like the first Crow movie. City of Angels came off far too much like a poor remake than an interesting sequel. The reception of the film was almost universally negative, with most critics claiming that Son Of The Mask was “painfully unfunny” and “ sorely missing the presence of Jim Carrey”. That is not to say Son Of The Mask did not win any awards, though. It managed to win “Worst Remake or Sequel,” “Worst Actor,” and “Worst Couple.” It…could have been worse? Where Escape From L.A. fails is its preposterous scenarios such as surfing on lava and a basketball competition to the death. It is moments like these that make Escape from L.A. feel like a joke. It ends up feeling too much like a spoof of the original, but too serious to be treated as a such. The movie stars Mark Wahlberg who plays an astronaut who ends up being sucked through a wormhole and lands on a planet ruled by apes. The divergence from the source material made fans of the classic upset. Wahlberg’s performance does little to help and Tim Roth’s performance as the main villain was far too over the top to be taken seriously. The poorly written story and laughably ending led Planet of the Apes (2001) to fail at the box office and disappoint moviegoers. The film told its story well over the course of three acts and had a satisfying and precise conclusion. So, fans were skeptical when the sequel Matrix Reloaded was announced. While its sequel Matrix Reloaded was an even bigger hit, becoming the largest grossing rated R movie, it was argued that the sequel did not need to be made to make The Matrix any more satisfying. By the time the third installment in the trilogy came out, the consensus was that The Matrix sequels were disappointing and unnecessary. Fantastic Four (2015) was plagued with behind the scenes issues from day one. Director Josh Trank had vastly different ideas for the movie than what Fox studios wanted, which resulted in days upon days of reshoots. Infighting between the main cast and the director did nothing to help production. Josh Trank even said on record that he was not happy with the film and that people should not go see it. Movie critics have even said that Fantastic Four (2015) should be taught in film schools as an example of how not to make a movie. We think that’s a little harsh, but not untrue. The issue here is that these movies never add enough to the original to warrant a remake. They often come off as the same movie but without that Disney creativity that made them so special, to begin with. And with the remake of Aladdin on the horizon, they do not seem to be stopping any time soon. It failed at everything it set out to do, the plot was confusing, the writing was terrible, the new characters fell flat, and the action scenes were completely ridiculous. Fans are still upset that this was the way that Indiana Jones’ story would end. There have been talks of making a fifth movie, but Crystal Skull did so badly that fans are almost scared to see what another Indiana Jones movie might be.
