Remakes are made to capitalize on existing popular films with less financial risk. Companies remake films that were previously successful to guarantee popularity. This allows them to make additional money through related merchandise. One reason for remakes is to expand the target audience by translating or adapting the film into other languages or cultures. For example, the Spanish horror film [Rec] was remade as the American film [Quarantine] to reach English-speaking audiences. The timing of releases can also influence remakes - the producers of [Quarantine] rushed to release around the same time as the original [Rec] to catch existing fans. Vertical integration, where larger production companies acquire rights to smaller films, also facilitates remaking films on a

1. Remakesare basicallyamethodof makinga successful,moneymakingfilmwithouthavingtoomuch
of a worryabout the failure orlossof moneyassociatedwithit. There are manyreasonsinthe film
industrywhyone companymightcreate a remake of another filmthathas alreadybeenreleased.A
filmcompanywill oftencreate aremake of a filmthatwasoriginallyverypopularbecause thisway
theyhave the guarantee of creatinga filmthattheyalreadyknow ispopular.A good example of this
isbatman because theywere alreadyaverypopularseriesof filmsthatwere recentlyremadeinto
modernblockbusters.The companygainsalotfromthisbecause possible synergiesallow the
companyto make evenmore moneyonthe filmsuchas marketingthingslike tshirts,DVD’s,CD’s
and gamesetcetera
One Definite Purpose forcreatingremakesistochange the audience the filmisavailablefor.For
example aSpanishfilmcalledRecwascreatedin 2007; the filmtook $32,492,948 in box office
takingsandwas clearlya verypopularfilm.The onlyproblemwasthatthe filmwascreatedin
Spanishandtherefore consideredunpopularandwidelyunknowninEnglishspeakingcountries.The
filmwasthenremade into‘Quarantine’the yearlater.The distributorssaw achance to take a very
highratedfilmand drastically expandthe audience therefore makingalotof moneyeasily. The film
Quarantine took$29,319,906 profitinbox office takingsalone.The filmdistributorsforQuarantine
made the decisiontocreate and release the filmasquickaspossible because theyknewthatthe
filmrecwas verypopularsotheywantedto catch the fansof rec while theystillenjoyedthe film.
There wasalso a suddenrise infilmsof thisstyle aroundthe time thatthisremake wasreleasedand
that had a large impacton the decisionforthe speedyrelease of the remake. Notonlythisbutthere
has beenagradual increase inthe trendof realityTV showsovertime andthe filmRecreallytook
advantage of theirpopularitytocreate somethingthatwasa bigshock toits audience andanalmost
guaranteedbighit.Thiswasa brilliantandinnovativeideathatthe producersof the remake
Quarantine seizedandadaptedforthemselves.Some otherfilmsof the same style includeDiaryof
the deadand cloverfield.Thesefilmswere bothreleasedaroundthe same time asrec and
quarantine,thisshowsthatthe particularstyle of filmwasverypopulararoundthattime andof
course influencedthe decisionforaremake heavily.
Withthe remake inthiscase,somethingthatgreatlyinfluencedthe choice togive the remake the go
aheadwas a large businessopportunitythatwasseeninthe remake knownasvertical integration.
EssentiallywhathappenedwasthatRecwasownedbyFilmax,asmall,independentfilmdistributer
whoaren’tbig enoughasa company toproduce for more than justa Europeanaudience.SoScreen
Gems,a subsidiaryof Sony,boughtthe rightstoRec in orderto make a remake.Due to the fact that
ScreenGemsisownedbySony theyhave accessto a lot of moneyanddifferentapplicationsof the
mediae.g.film,TV,Magazines.Inthe endthisresultsinfarmore moneybeingmade because they
can distribute the filmtoamuch wideraudience andatthe same time produce the filmintowaysto
make more moneyinotheraspectsof the media.
Aside fromthe factof filmingstyleswhenitcomestothe targetaudience forthe film, the horror
genre isa genre that appliestoan incrediblywide audience withnospecificgenderanda wide range
of ages.There seemstobe an increase inthe popularityof thrillerfilmsandcombiningthiswiththe
popularityof the otheraspectsof the filmitseemsalmosttoogoodto missout onan opportunity
for a moneymakinghitfilm.

2. Anotherexampleof aprofitable remake isthe film‘The karate kid’whichwasrecentlyremade in
orderto profiton the takingsfora once popularhoweverforgottenfilm.The audiencealsobenefits
fromthisbecause a lotof the audience will alreadylikethe filmbuttheygettowatchit whenitis
broughtintotoday’smodernfilmindustrywithexcellenteffectsandquality.The audiencemayalso
have neverheardof the oldfilmandget to watch a classicthat theywouldotherwise missordismiss
as a bad oldfilm.
An interesting,howeverimportantreasonforthisremake isthataswell despite the filmbeingan
oldclassicit didn’treallycontainanyactorswitha particularlystrongname forthemselvesinthe
industry.Howeverthe newremakecontainsquite avarietyof well-knownactorsthatmake the film
a lot more appealingtothe targetaudience andtherefore expandthe audience forthe film bya
large amount.For example JackieChanisthe one of the maincharactersin the filmappealingtoa
verywide audience ashe isa huge star and liked bypeople inmanyplacesincludingAsiaaswell as
the WesternHemisphere.He isaccompaniedbyJaydensmithwhoisanotherveryfamoustalent
onlyhe is knownbya completelydifferentaudience toJackie Chan.Usingthese twoactorstogether
was a verycleverideabecause itwill attractahuge audience fromcompletelydifferentgroupsof
people withseparate intereststogetherforthe one film. The filmisproducedbyWill Smith,the
fatheror JaydenSmith;thisisactuallyanimportantpart of the reasoningbehindthe creatingof a
remake forthe film.Will smithobviouslywantedhissontobe ina popularfilmsohe therefore
chose a highlypopularfilmfromthe pastthat hissonfitintowell andthat he alsoknew wassure to
be a success.
A remake toa filmisn’talwaysthe easiestthingforacompanyto go aboutdoing.For example if a
companydecidesthattheyhave the ideatocreate a remake of an oldclassicina waythat they
deemtobe original,theyhave tofirstapproachthe original producers of the filmandask
permission.Thiscaneasilyputproducersoff creatingremakesbecause itisalotof efforttogo
throughin an endeavourthatcouldeasilyresultinbeingpointlessif the companysaysno.Therefore
Horizontal Integrationplaysalarge partin the decisionof creatingremakes.Anexampleof thisis
the remake to The Karate Kid,Where the companywho originallyproducedthe filmin1984,
ColumbiaPictureswaseventuallytakenoverbySonyPicturesandtherefore SonyPictures ownthe
rightsto produce a remake of the filmsbyColumbiaPictures.
One lastimportantexample of aremake withstrongreasoningbehindthe creationisWarOf the
worlds.War of the worldswas an original filmcreatedwaybackin1953, the filmwasa bighitbut
technologyjustwasn’tquite atthe rightlevel forittobe a particularlygroundbreakingfilm.The
remake wasthenmade in2005 andwas consideredabrilliantandepicfilm.The remake made
$591,745,550 box office takingswithabudgetof $132 millionprovinghow worthwhileitwasto
create a remake inthatcase.
Probablythe maincontributingfactortothe successof the remake boilsdownsimplytothe yearof
creation,by2005 many filmsof the same genre andstyle hadalreadybeentriedandtestedand the
rightand wrongways to go aboutcreatingthemwere clearlysetout.Ontop of thisthere isthe
enormousleapintechnologyinvolvingCGIallowingSpielbergtocreate a final piece thatlooked
absolutelyincredibleandimprove the filmtoa standard that today’saudience couldbe more than
happywith.Againthe filmhada lotof helpgettingpeople’sattentioninthe firstplace byspending
that extramoneyinorderto make the maincharacter an incrediblywell-knownname asTomCruise.

3. Thisparticularfilmwasalsorushedto completionbecauseof the ideal circumstancesforthe filmto
be releasedinto.Asthe filmwascreatedjustafterthe worldfamous9-11 terroristattacksthe film
was made almostas a statementtowardsterrorismandobviouslywasmade incrediblypopulardue
to the circumstancesof howthe publicfelt.The filmhitonthe fearinflictedbythe terrorismandthe
audience couldrelate theirfeelingstothatof an alieninvasion,asstrange asthisis,it didheavily
influencethe publictosee the filmandthereforepushupthe profits.Bythislogicthe timingof a
remake can be crucial to its successonmany differentlevelsespeciallywhenthe filmhasthe ability
to use intertextualitywiththe real worldproblemstoaiditssuccess