1. PR5 - Remakes and Production Factors Which Influence Them.
A lot of films have been remade so fans of the film can see a more updated and better
quality version, with the technology and software they have today can create better visuals
and special effects looks more and more realistic especially with the SC-fi genre, a big
influence for a remake is the better technology, the older films become less popular with the
new generation because of the poor effects so to gain its popularity back they would remake
it with a new cast and have the use of new software’s which can produce realistic looking
animation and weapons in the film. This would then be up to date with all the special effects
in today’s films. Trends can relate to popular genre at the time for example if SC-fi movies
are popular the more people would want to go see these films they would get the most
attention, so remaking an old popular SC-fi movie would make people curious and would
make them want to see the film to compare it to the original this would also boost
merchandise sales for younger and the older audiences who were a fan of the original film,
this includes things like toys, clothing, mugs, key rings, posters etc. Finding a new younger
audience will keep to film relevant if it catches the interest of younger people this could spark
a lot of merchandise sales. Vertical integration is used in the film Judge Dredd (1995)
because its production company Hollywood pictures is owned by its distributor Buena vista
which means that because it’s the same company they will profit from both production and
the distribution of the film.
Part 1:
Dredd was made by the production company Buena Vista, the year of production was 2012
and the director was Pete Trans. The budget for the film was 45 million and it made in the
box office 41.4 million, this film is about future America which has one mega city it’s a
massive place with a lot of criminal goings on, the judges act as the law who go and stop the
criminals, judge Dredd has a call to go check out a suicide but then he discovers the two
men were pushed and have the drug slo-mo in them which slows down time, Dredd takes
out a new trainee judge to evaluate her skills, which starts out as a call to investigate a
suicide turns into a war against the drug gang and their leader Ma-ma who takes control of
the building buy shutting it down and sending all her gang out to kill Dredd and the trainee
Cassandra. Judge Dredd is played by Karl urban who starts in the new Star trek film as the
doctor Bones. The original film Judge Dredd made by the production company Hollywood
pictures, the year of production was 1995 and the director was Danny Cannon. The budget
for the film was 70 million and it made 113,5 million at box office, this film is about the year
2139 the earth has become a uninhabitable place where all of the earth’s population has
crowded into mass cities across the planet, these are known has mega cities, the crimes in
these cities have become so powerful that the original justice system failed a new system
called judges who were highly skilled people who worked in the mega cities, the main
character is a judge named Joseph Dredd who’s the best in judge history he ends up being
charged for murder and ends up in prison, he finds out that there is another judge who
shares his DNA judge Rico, Dredd now has to find out about his past. Joseph Dredd is
played by Sylvester Stallone a very popular actor known for playing Rocky and Rambo.
The two films are completely different when looking at both plots instead of using the same
story they are using the same theme for example both films are set in the huge Mega city
one they are both set in the future when crime is at a complete high and is out of control both
films have the Judges who are specially trained to fight crime, Dredd (2012) is based in a
tower block with a huge drug gang the whole film is set in the building and follows Dredd as
2. he fights through to get to the Head gang leader and stop this massive drug trade, Dredd
identity is never revealed in this film he wears his helmet all throughout the film which stays
very loyal to the comic books in these he never takes off his helmet. Judge Dredd (1995) he
does take of his helmet and he does go by his first name also this film focuses more of his
character and his life his struggle to get back to the mega city and find out why he was
framed for the murder, this is a big difference between both films due to the main theme
running through Dredd (2012) is focused on Dredd defeating the gang and finding Ma-ma
Judge Dredd (1995) is focused on Dredd himself so the only similarities throughout both
films is the setting and the theme both being in future America and both having the Judges
to keep crime under control and the biggest similarities is having Dredd as the main
character. The film being remade gives the chance for the character Dredd to stay relevant
for newer audiences this can also spark massive merchandise sales, the special effects
plays a massive part for remakes because of the new technology has become so much
more advanced for the film Dredd (2012) they use a certain camera called Phantom Flex a
high speed camera which can record at a frame rate of over 3000 frames per second and
higher, this slows down shots for all the slo-mo scenes which is something you couldn’t of
used in 1995 this is a perfect example of new technology, Synergy plays a huge role in
remakes, having a remake can also make the person watching be curious to watch the
original film this can also make people want to buy merchandise from the old film, clothing
like t-shirts is always a popular for nearly all films you can buy a t-shirt with the title or a
character out of the film on one, mostly quotes from films are on t-shirts like the ‘I am the
law’ quote from Judge Dredd (1995) can still be found people will always associate with the
film and character Dredd. Relationships between companies like clothing distributors and the
DVD production company are important they would discuss what features they want on the
DVD like bonus features and behind the scenes something the audience couldn’t see in
cinema. Looking at both film budgets the original film had a huge amount but made a lot
more back from its box office takings with the remake there budget was a lot less and they
ended up loosing out on at least 4 million so the original film actually made more in cinema
than the remake did this shows that even though the new film had all the new special effects
and new story the original actually did better.
Part 2:
Rec was made by the production company is Filmax International, the year of production
was 2007 and the director for the film was Paco Plaza and Jaume Balaguero.The budget for
the film was 2 million and the box office made 32.5 million. The film is about a a girl who
works for the local news station and she’s doing a part on the fire station on what they do
during one of their nights she follows one of them around, when they get a call to go to an
apartment block and she goes with them, Receiving a call from an old lady trapped in her
house, they reach her building to hear horrifying screams this then leads to them getting
trapped inside. The lead role is played by Manuela Velasco a famous actress in Spain. The
remake named Quarantine was made by the production company Vertigo entertainment its
director was John Erik Dowdle, the year of production was 2008. Budget for the film was 12
million and its box office takings were 41.3 million. The film has basically the same story as
Rec but instead of it having a religious theme the virus is made by terrorists, from start to
finish its pretty much shot by shot the same it’s a news reporter following around some fire
fighters during one of their night shifts again they get a call to go to an apartment block due
to a women screaming this then leads to them being trapped inside whilst people are getting
attacked by residents with the virus. The main character is played by Jennifer Carpenter who
3. is best known for her role in the TV series Dexter. The two films are exactly the same based
on the story line most of the characters fit the roles who are in the original because Rec had
a very positive rating but was in Spanish and had subtitles, the remake was made but in
English this can then gain a American audience knowing how popular the original one was
this can then hopefully have the popularity Rec had, the differences include added
characters and scenes also a different explanation for the virus they are both shot in a ‘found
footage’ style so always through the camera lens, there are much more similarities than
differences even the main characters resemble each other a lot the characters in both films
like the police men, fire fighters and the woman with the child and the old women. The
distribution of Rec was the same company that produced the film a good example of Vertical
integration having its own company distribute the film meaning they gain all the profit made,
Because Sony Pictures owns Screen Gems and then Screen Gems bought the rights to Rec
so they could then make Quarantine, the film didn’t cost as much as the original one did,
Rec only had a budget of 2 million whilst quarantine was a massive 12 million, Quarantine
did make more in the box office but Rec did make a lot more than they spent.
Part 3:
Carrie was remade the original was made in 1976 and they recently remade it in 2013,
Carrie (1976) is a Thriller/Science Fiction, it is directed by Brian De Palma it was distributed
by United artists, the budget for the film was 1.8million and it made back in box office 33.8
million it stars Sissy Spacek as Carrie and also stars John Travolta as one of the ‘popular’
lads, the film is about a quiet girl who is in high school a group of other girls bully her, at
home her mum is very religious and is also unstable. During one of her school days when
she’s being bullied she becomes very frantic and hysterical and a light bulb bursts. She ends
up discovering she has some sort of powers and uses them against everyone at prom after
being humiliated. The remake of this film in 2013 this film was directed by Kimberly Peirce
and was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and screen gems. The films budget is 30
million and box office takings were 85 million, the film stars actress Chloe Grace Moretz who
plays the lead role as Carrie it also stars Ansel Elgort as Tommy Ross the love interest who
pretends to take her to prom as a joke with his friends. The two are really big stars in today’s
time this is a good example of star theory, the use of star theory in a film is to attract people
to come and watch the film people finding out that she is the lead role in this film especially
fans of her will want to come and pay to see it making sales of the film a lot higher,
sometimes just from the pure fact someone is starring in a film can make people want to
come and see it. Star theory is when the film casts an actor/actress who is well known and
has a good reputation in acting someone with a huge following who would come out to watch
anything they are in.
War of the worlds was also remade, the original was made in 1953 and it is directed by
Byron Haskin and distributed by paramount pictures the budget for the film was 2 million and
it made back in box office 2 million. It stars Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. The remake was
made in 2005 it is directed by Steven Spielberg the production company is Amblin
entertainment and cruise and Wagner, it was distributed by paramount pictures for north
America and DreamWorks pictures for international, the budget for the film was 132 million
and it made back 591 million in box office, this 2013 film directed by Steven Spielberg has a
few relations to terror attacks he has an anti-terrorism message in the film showing that
everyone comes together to go against it and they can all beat it in the end, also the scenes
where tom cruise gets home at the end with white ash all over him relates to the “9/11
attacks when people nearby where covered in white ash. Steven Spielberg himself that 9/11
4. set the tone and made it worth my time and the audience’s time to see this. Story treated in
this way”. The aliens being under ground refer to all the ‘undergrounds’ ‘secretive’ goings on
until the ‘surprise attack’. Again the crashed plane scene again could be said that it is also is
in some way related to 9/11.
The film Karate Kid was remade, the original was made in 1984 it was directed by John G.
Avildsen and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The films budget was 8 million and in box
office it made 90 million, it stars Ralph Macchio as the main boy Daniel and Pat Morita who
plays Miyagi as his ‘master’ who teaches him in martial arts, the film is about Daniel who
moves to live with his mum and his new school has bullies who are beating him until one day
Miyagi intervenes and defeats them all on his own, this then leads to Daniel asking him to
teach him how to fight. The film which is distributed by Columbia who is owned by Sony
subsidiary this is Horizontal integration, because this is now owned by Sony this means that
they have the rights to all previous films that Columbia have made in the past which then
leads to remakes, They chose Karate kid to remake which they released in 2010 this film
was directed by Harald Zwart the production companies involved include Qverbrook
Entertainment, JW Productions and China film group, this was then distributed by Columbia
pictures, the films budget was 40 million and it mad 359 million in the box office. This film
has a similar plot to the original but it has changed the characters names including the main
boy himself who is now called Dre and he doesn’t move to his mums he moves with his mum
to Beijing his trainer also has a different name ‘Han’ the film still has similarities like him
getting bullied in school and the trainer helps him and ends up teaching him to fight and
defend himself. The cast include big names like Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith who is the
son of the massive star Will smith.
Lolita is a remake the original was made in 1962 directed by Stanley Kubrick, it had several
production companies like Seven arts, AA Productions, Anya Pictures and Transworld
Pictures. The budget for the film was 2 million and the box office takings are 9 million. The
film was based of a novel by Vladimir Nabokov. The film Is about a middle aged man who is
falling in love with his teenage step daughter, because the film was released in 1962 a
storyline like this was strange and a lot of people didn’t know how to handle it, the idea of
incest wasn’t tolerated in 1962, the way the film come across and because its under the
genre ‘Comedy’ people didn’t take this lightly Kubrick had a lot of critical opinions towards
the film. The remake was made in 1997 directed by Adrian Lyne, the budget for the film was
62 million and the box office takings were 1 million basically this shows how bad the film was
received it was a massive flop compared to the original, even though the story might have
been taken differently because of the different times but Adrian Lyne made their relationship
a lot more in your face which Kubrick couldn’t of shown in his version due to the time. If
Kubrick would have done his film in 1997 his film might have gotten much better response
because of people views on the whole relationship.
