Movie retreads have hit the skids

Bill's Pre-Comment: What took them so long to figure this out?

Movie retreads have hit the skids

By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY
Wed Jun 22, 8:44 AM ET

A VW Bug and a mischievous witch are about to test moviegoers' taste for the past.

Herbie: Fully Loaded opens today, followed by Bewitched on Friday, the latest of at least seven movies and TV shows remade for the big screen this summer.

Although moviegoers may have fond memories of Ralph Kramden or Vincent Price, they aren't flocking to the new renditions of their work. Of the three remakes already out this season, only The Longest Yard has been a hit; it has taken in $132 million. The Honeymooners and House of Wax, meanwhile, have been flops.

Movie remakes are nothing new. But of late, the reception at moviehouses has been tepid for retreads of TV or movie favorites.

And if this summer's do-overs don't lure audiences, Robert Bucksbaum of industry tracker Reelsource says, the genre may be on the way out. "We're at the tail end of the bell curve, unless something really catches fire."

That won't stop Hollywood from trying. After Herbie and Bewitched, War of the Worlds returns June 29, this time with Tom Cruise. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a redo of the 1971 Willy Wonka tale, oozes on screens July 15. The Bad News Bears arrives July 22, followed by The Dukes of Hazzard Aug. 5.

Hollywood's frenzy for familiarity may seem obvious: What's more sure-fire than a beloved character or story line given a modern-day makeover?

But remakes have proved treacherous ground. Last year's high-profile redos The Manchurian Candidate and The Stepford Wives took in less in domestic ticket sales than they cost to make.

"The studios get some comfort from properties they know," says Paul Dergarabedian of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "But the movies are being marketed to audiences who don't even recognize the titles."

So why keep making them?

"Because some of them work," film historian Leonard Maltin says. "If you get two or three that do mediocre business and one that's a hit, the studios will keep trying for that hit."

But a film's title is less important than casting, Maltin says. "I'll bet most kids didn't know The LongestYard was even a remake. But they knew Adam Sandler and Chris Rock were in it."

Bewitched director Nora Ephron says the key to remakes is capturing the spirit of the original.

"Bewitched had a chemistry that was unexplainable," she says. "When you can recapture that chemistry, audiences are going to respond in the same sort of way they did years ago."