Never Remake These 10 (Nearly) Perfect Movies | ScreenRant
How many more reboots and remakes must audiences sit through before Hollywood realizes that fans of cinema want more original stories and not just the same ideas they've seen over and over again, just told in a slightly different way? While yes, the occasional reimagining of a classic story or a chance to fix a failed adaptation with something more accurate to its source material is welcomed, modern theatres of being suffocated by sequels and remakes that no one really wants.
But remakes have become a staple in the industry and it seems as though they will be around for as long as there's a director who thinks they can do better and it can make the studios a lot of money. But one thing that's certain is that some timeless and classic movies should never, ever be touched or brought up again during a film pitch. Here's our list of 10 (nearly) perfect movies that Hollywood could never improve, or even replicate.
10 No Country for Old Men (2007)
Every filmmaker should head the advice that The Coen Brother's give at the end of their masterpiece: "You can't stop what's coming - it ain't all waiting on you." In layman's terms, leave well enough alone and don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong and, hopefully, you won't end up ruffling any feathers.
No Country for Old Men is arguably the best modern western ever created and won The Coen Brothers the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. If anybody out there thinks they can replicate that feat (or top it) they must have taken a bolt pistol to the head.
9 Deadpool (2016)
A general rule of thumb: don't remake a movie that breaks the fourth wall, especially if that movie is highly original and memorable. Enter everybody's favorite R-rated superhero (or is it Joker now?) because Deadpool was one of the biggest cinematic surprises in history.
The simplicity of the plot for a superhero film was incredibly refreshing after the never-ending freight-train that is the MCU constantly creating earth-shattering stakes for their films. But the biggest reason nobody should touch this film again - Ryan Reynolds is Deadpool. Even if a different director thinks they could do better, nobody could ever top Ryan Reynold's performance.
8 The Princess Bride (1987)
Any director willing to try and recreate one of the greatest cinematic love stories ever told would be attempting a feat more daring than entering the fire-swamp (we'd give them full marks for bravery, but we'd consider them fools). The surprising phenomenon The Princess Bride took the world by storm thanks to the movie's perfect blend of action, comedy, romance, thriller, and drama.
The film could be considered a tad corny, but that's exactly part of its appeal and one of the biggest mistakes a filmmaker could make is potentially trying to redo this movie with a more serious tone. As we wish, just leave this film alone.
7 Vertigo (1958)
What exactly do you think happens to a mystery when a person finds out the answer to it? It's no longer a mystery! Unless a director drastically redoes virtually everything about a film's major plot-points, it's impossible to remake a mystery film because the cat is already out of the bag.
Vertigo is the story of a San Francisco detective who develops, you guessed it, vertigo and ends up in a twisted turn of events with a woman named Madeline that is shrouded in deception. However, once you've seen the movie and know what happens, the surprise factor is gone. It's still an impeccable and classic film, but remaking it would be bordering pointless.
6 Fight Club (1999)
The first rule of Fight Club - never remake Fight Club. We just stated that films about mysteries should never be remade because the shock factor is gone - the same rule applies to films with surprise endings.
Fight Club wouldn't necessarily be considered a mystery, but it's a psychological thriller with a premise built around the fact that one of the protagonists is both of the protagonists and he just never knew it, resulting in Edward Norton having to shoot himself in the mouth to kill Brad Pitt. This movie was mind-blowing, shockingly profane, and thrilling and nobody's going to improve upon it.
5 Pulp Fiction (1994)
For that matter, throw every single Quentin Tarantino movie into this category because no other filmmaker in history has been like him and no other filmmaker in history will ever be like him. Tarantino's films are wildly unique and contain so many elements that only somebody as wacky and brilliant as he is could try without being written off as an insane lunatic.
However, Pulp Fiction, is the film that is considered Tarantino's iconic stamp-mark on Hollywood and the once-in-a-lifetime way he told the story through different bits and scenes and yet still had them all add up to one chronological story was utterly genius. We dare you, we double dare you, to remake this film.
4 E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
E.T. phoned home and he should never come back. Not that we wouldn't love to see the adorable Extra-Terrestrial and catch up on all things alien and space and so forth, but we just don't want anybody to try and recreate one of the greatest films from one of the world's greatest directors, Steven Spielberg.
Everybody's favorite out-of-this-world protagonist and his red-hooded earthling-pal are so iconic that they're literally the symbol for Spielberg's production company, Amblin Entertainment. The symbol of the production company of the world's most coveted director? Leaving that one alone should be a given.
3 It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
There are two classic Christmas movies from the early days of cinema that are still played routinely even today during the holiday season and they are Miracle on 34th Street and It's A Wonderful Life. They already made the mistake of remaking Miracle on 34th Street and came nowhere close to the magic of the original.
It's A Wonderful Life and the story of George Bailey getting led on a Christmas journey to see what life would be like if he had never existed has almost become as famous as Scrooge- but unlike A Christmas Carol, we'd prefer if this particular story continued to be the only rendition of it.
2 The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Despite the many wondrous elements to this film that would make it nearly impossible to replicate again, there's one key deciding factor as to why nobody should ever attempt to redo this movie - Morgan Freeman's narration could never be topped.
Tim Robbins and the entire cast of this Stephen King adaptation give performances of a lifetime, but the thing that makes the film stick out is Morgan Freeman's God-like story-telling abilities that keep the audience dragged in for every single second of the masterpiece. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, but hoping for a better rendition of this movie is wishful hoping.
1 To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
Aaron Sorkin might be one of Hollywood's most talented screenwriters, and his rendition of To Kill A Mockingbird in the format of a Broadway play is certainly a spell different than trying to remake the movie, but even he knew that to alter cinematic royalty he was going to have to come at the story in a completely different way if he was going to get through to audiences and, luckily, that was what he was able to do.
However, when it comes down to a cinematic format, nobody should attempt to remake the movie based on Harper Lee's classic novel and it can be broken down to one significant reason: Atticus Finch. Actor Gregory Peck gives the performance of a generation and set a bar that no actor will ever be able to top.