Emma Upton

PR5 Remakes and production factors which influence them

Intro:

There are many factors that influence the remakes of films. Many films have been remade, this can be due to new technology which is now available that wasn’t when the original film was produced, which would make the film overall much better than the original. Another factor that can influence a film being remade is trends that are popular at that time, for example when the previous Spiderman film came out in 2002 directed by Sam Raimi, it definitely was a popular release. However, a new Spiderman film was released in 2012, 10 years later due to the fact around the time of 2010 to today, the trend of superhero films were incredibly popular following the success of films such as; Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America and The Dark Knight Rises, which were all hugely popular. There are other possible reasons for films being remade, such as business factors, synergy and social and political factors. Vertical and horizontal integration both also play a part in influencing the remake of films. Vertical integration is when a media company has the ownership of a different business in the same chain of production and distribution. An example of this would be the huge cooperation Sony, they own a variety of different entertainment companies like Columbia Pictures and TriStar. In 1984 Columbia Pictures brought out the original Karate Kid film, Sony then bought the company Columbia and remade the film Karate Kid in 2010. This means that Sony will receive the profit from distribution and exhibition. Horizontal Integration is when a production company expands their business into other areas of the industry. This means the company can then go into a specific area of production or they can buy another company that works in those areas.

Main Part 1: Dredd

The film Dredd which was released in 2012, directed by Pete Travis had a budget of $45million to recreate the original film Judge Dredd. Judge Dredd was released in 1995, starring Sylvester Stallone and directed by Danny Cannon who had $70million to create the film. Judge Dredd (1995) earned $113million at the box office, whereas Dredd earned $41.4 million.

Dredd is set in a dystopian future Earth, the area between New York and Boston has become a crime-ridden urban mass of 800 million people known as Mega City. Keeping the peace are combination policemen-judges who make the arrests, determine guilt and then execute the sentence. Judge Dredd is among the best at what he does and he is assigned a rookie, Cassandra Anderson, who did not meet the minimum requirements for the job but who has one talent most do not: she is a mutant with psychic abilities. They soon find themselves inside Peach Trees, a 200 story building that houses among many others Ma-Ma a gangster who produces the drug of choice in Mega City, slo-mo. Ma-Ma shuts the building down determined that Dredd and Anderson will never again see the light of day.

Even though the original film was far more commercially successful at box office, it received very negative reviews from critics especially on the site ‘Rotten Tomatoes’ where only 18% of critics gave positive reviews, earning a 3.7/10 rating. Critics said the film did not stick to the original comic books, even the creator of the comic book

Emma Upton

character which the film was based upon said; "the story had nothing to do with Judge Dredd, and Judge Dredd wasn’t really Judge Dredd.”

Even though the recreation of the film ‘Dredd’ did not have as much commercial success, it received far better reviews by fans, with a 78% of critics giving positive reviews on the same site, Rotten Tomatoes, this time gaining a 6.5/10 rating. Many critics said the remake was far superior due to the

fact it was more true to the original comic book style, story and artwork.

The main production factor for this film to be remade is not because of the poor reception Judge Dredd received, but because of the technology available now which was not when the original was produced. For example, in the film the use of the narcotic drug ‘Slo-mo’ is used very often, this drug slows down time for the users, their perception of time to 1% of its normal speed. A normal film at regular speed would average

round 30 frames per second, however in Dredd this slows down to 3000 frames per second. For these particular slo-mo shots that make the film visually stunning, Dredd used a very well-known Slow Motion cinematographer, Gavin Free. Gavin is widely known online for his work on the YouTube channel, ‘SlowMoGuys’ and his slow motion work on films such as “Hot Fuzz” and even “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” he specialises in Slow Motion cinematography and his work made him perfect for the films slow motion elements.

Dredd can be used as an example of Synergy; this is when a production company expands their business or product into other areas of the media industry. Because the film was fairly popular, the production company wanted to expand their product so they could make more money. So they expanded into the merchandise sector of the media world, creating ‘merch’ fans of Dredd could wear.

Rec (2007)

The film Rec, was directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, using the production company Filmax, and was released in 2007. The film had a budget of just $2million, and received $32.5million at the box office from release. The film Rec was quite ground breaking and iconic when released, due to the fact it was one of the first horror films that was filmed using hand-held camera’s throughout the film. The use of the hand-held cameras make the film feel more real, quite like found footage. This began a huge

Emma Upton

increase in horror films following in Rec’s footsteps by using hand held camera’s, for example Cloverfield (2008).

The film Rec, follows a Spanish television reporter and her cameraman who wanted to follow one of Barcelona’s fire stations for a fictional documentary series, called ‘While You’re Sleeping’ to show an inside view of a fire station. When the firemen receive a distress call from a lady in a building, Ángela and Pablo go in the firefighter truck with the firemen recording each step. When they arrive in the building under siege of the police, they find the hysterical dwellers gathered in the lobby in the entrance and they hear screams upstairs, they find an aggressive old lady that attacks one policeman. When they return to the lobby, they find that they are sealed in the building and trapped with the residents in the beginning of a hellish and nightmarish night.

Following the huge popularity of Rec, the film Quarantine was released in 2008, directed by John Erick Dowdle, using the production company Vertigo Entertainment. The budget for Quarantine was estimated at $12million and when released box office takings were $41,319,906. Quarantine was released a year after Rec, and had $10million more for their budget. Quarantine is essentially a remake of Rec, following the same plot; however Rec was entirely in Spanish, whereas quarantine was entirely English. This means by releasing Quarantine so quickly after Rec it would attract a larger audience due to the fact Rec was in Spanish and Quarantine was in English, so more people would be enticed to watch without having to read subtitles. Because Rec was released close to the time Cloverfield and Diary of the Dead were released, the director John Erick Dowdle decided to bring out Quarantine as these films proved to very popular, which means there was a demand for films similar to those. There are a few different reasons for the film Rec to be remade, one being synergy. Synergy would make the companies more money by expanding into merchandise based on Rec and Quarantine. The original film Rec was produced by a company called Filmax, a small film production company, Screen Gems then bought the rights to Filmax in order to create Quarantine. Another production factor would be vertical integration, the company Screen Gems is a subsidiary of the huge company Sony. Sony is a huge well-known company with a lot of money, so they were able to spend more money to distribute the film and it was shown in huge amount of cinemas worldwide. However the company Filmax did not have the money to do this with the original film, Rec, as they didn’t have the same funds as they are a much smaller scale company.

Emma Upton

Lolita (1962) (1997)

The film Lolita was an adaptation of Nabokov’s novel, released in 1962 and directed by Stanley Kubrick. The film caused a lot of controversy, as the plot surrounds a Humbert, who has a love affair with his own step daughter; so many people had a problem with the plot/narrative of Lolita. When interviewed the director stated that if he had previously known the issues they encountered with censorship he would not have made the film.

Years after the original film was released, Adrian Lyne remade Lolita and was released in 1997. However, this film was not a remake of the original Lolita but another remake of the novel. When the 1997 version was released there was a warmer audience reaction as it was made years after the original film was released. Also, society at the time were a lot more open and desensitised to sexual relationships in general and more open to the narrative of Lolita, whereas when the original Lolita was released in the 60s sexual topics were still very under wraps and classed as a sensitive.

War of the Worlds (1953)

The first War of the Worlds which is an action sci-fi film was released in 1953 and directed by Byron Haskin. It was produced by George Pal, distributed by Paramount Pictures and had a budget of $2Million and received exactly $2Million at the box office.

H.G.Well's classic novel is brought to life is this tale of alien invasion. The residents of a small town in California are excited when a flaming meteor lands in the hills. Their joy is tempered somewhat when they discover that it has passengers who are not very friendly. The movie itself is understood better when you consider that it was made at the height of the Cold War.

Emma Upton

War of the Worlds (2005)

However in 2005 the film was remade by famous director Steven Spielberg, distributed by both Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures and produced by the production companies Amblin Entertainment and Cruise/Wagner Productions. The budget for this film was around $132Million and received $591.7 Million at the box office.

Ray Ferrier (Cruise) is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. When his ex-wife and her new husband drop off his teenage son Robbie and young daughter Rachel for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm suddenly touches down. What follows is the extraordinary battle for the future of humankind through the eyes of one American family fighting to survive it in this contemporary retelling of H.G. Wells seminal classic sci-fi thriller.

Both of these films were made around times of tragic events, the 1953 version was released in the Cold-War era surrounded the USA, and the 2005 version was released just after the tragic terrorist attack on the 11th September (9/11). The original story of War of the Worlds by Orson Welles’ struck fear as Nazi Germany was just beginning to fall over Europe. So each of these films have a political subtext relating to the time they were released real life events. Even when Spielberg was interviewed he was asked if he still would have made ‘War of the Worlds’ if September 11th never happened, to which he replied ‘probably not’. These films are used to represent real time events, which is most likely used to entice an audience as it fits real life situations where war is a serious threat.