‘Remakequels’: How ‘Creed,’ ‘The Force Awakens,’ ‘Mad Max’ Created A New Type Of Film
“Remakequels” is a newly defined term touted by sites like Film School Rejects and Business Insider as a new way to define what movie audiences saw in 2015.
One-part remake, one-part sequel, some of the most successful films, both critically and commercially, could be defined by the term.
Some of the most obvious examples of this phenomenon include Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Creed, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Jurassic World.
In fact, if you visit Box Office Mojo and add up the total box office for all four of these films as of Dec. 26, you will arrive at the following numbers:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens $440 million domestically / $890 million worldwide
Jurassic World $652 million domestically / $1.668 billion worldwide
Mad Max: Fury Road $153 million domestically / $375 million worldwide
Creed $93 million domestically / $102 million worldwide
In all, that’s approximately $1.338 billion in domestic box office and $3.035 billion worldwide, all derived from once dormant film franchises that saw sequels this year that also bore strong resemblances to their original counterparts.
With that said, it’s pretty clear the “remakequels” are not going anywhere. In fact, television is even getting in on the mix with A&E’s Damien, a continuation of the original horror flick The Omen starring Gregory Peck.
There is an old saying — if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. For film fans wishing for more original fare, maybe it’s time to take a step back and embrace the reality.
Movies you once loved — and perhaps still do — are going to get reboot/continuations very soon. They might as well be good! In that spirit, here are three additional films or film franchises ready made to become remakequels.
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. is a rarity in the annals of motion picture history — a film that grossed the equivalent of $1 billion domestically at the time of its initial release in 1982, it has yet to see a sequel. That isn’t from lack of trying, though. Birth Movies Death has a fascinating read from earlier this year that looks into E.T. 2: Nocturnal Fears, or as the site calls it, “the incredibly ill-advised E.T. sequel that almost was.”
Definitely worth a read for those of you into reading about “lost” movies.
Beverly Hills Cop
Yet another entry in the remakequels category that has been on the verge of happening for quite some time, Beverly Hills Cop was once a TV show, but apparently the pilot was so bad no one wanted to pick it up. After that failure, Eddie Murphy decided that he would give Beverly Hills Cop IV a shot. To date, it has been promised but not delivered.
Recently, as in May 2015, the Wrap reports that it was removed from Paramount’s release schedule, putting the film effectively back in limbo.
More from the entertainment news site:
“It was just more than one year ago that Paramount announced it would release ‘Beverly Hills Cop 4’ on March 25, 2016. While the film remains in development, it has not moved forward as quickly as Paramount originally envisioned, though recent movement in the studio’s executive suites has complicated matters.”
Back to the Future
As audiences have learned with Star Wars — no spoilers but you’ll understand when you see it — it may not always be in one’s best interests to bring back original characters. That would effectively be true for Back to the Future as Marty (Michael J. Fox) and Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) probably don’t have the energy for a new franchise.
But that doesn’t mean one should take BTTF off the table. It’s one of the top 200 highest-grossing films of all time in spite of coming from a time when worldwide box office was limited and ticket prices were considerably smaller.
With the right amount of TLC and a smart script, fans would totally be up for this again.
Home Alone
(Okay, kidding, but it looks like they’ve already done something like it, and it’s plenty disturbing. Just see below.)
Which films do you think are ripe for becoming remakequels? Share in the comments section.
