I remember a time when reboots were relegated to remaking older films, usually originally shot in black and white, for a new generation. It's true that many people these days cannot stand to watch a black and white film, which is somewhat sad but a reality. We're used to shiny new grain-less spectacles of technology, and that's fine. I can even understand remaking a film that didn't get its fair shake; trying again with a new angle, director, or cast. Ocean's 11 is a good example of a well-deserved remake. It was a decent story that was retold with a new cast for a new generation.

But now... Now Hollywood has caught up with itself. Now we're rebooting franchises and films that happened a few years ago. (Looking at you Spiderman.) We're remaking eighties films like they were made in the thirties. As if no one has ever seen Carrie before. And it's not just that we're remaking Carrie for a new audience, and doing it justice like Ocean's 11, but we're making a sub-par lame version of Carrie that doesn't even deserve the namesake. Why?

Hollywood has gotten scared and rather than try something new, they're now in the business of trying something again. These days television and streaming programs aren't afraid to try new things, but Hollywood is in the business of making the same films over and over, literally. Not only does it feed off of name recognition to help sell tickets, it's also much quicker and easier to re-write an old script than create a new one from scratch. Did we really need a new version of Robocop, and one that's only PG-13 for that matter? Was it any better? No. But it got me to go to the theaters because I loved the first one. Same with the recent reboots of Evil Dead, Total Recall, and even Red Dawn. All sub-par, watered down films in their own right, regardless of how good their original counterparts were to begin with.

Here are some more upcoming reboots of films from the eighties:

• Dirty Dancing
• Videodrome
• Weird Science
• Flight of the Navigator
• Short Circuit
• Scarface
• Bloodsport
• Highlander
• Romancing the Stone
• Little Shop of Horrors
• Heavy Metal
• Escape from New York
• Time Bandits
• WarGames
• The NeverEnding Story
• An American Werewolf in London
• Pet Sematary
• Poltergeist
• Gremlins
• National Lampoon's Vacation
• Police Academy
• Overboard
• Hellraiser
• Firestarter

Then there's the films Hollywood are perpetually trying to reboot. They've spent well over a decade trying to get a new Ghostbusters film off the ground. They've begged the filmmakers to make another Back to the Future film. And for some reason they keep trying to get a Weekend at Bernie's reboot made. And I will go see it. That's the crazy part.

Lately it seems to help justify making a new version of a classic film they use a gimmick or change something fundamental from the original to better differentiate it. Ghostbusters 3 will feature an all female cast, the new Annie is black, and the new Ninja Turtles reboot has added grotesque noses and human lips to the characters. These changes may not make the movie any better or worse, but they're certainly good at creating buzz for the films, even if it is sometimes negative. At least people are talking, and that's really all that matters.

The trend of unnecessary reboots unfortunately seems to be getting worse, not better. After they run out of eighties movies to remake they're jumping right into the nineties. The following films are already greenlit for new versions, despite the fact that the originals came out within the last couple decades.

Proposed reboots of films from the nineties and beyond:

• Cliffhanger
• Timecop
• Flatliners
• The Crow
• Point Break
• The Bodyguard
• House Party
• Drop Dead Fred
• Starship Troopers
• Mortal Kombat
• Tomb Raider
• Daredevil
• Van Helsing
• American Psycho

I hate to admit it, but it would seem creativity is in fact dead, at least when it comes to going out to the cineplex. We're all accomplices to it. Every time we buy a ticket to next awful iteration of Spiderman or a new re-imagining of Hitchcock's The Birds, we're playing right into their hands. Once again they have us by the balls, repackaging the same old crap and calling it new-... No, they're not even trying to hide it any more. It's exactly the same old crap just with a new cast/director, and less entertainment value. Like xeroxing a copy, they're going to lose a little quality every iteration. I would say I can't wait until they run out of films to remake and are forced to start fresh, but instead I fear they're just gonna start over and remake 'em all again.

__
Sea Also:  Jumping the Shrek - Curse of the Fourthquel