Comments on: Examples of genre-swaping remakes?

Question: Examples of genre-swaping remakes?

trivirgata — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 21:40:28 -0800

The trailer for a remake of the John Waters classic Hairspray left me wondering... Are there any other movies out there that were remade in a totally new genre?

Here's the trailer
And yes, the original was a very musical film, but it certainly couldn't be called "a musical" like this remake clearly is.Can anybody think of a precedent for this?

By: dobbs

dobbs — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 21:43:54 -0800

The Philadelphia Story (a romantic comedy from 1940 from a play) was remade as High Society (a musical from 1956).

By: thebrokenmuse

thebrokenmuse — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 21:44:48 -0800

The Producers.

By: dobbs

dobbs — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 21:47:50 -0800

Oh, and both Sweet Smell of Success and Sunset Boulevard (b&w noirish dramas from the 50s) were remade as live musicals in the 90s. Thankfully no one filmed them.

By: cortex

cortex — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 21:51:23 -0800

The Stepford Wives was remade from a restrained horror thriller into a godawful mess of a "dark" comedy. Garry Marshall claims this was intentional, or at least the genre-hop bit.

By: trivirgata

trivirgata — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 21:55:27 -0800

The Producers

Of course! Perfect example. How could I have overlooked that?

Dobbs: with regard to High Society/Philadelphia Story, they seem to be one step removed from the kind of thing that is going on with Hairspray (and The Producers). I could be wrong though... its been a long time since I saw either of those films.

By: iconomy

iconomy — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 21:56:56 -0800

Pygmalion (light drama 1938) was reworked into a musical and renamed My Fair Lady (musical - 1964). Pygmailion was first a stage production and then a motion picture, and then reworked and renamed My Fair Lady, which was first a stage production and then a motion picture.

By: ThePinkSuperhero

ThePinkSuperhero — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 21:58:07 -0800

Here's a list of all the shows on Broadway *right now* that were originally movies or books : Beauty and the Beast, The Color Purple, Grey Gardens, Hairspray, Legally Blonde, The Lion King, Mary Poppins, The Producers, Spamalot, Tarzan, Wicked, A Year of Magical Thinking. Xanadu the Musical starts previews in May. This is but a short preview of the looooong list of musicals based on other materials.

By: trivirgata

trivirgata — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:01:34 -0800

I'm wondering now if I should include Little Shop of Horrors on this list as well. I know nothing about the Roger Corman film that inspired the musical.

By: missmerrymack

missmerrymack — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:02:31 -0800

Greta Carbo comedy, Ninotchka, became a musical called Silk Stockings, and later, a film, which starred Cyd Charisse.

By: saraswati

saraswati — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:04:15 -0800

I would say the 1943 version of Phantom of the Opera. It was a remake of the 1925 silent horror film, but is considered by many to be more of a musical than a horror. I wouldn't consider Schumacher's 2004 version a remake, because it's an adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber play which in turn was adapted right from the original novel.

By: missmerrymack

missmerrymack — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:05:46 -0800

Err, should be...
and later a film musical, which starred Cyd Charisse.

By: trivirgata

trivirgata — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:10:49 -0800

ThePinkSuperhero:
The phenomenon that is so interesting to me is more than Broadway adaptations of previous works, its the idea of one film being remade in a totally new genre while retaining the same story, characters, etc from the original.

Think about the recent musical version of Reefer Madness. I wouldn't consider it a remake of the original, but rather an updated or reinterpreted version.
Hairspray on the other hand, looks like it stays entirely in step with the original, non-musical version (because the Broadway book was remarkably faithful to the original material, IIRC).

By: trivirgata

trivirgata — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:19:22 -0800

Its interesting that (with the possible exception of Stepford) all of these examples involve musicalization of earlier stories.

What would be great is to find something along the lines of Star Wars refilmed as a western or something. Han Solo, Chewbacca and the rest of the gang doing their thing in the wild west. Or conversely, if Lucas had simply translated Hidden Fortress into English and set it in space.

By: dobbs

dobbs — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:21:39 -0800

with regard to High Society/Philadelphia Story, they seem to be one step removed from the kind of thing that is going on with Hairspray (and The Producers)

How so?

By: stopgap

stopgap — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:26:15 -0800

The Front Page was filmed several times, but the most successful version changed one of the main characters from a man to a woman and was redone as a screwball romantic comedy: His Girl Friday.

By: rhizome

rhizome — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:27:13 -0800

There are a few classics of transformation that went further than making one of them into a musical:

The Seven Samurai -> The Magnificent Seven
Rio Bravo -> Assault On Precinct 13

By: saraswati

saraswati — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:27:18 -0800

How about Henry Hathaway's 1965 western The Sons of Katie Elder and John Singleton's 2005 action/crime drama Four Brothers?

By: stopgap

stopgap — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:27:22 -0800

Oh, and isn't The Magnificent Seven a remake of The Seven Samurai as a western?

By: rhizome

rhizome — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:29:44 -0800

Also, the various incarnations of the Romeo And Juliet story.

By: saraswati

saraswati — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:31:11 -0800

Also, the various incarnations of the Romeo And Juliet story.

But those are adaptations of the original story, not remakes of other films

By: cmgonzalez

cmgonzalez — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:32:46 -0800

What would be great is to find something along the lines of Star Wars refilmed as a western or something.

Well, The Seven Samurai was basically westernized as The Magnificent Seven

By: cmgonzalez

cmgonzalez — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:33:28 -0800

Just a tad slow with the refresh button.

By: Opposite George

Opposite George — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:43:16 -0800

Not sure if this qualifies but Last Man Standing is, according to Wiki(yeah, I know)pedia, an official remake of Yojimbo.

By: iconomy

iconomy — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:48:39 -0800

A Fistful of Dollars is also a remake of Yojimbo.

King Lear > Ran
The Taming of the Shrew > 10 Things I Hate About You

By: rob511

rob511 — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:59:04 -0800

The classic Ronald Coleman fantasy Lost Horizon (1937) was musicalized as the godawful Lost Horizon (1973).
The classic Gary Cooper western High Noon (1952) was remade as the very good sci-fi thriller Outland (1984).
The deMille silent Roxie Hart (1927) was remade as the fun Ginger Rogers comedy of the same name (1942), then Fossilized for the stage as Chicago (1975), which was revived in 1996 and finally brought to 2-D as the overwrought Chicago (2002).

By: commander_cool

commander_cool — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 23:06:21 -0800

Star Wars itself is heavily influenced by The Hidden Fortress.

Casino Royale was originally made as a comedy, and then as a serious James Bond movie. But both are hypothetically based on the Ian Fleming book.

Here's a good one for you. Maltese Falcon was first made as a forgettable movie in 1931; then it was remade as a comedy in the 1936 Satan Met A Lady; then there was the 1941 Humphrey Bogart version we all know and love. But all three are based on the novel.

I don't understand why movie-->musical of movie-->movie of musical is less genre bending than book-->movie and book-->different kind of movie. Why does the Philadelphia Story/High Society qualify if Romeo & Juliet/West Side Story doesn't? The original Philadelphia Story movie was based on a Broadway play.

Little Shop of Horrors certainly qualifies in the movie-->musical-->movie of musical category.

Clueless remade Emma as a teen comedy; 10 Things I Hate About You remade Taming of the Shrew as a teen comedy. But both original works predate the movies.

By: commander_cool

commander_cool — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 23:07:45 -0800

Er, "less genre-bending" should read as "qualify more as genre-bending."

By: hydatius

hydatius — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 23:32:08 -0800

Raoul Walsh remade his own 1942 noir-ish crime film High Sierra as a western, Colorado Territory, seven years later.

By: granted

granted — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 00:17:40 -0800

There's The King & I (a musical) and Anna & The King (not a musical).

Also, Planet of the Apes was remade as a musical...on The Simpsons.

By: griphus

griphus — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 00:45:46 -0800

Yojimbo itself is argued to be a "remake" of Dashiell Hammett's "Red Harvest"

By: granted

granted — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 00:51:04 -0800

Oh, I thought of another one that might sort of fit your criteria: the Evil Dead series, which went from straight horror (Evil Dead) to horror/comedy (Evil Dead II) to total hilarity (Army of Darkness).

By: jrossi4r

jrossi4r — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 04:07:29 -0800

Carrie was a book that became a movie that became a musical.

By: cowbellemoo

cowbellemoo — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 06:19:25 -0800

Dangerous Liaisons, a period piece, was remade into Cruel Intentions, a teen drama.

By: Robert Angelo

Robert Angelo — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 06:32:30 -0800

The first thing I thought of when I saw you mention Hairspray was:

La Cage Aux Folles - French play
La Cage Aux Folles - French movie (x 3)
La Cage Aux Folles - Broadway musical
The Birdcage - Hollywood movie

By: cowbellemoo

cowbellemoo — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 06:35:43 -0800

Lets not forget all of the porn movies loosely (ha!) based on hollywood movies.

By: cowbellemoo

cowbellemoo — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 06:36:46 -0800

And parodies, natch.

By: adamrice

adamrice — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 07:25:55 -0800

Lots of good ones in here already. It's interesting to note that, while a number of westerns are remakes of Kurosawa films (also: Sanjuro > For a Few Dollars More), The Seven Samurai was itself influenced by earlier westerns like High Noon.

One story that seems to spawn numerous remakes and reinterpretations is Pride and Prejudice. Bridget Jones' Diary and Bride and Prejudice are two fairly recent examples that spring to mind.

By: WCityMike

WCityMike — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 07:39:34 -0800

None of them have been actually released, but Trailer Mash recuts trailers along your line of thought: Shining as a warmhearted dad-son pic, Sleepless in Seattle as a stalker flick (especially works because Meg Ryan's crying face looks frightened in the right context), etc.

By: amtho

amtho — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 07:54:02 -0800

La Boheme -> Rent

By: amtho

amtho — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 07:54:54 -0800

Sorry, you said movies. Rent became a movie, but that's probably not what you meant.

By: TuxHeDoh

TuxHeDoh — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 08:01:04 -0800

Just to clairfy....Hairspray was a movie, then remade as a musical, and now the movie of the musical is being made ---- was not simply a movie, with a musical remake.

Movie -> Musical ->New Movie

The new movie is not filmed in Baltimore. bah!

By: OneOliveShort

OneOliveShort — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 09:13:45 -0800

Outland with Sean Connery is a remake of High Noon, set in space in the future.

By: dobbs

dobbs — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 12:52:29 -0800

Outland with Sean Connery is a remake of High Noon, set in space in the future.

Someone else said this above but it simply isn't true. High Noon takes place mostly in real time. Outland has a segment in real-time and certainly pays homage to High Noon but is definitely not a remake. If you look at the credits for the film, only one writer is credited and it's not the writer of High Noon. Were it a remake, the original creator would have been credited as insisted by the Writer's Guild of America.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 15:15:35 -0800

Barb Wire shares its plot, essentially, with Casablanca, almost down to every major plot point.

I Walked with a Zombie is based on Jane Eyre.

The Seven Samurai, and The Magnificent Seven, also heavily influenced Battle Beyond the Stars, including casting Robert Vaughn as essentially the same character.

By: hilker

hilker — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 16:18:23 -0800

Howard Hawks remade his own Ball of Fire into a musical as A Song Is Born.

By: OneOliveShort

OneOliveShort — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 23:41:16 -0800

Thank you, dobbs. I stand corrected. And didn't realize it'd been said already.