Original Vs. Remake
by luke-eberhardt | created - 18 Aug 2012 | updated - 08 Apr 2016 | PublicA comparison of various films from their original outing to their remake. Which ones are more memorable?
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1. The Wicker Man (1973)
R | 88 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A puritan police sergeant arrives in a Scottish island village in search of a missing girl, who the pagan locals claim never existed.
Director: Robin Hardy | Stars: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Britt Ekland
Votes: 92,186 | Gross: $0.06M
The Original: Outstanding
2. The Wicker Man (2006)
PG-13 | 102 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A sheriff investigating the disappearance of a young girl from a small island discovers there's a larger mystery to solve among the island's secretive, neo-pagan community.
Director: Neil LaBute | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Ellen Burstyn, Leelee Sobieski, Kate Beahan
Votes: 71,396 | Gross: $23.64M
The Remake: A Fail!!! An Offence to the Original
3. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
R | 152 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A journalist is aided by a young female hacker in his search for the killer of a woman who has been dead for forty years.
Director: Niels Arden Oplev | Stars: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Ewa Fröling, Lena Endre
Votes: 223,295 | Gross: $10.10M
The Original: Superb
4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
R | 158 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Journalist Mikael Blomkvist is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing for 40 years by young computer hacker Lisbeth Salander.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård
Votes: 494,617 | Gross: $102.52M
The Re-Adaptation: Passable
5. Let the Right One In (2008)
R | 114 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Oskar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl.
Director: Tomas Alfredson | Stars: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl
Votes: 226,690 | Gross: $2.12M
The Original: Superb
6. Let Me In (I) (2010)
R | 116 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A bullied young boy befriends a young female vampire who lives in secrecy with her guardian.
Director: Matt Reeves | Stars: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloë Grace Moretz, Richard Jenkins, Cara Buono
Votes: 127,251 | Gross: $12.13M
The Remake: Passable
7. Infernal Affairs (2002)
R | 101 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A story between a mole in the police department and an undercover cop. Their objectives are the same: to find out who is the mole, and who is the cop.
Directors: Andrew Lau, Alan Mak | Stars: Andy Lau, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, Eric Tsang
Votes: 131,355 | Gross: $0.17M
The Original: Superb
8. The Departed (2006)
R | 151 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
An undercover cop and a mole in the police attempt to identify each other while infiltrating an Irish gang in South Boston.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg
Votes: 1,421,357 | Gross: $132.38M
The Remake: Passable
9. Harakiri (1962)
Not Rated | 133 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
When a ronin requesting seppuku at a feudal lord's palace is told of the brutal suicide of another ronin who previously visited, he reveals how their pasts are intertwined - and in doing so challenges the clan's integrity.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Ishihama, Shima Iwashita, Tetsurô Tanba
Votes: 68,560
The Original: Outstanding
10. Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011)
Not Rated | 128 min | Drama
A tale of revenge, honor and disgrace, centering on a poverty-stricken samurai who discovers the fate of his ronin son-in-law, setting in motion a tense showdown of vengeance against the house of a feudal lord.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Koji Yakusho, Munetaka Aoki, Naoto Takenaka, Hikari Mitsushima
Votes: 9,146 | Gross: $0.08M
The Remake: Mediocre, yet Unnecessary
11. Seven Samurai (1954)
Not Rated | 207 min | Action, Drama
Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki
Votes: 366,611 | Gross: $0.27M
The Original: Outstanding
12. The Magnificent Seven (1960)
Approved | 128 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Seven gunfighters are hired by Mexican peasants to liberate their village from oppressive bandits.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Eli Wallach
Votes: 102,479 | Gross: $4.91M
The Remake: Passable
13. Clash of the Titans (1981)
PG | 118 min | Action, Adventure, Family
Perseus must battle Medusa and the Kraken to save the Princess Andromeda.
Director: Desmond Davis | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Harry Hamlin, Claire Bloom, Maggie Smith
Votes: 47,714 | Gross: $41.09M
The Original: Excellent
14. Clash of the Titans (2010)
PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Perseus, a demigod and the son of Zeus, battles the minions of Hades and the Underworld in order to stop them from conquering Olympus and Earth.
Director: Louis Leterrier | Stars: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Flemyng
Votes: 292,652 | Gross: $163.21M
The Remake: Mediocre yet Uncool.
15. True Grit (1969)
G | 128 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
A drunken, hard-nosed U.S. Marshal and a Texas Ranger help a stubborn teenager track down her father's murderer in Indian Territory.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: John Wayne, Kim Darby, Glen Campbell, Jeremy Slate
Votes: 51,420 | Gross: $31.13M
The Original: Excellent
16. True Grit (2010)
PG-13 | 110 min | Drama, Western
A stubborn teenager enlists the help of a tough U.S. Marshal to track down her father's murderer.
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld, Josh Brolin
Votes: 357,370 | Gross: $171.24M
The Re-Adaptation: Outstanding
17. King Kong (1933)
Passed | 100 min | Adventure, Horror
A film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City.
Directors: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack | Stars: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot, Frank Reicher
Votes: 90,924 | Gross: $10.00M
The Original: Outstanding
18. King Kong (1976)
PG | 134 min | Adventure, Horror
A petroleum exploration expedition comes to an isolated island and encounters a colossal giant gorilla.
Director: John Guillermin | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, Jessica Lange, John Randolph
Votes: 35,520 | Gross: $52.61M
Remake 1: Woeful
19. King Kong (2005)
PG-13 | 187 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
A greedy film producer assembles a team of moviemakers and sets out for the infamous Skull Island, where they find more than just cannibalistic natives.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann
Votes: 446,615 | Gross: $218.08M
Remake 2: Excellent
20. The Debt (2007)
Not Rated | 100 min | Drama, Thriller
In 1965, Rachel Brener is one of 3 young Mossad agents who caught "The Surgeon of Birkenau" - a Nazi monster who was never brought to trial in Israel and is presumed dead, when in reality ... See full summary »
Director: Assaf Bernstein | Stars: Gila Almagor, Neta Garty, Edgar Selge, Itay Tiran
Votes: 1,001
The Original: Good
21. The Debt (I) (2010)
R | 113 min | Drama, Thriller
In 1965, three Mossad Agents cross into East Berlin to apprehend a notorious Nazi war criminal. Thirty years later, the secrets the Agents share come back to haunt them.
Director: John Madden | Stars: Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington, Tom Wilkinson, Jessica Chastain
Votes: 71,849 | Gross: $31.18M
The Remake: Excellent
22. Yojimbo (1961)
Not Rated | 110 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Eijirô Tôno, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yôko Tsukasa
Votes: 131,278
The Original: Outstanding
23. A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
R | 99 min | Action, Drama, Western
A wandering gunfighter plays two rival families against each other in a town torn apart by greed, pride, and revenge.
Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Gian Maria Volontè, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy
Votes: 232,517 | Gross: $14.50M
The Remake: An Equal
24. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
G | 92 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
An alien lands in Washington, D.C. and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe
Votes: 85,731
The Original: Superb
25. The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
PG-13 | 104 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
A remake of the 1951 classic science fiction film about an alien visitor and his giant robot counterpart who visit Earth.
Director: Scott Derrickson | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, Jaden Smith
Votes: 178,494 | Gross: $79.37M
The Remake: Uncool
26. Planet of the Apes (1968)
G | 112 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
An astronaut crew crash-lands on a planet where highly intelligent non-human ape species are dominant and humans are enslaved.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans
Votes: 192,984 | Gross: $33.40M
The Original: Outstanding
27. Planet of the Apes (2001)
PG-13 | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In 2029, an Air Force astronaut crash-lands on a mysterious planet where evolved, talking apes dominate a race of primitive humans.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Helena Bonham Carter, Tim Roth, Michael Clarke Duncan
Votes: 228,907 | Gross: $180.01M
The Remake: Uncool
28. The Mechanic (1972)
PG | 100 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
An aging hitman befriends a young man who wants to be a professional killer. Eventually it becomes clear that someone has betrayed them.
Director: Michael Winner | Stars: Charles Bronson, Jan-Michael Vincent, Keenan Wynn, Jill Ireland
Votes: 15,733 | Gross: $7.30M
The Original: Good
29. The Mechanic (2011)
R | 93 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
An elite hitman teaches his trade to an apprentice who has a connection to one of his previous victims.
Director: Simon West | Stars: Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Donald Sutherland, Tony Goldwyn
Votes: 171,566 | Gross: $29.12M
The Remake: Mediocre
30. Anything for Her (2008)
96 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
With no legal means left to him, a high school teacher devises a daring plan to rescue his wrongfully imprisoned wife from jail.
Director: Fred Cavayé | Stars: Vincent Lindon, Diane Kruger, Lancelot Roch, Olivier Marchal
Votes: 9,764
The Original: Excellent
31. The Next Three Days (2010)
PG-13 | 133 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A married couple's life is turned upside down when the wife is accused of a murder.
Director: Paul Haggis | Stars: Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Neeson, Michael Buie
Votes: 206,549 | Gross: $21.15M
The Remake: Passable
32. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Unrated | 127 min | Horror, Thriller
During an escalating zombie epidemic, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter and his TV executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.
Director: George A. Romero | Stars: David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger, Gaylen Ross
Votes: 128,502 | Gross: $5.10M
The Original: Outstanding
33. Dawn of the Dead (2004)
R | 101 min | Action, Horror
A nurse, a policeman, a young married couple, a salesman and other survivors of a worldwide plague that is producing aggressive, flesh-eating zombies, take refuge in a mega Midwestern shopping mall.
Director: Zack Snyder | Stars: Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Mekhi Phifer, Jake Weber
Votes: 272,282 | Gross: $59.02M
The Remake: Suprisingly good
34. Long Weekend (1978)
Not Rated | 97 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
When a suburban couple go camping for the weekend at a remote beach, they discover that nature isn't in an accommodating mood.
Director: Colin Eggleston | Stars: John Hargreaves, Briony Behets, Mike McEwen, Roy Day
Votes: 6,116
The Original: Excellent
35. Nature's Grave (2008)
R | 88 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A vacationing couple in the wilderness learns what happens when they disrespect nature.
Director: Jamie Blanks | Stars: Jim Caviezel, Claudia Karvan, Star, John Brumpton
Votes: 6,278
The Remake: Poor & Unnecessary
36. Straw Dogs (1971)
R | 113 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A young American and his English wife come to rural England and face increasingly vicious local harassment.
Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Susan George, Peter Vaughan, T.P. McKenna
Votes: 64,475
The Original: Outstanding
37. Straw Dogs (2011)
R | 110 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
Los Angeles screenwriter David Sumner relocates with his wife to her hometown in the deep South. There, while tensions build between them, a brewing conflict with locals becomes a threat to them both.
Director: Rod Lurie | Stars: James Marsden, Kate Bosworth, Alexander Skarsgård, James Woods
Votes: 35,814 | Gross: $10.32M
The Remake: Poor & Unnecessary
38. Total Recall (1990)
R | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
When a man goes in to have virtual vacation memories of the planet Mars implanted in his mind, an unexpected and harrowing series of events forces him to go to the planet for real - or is he?
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Rachel Ticotin
Votes: 354,308 | Gross: $119.39M
The Original: Excellent
39. Total Recall (I) (2012)
PG-13 | 118 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A factory worker, Douglas Quaid, begins to suspect that he is a spy after visiting Rekall - a company that provides its clients with implanted fake memories of a life they would like to have led - goes wrong and he finds himself on the run.
Director: Len Wiseman | Stars: Colin Farrell, Bokeem Woodbine, Bryan Cranston, Kate Beckinsale
Votes: 266,274 | Gross: $58.88M
The Remake: Uncool
40. Carrie (1976)
R | 98 min | Horror, Mystery
Carrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, John Travolta
Votes: 206,531 | Gross: $33.80M
The Original: Excellent
41. Carrie (2013)
R | 100 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A shy girl, outcast by her peers and sheltered by her religious mother, unleashes telekinetic terror on her small town after being pushed too far at her senior prom.
Director: Kimberly Peirce | Stars: Chloë Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore, Gabriella Wilde, Portia Doubleday
Votes: 148,144 | Gross: $35.27M
The Remake: Uncool and Unnecessary
42. Patrick (1978)
Unrated | 96 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A comatose hospital patient harasses and kills through his powers of telekinesis to claim his private nurse as his own.
Director: Richard Franklin | Stars: Susan Penhaligon, Robert Helpmann, Rod Mullinar, Bruce Barry
Votes: 3,961
The Original: Excellent
43. Patrick: Evil Awakens (2013)
Not Rated | 96 min | Horror
At a private clinic, a young nurse soon discovers that one of the comatose patients is quite sinister.
Director: Mark Hartley | Stars: Sharni Vinson, Rachel Griffiths, Charles Dance, Peta Sergeant
Votes: 4,191
The Remake: Watchable
44. The Jungle Book (1967)
G | 78 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Bagheera the Panther and Baloo the Bear have a difficult time trying to convince a boy to leave the jungle for human civilization.
Director: Wolfgang Reitherman | Stars: Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Louis Prima, Bruce Reitherman
Votes: 198,539 | Gross: $141.84M
The Original: Excellent
45. The Jungle Book (1994)
PG | 111 min | Adventure, Family, Romance
Rudyard Kipling's classic tale of Mowgli, the orphaned jungle boy raised by wild animals, and how he becomes king of the jungle.
Director: Stephen Sommers | Stars: Jason Scott Lee, Cary Elwes, Lena Headey, Sam Neill
Votes: 18,940 | Gross: $44.34M
Re-adaptation 1: pretty good
46. The Jungle Book (2016)
PG | 106 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
After a threat from the tiger Shere Khan forces him to flee the jungle, a man-cub named Mowgli embarks on a journey of self discovery with the help of panther Bagheera and free-spirited bear Baloo.
Director: Jon Favreau | Stars: Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba
Votes: 291,945 | Gross: $364.00M
Re-adaptation 2: Superb
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