‘Vertigo’ and beyond: 10 classic movies that are currently being remade
By just typing the word ‘remake’, a cinephile across the world felt an inexplicable shudder down their spine, making them feel nauseous for just a moment before they continued updating their Letterboxd account. Remaking a movie is, usually, destroying a masterpiece, with a multitude of examples to point to, from 2015’s shocking attempt to recreate the magic of Point Break to 2016’s laughably undernourishing take on Ben-Hur.
Yet, while the bad press is, more often than not, justified, there remain some movies which buck the trend, with the Coen brothers’ take on the John Wayne western True Grit recapturing the magic of the original, and then some. In addition, it’s important to remember that John Carpenter’s iconic 1982 horror film The Thing was itself a remake of Christian Nyby’s The Thing from Another World, with the former being far superior.
So, what we can deduce from the history of remakes is unless you have a master filmmaker at the helm, it’s likely a modern reimagining of a classic movie will be utter guff and a shameless cash-in to boot. Still, this won’t stop ‘ingenious’ Hollywood studios and ‘enterprising’ producers from trying, with a whole host of remakes in the works from across the world.
Explore our list of upcoming remakes below, and let’s share them in a collective groan and occasional eyebrow-raise of approval at the eclectic bunch.
10 classic movies that are currently being remade:
Barbarella (Roger Vadim, 1968)
It seems rather impossible at the moment to Google anything without seeing a post somehow related to Sydney Sweeney, Hollywood’s latest golden child. As a result, it’s likely most people will have heard that the Euphoria star is due to appear in a remake of Roger Vadim’s cult classic sci-fi Barbarella, the tale of an astronaut sent on a bizarre mission to stop a scientist from destroying the galaxy.
The original 1968 film gave Hollywood icon Jane Fonda one of her first big breaks, and she’s been vocal on the remake, too, stating back in 2023 that she “tries not to” think about the remake because she’s worried how it will turn out.
Cliffhanger (Renny Harlin, 1993)
Renny Harlin’s action thriller based on a concept by mountain climber John Long saw Sylvester Stallone play a fellow climber who finds himself wrapped up in a heist of a US Treasury plane making its way through the Rocky Mountains. It was released to critical acclaim and made a decent box office taking in the process.
Stallone will return to his beloved role of Gabe Walker in a remake directed by Angel Has Fallen and Greenland’s Ric Roman Waugh, while Mark Biancullli has provided the script. Waugh told THR of the opportunity, “To be at the helm of the next chapter, scaling the Italian Alps with the legend himself, Sylvester Stallone, is a dream come true. It’s going to be a great challenge and blast taking this franchise to new heights, a responsibility I don’t take lightly”.
Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931)
Count Dracula has made his way into several motion pictures since his first arrival in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, and perhaps his best showing came from Bela Lugosi in Tod Browning’s 1931 pre-code horror movie. In the movie, Dracula emigrates from Transylvania to England, where he begins feasting on the blood of his unfortunate victims.
The vampiric Count has featured recently in the likes of Renfield and The Last Voyage of the Demeter, but Luc Besson will also be offering a bloodsucking cinema venture with his own vision of the classic tale. Christoph Waltz is said to have joined the cast for Dracula – A Love Tale, and Caleb Laundry is another star who’s believed to have been tapped up by the Leon and The Fifth Element director.
Escape from New York (John Carpenter, 1981)
The works of John Carpenter are well admired, from Halloween to The Thing and with his 1981 action classic Escape from New York, the legendary director cast Kurt Russell in one of his most iconic roles as Snake Plissken. Ex-Special Forces and federal prisoner Plissken is tasked with rescuing the US President from Manhattan Island, which has been turned into a massive maximum security prison.
The Radio Silence collective behind the upcoming modern version of Escape from New York has resisted calling it a “remake” at all, preferring the term “requel”, as per an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Made up of Tyler Gillett, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Chad Villella, Radio Silence are in the “early stages” of the “untouchable” movie but are aiming to do the film the love the utmost justice.
Highlander (Russell Mulcahy, 1986)
Queen had provided several songs for the soundtrack of Russell Mulcahy’s British-American fantasy action-adventure movie Highlander, released in 1986, which stars the likes of Christopher Lambert, Roxanne Hart and Sean Connery. The first movie in the franchise told of the end of an age-old war between immortal warriors, taking place over past and present storylines.
It’s been confirmed that a reboot of the cult classic movie is going ahead, with Henry Cavill set to star in the lead role. John Wick director Chad Stahelski has also signed for the film after signing a deal with producers Lionsgate. After four sequels and three TV series, the hopes are that Stahelski and Cavill can return Highlander to its former glory.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Philip Kaufman, 1978)
There are some ideas that, for one reason or another, always find themselves being constantly remade, and the sci-fi horror tale Invasion of the Body Snatchers is one of them. The most well-known version was directed by Philip Kaufman in 1978, but it was a remake of Don Siegal’s film from 1956. Well, if you wanted more from the concept, you’re going to get it, with Justin Lin attached to direct the film about cosmic seeds that zombify and take over the minds of humans.
Little else is known about the forthcoming remake, but Lin is most well-known for helming six of the Fast and Furious movies, so expect the new sci-fi to have a strange focus on diesel engines and the importance of family.
The Killer (John Woo, 1989)
When it comes to the works of the inimitable John Woo, the audience knows that they’re going to be in for a hell of an action ride, and the director’s 1989 Hong Kong crime movie The Killer served as his bridge to Hollywood success. Chow Yun-fat’s character is tasked with performing one last hit following an accident, and the film is both a tribute to Martin Scorsese and an inspiration to Quentin Tarantino.
Woo is now set to remake his own movie with Game of Thrones’ Nathalie Emmanuel taking on Chow’s famous role. The film is being shot in Paris, and Woo is said to have made the rare move to remake his own work, having been inspired by the Parisian new wave gangster works of Jean-Pierre Melville and Alain Delon when he made the original whilst also being drawn to the idea of a female protagonist.
The Naked Gun (David Zucker, 1988)
Of all the films on this list, a remake of David Zucker’s iconic spoof comedy The Naked Gun is one that really piques the eyebrows. With big-budget comedies few and far between in contemporary cinema, many movie fans would welcome a reimagining of The Naked Gun, especially when the late Leslie Nielsen has been replaced as Detective Frank Drebin by Liam Neeson in an inspired bit of casting.
The Lonely Island member Akiva Schaffer will be directing the movie, with the writer and all-around creative having plenty of experience with silly comedy material, having previously helmed several episodes of I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson as well as the beloved 2016 film Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.
Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
You would have thought that the movies of iconic British filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock would be off-limits for a potential remake, but even the masters of cinema are not safe. The seminal horror Psycho was remade by Gus Van Sant in 1998, and now Robert Downey Jr is set to star in a remake of Vertigo, the celebrated thriller about a police detective who becomes obsessed with a woman he’s tailing.
Though the original is a classic, this is the kind of remake that could actually be something special, especially as it will be penned by Steven Knight, the same writer who brought Peaky Blinders and Tom Hardy’s Locke to life.
Working Girl (Mike Nichols, 1988)
Finishing off the list is perhaps the most lesser-known movie of the bunch, Mike Nichols’ Working Girl from 1988. With a star-studded cast that included the likes of Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver, Joan Cusack, and Alec Baldwin, the beloved comedy told the story of a boss who steals an idea from his secretary, only for the latter to seek revenge in a strange, mad-cap plot of her own.
A novel concept with ripe potential for a remake, Selena Gomez is the opportunist who will be producing the new vision, with Ilana Pena penning an adaptation of the screenplay. Little else is known about the project, but if Gomez is the producer, it’s likely she’ll be in front of the camera, too.
