I recently learned that there is a remake of The Karate Kid coming down the pipe.  However, he does Kung-Fu instead of Karate, it happens in another country, and lots of other changes.  In essence, this isn’t a remake but a name theft.  They’ve take the name “The Karate Kid” and are slapping it on a movie with a few similar themes.  On the other hand, the theaters in recent years have been littered with remakes.  Taking an old movie and essentially re-shooting it with maybe a few minor changes, or a couple of big drastic ones that either ruin the movie or ultimately have no impact.

Wouldn’t it be nice if instead of remaking an old film they were to take an old film and tell the story from another angle?  Take The Karate Kid for example.  Rather than retread the same ground, why not tell The Johnny Lawrence Story instead – the story of a bully who learns that violence isn’t answer through the ongoing conflict with a scrawny kid named Daniel LaRusso.  Or rather than doing yet another remake of Hamlet, make Gertrude instead – the original story from the point of view of the mother watching her son go mad.  There are so many stories that this can be done to.  Pick another character and turn the tale inside-out and view the whole thing in a new light.

A man can dream…