I mentioned the remake of "Pelham 123" in a recent post. In fact this movie was remade in 1998 as well as 2009.
I mentioned the awful remake of "Spider-man" in a previous post.
My question is this: why does Hollywood feel it necessary to remake good movies?
Another movie which I associate in my mind with Pelham (perhaps because they were made around the same time) is "Assault on Precinct 13". The original was directed by John Carpenter in 1976 (IMDB rating 7.6). The remake was done in 2005 (IMDB rating 6.5).
What will they remake next?
"The Shawshank Redemption" was made in 1994. Is it due for a remake?!
"The Godfather" is even older, dating from 1972. Surely that could be improved?!
And "12 Angry Men" was made in 1952. And it's in black and white. Surely that needs to me remade?!
I should say that I don't really have a problem with movies that are transported from a different language/culture/context. If this didn't happen then we would have no "Magnificent Seven" and no "Fistful of Dollars". No issue there.
My problem is the ones that are simply remade because people think they can do a better job, or perhaps because they think they can make easy money with a proven formula.