Remakes, Remakes, and more Remakes

What is up with Hollywood today?  Are new fresh ideas really hard to come by?  What's with all the 80s remakes of late ... and those being planned?

This all stems from the kids having watched the new Karate Kid at their dad's house (I believe) and wanting to watch the original on Netflix last night.  I loved the Karate Kid movie, and even enjoyed the sequels.  However I hated the fact that they were remaking it.  I have no desire to see the new one ever.  I might see it eventually but I'm not going to go out of my way to do it and will choose it behind whatever else might be my options at the time.

It seems that Hollywood is in full gear with remaking the 80s right now.  "Karate Kid" was just done, "Clash of the Titans" as well as "Wall Street" ... and there are plans to remake "Footloose", "Commando", "The Crow", "Porky's", "Short Circuit", "Top Gun", and others as well.

WHY?

Why is it that so many of the Hollywood classics are being re-made?  Are they running out of new ideas?  Honestly it just seems that instead of having an original thought they want to make money on movies that succeeded before.  Most of those movies don't have special effects which would make the movies better if redone today, and they were classics of their times.  Do they really think remaking them is going to make them better?  What are they going to do to improve on them?  Even if they are just going to remake them as "sequels" are they really even going to come close to the originals?  No 'Crow' has ever come close to the first, what are you really going to do with "Top Gun" to make it worthy of that name and make it interesting, and what about the others?

Ok, so maybe that's not entirely fair.  Most ideas play off ideas that someone else has had previously and there are just new twists and new ways to tell stories that have been told for ages.  The remake though isn't trying to put a new twist on an old story though, it's just retelling the same story.

There are also some fairly unique and new ideas put into the movies each year too I suppose.  Take Avatar for example.  I loved it and found it pretty original and it was awesome to look at ... but even that I suppose could be said to follow an oft used theme where group 'A' wants something group 'B' has and thinks they are below them, then someone in group 'A' gets to know them and realizes that group 'A' is in the wrong and there is much more to group 'B' than thought and sides with them to eventually turn the battle.

Heck, I'm even guilty of watching a number of remakes and really enjoying them, often times not even having seen the original.  Most of these movies I've noticed come originally from the 70s or earlier.  Movies such as "The Thomas Crown Affair", "Get Carter", etc... are all remakes that I haven't seen the original of and honestly don't have a desire to but like the remakes.  Perhaps it has something to do with growing up with those movies (for me the 80s) and remembering them for what they are and not wanting to see them ripped off because they are classics of your time.

I suppose one reason to remake movies besides refreshing the franchise that makes some sense is today's movie producers are capable of much, much better visual effects.  It makes some sense to remake effects heavy movies from ages past giving them a new look and feel with visuals well beyond what was available when the movies were originally made.  In fact I don't mind a movie remake as much in a visually heavy movie but one that doesn't have a lot of effects and just tells a story (and did it well the first time) ... why remake it?  It doesn't really make the movie new though, and perhaps those who watched them originally feel the same as I do about the remakes currently being done.

I suppose just like anything else Hollywood is just a business looking to make money.  If something succeeded in the past such as these movies why not try to capitalize on that and make your money.  Other businesses do.  However it still irks me a bit that they're messing with my classics and I'd prefer to see more new ideas or at least new ways to tell old ideas instead of seeing something I watched 20 years ago just get re-done and put back on the big screen...