Why is MTV remaking The Rocky Horror Picture Show?

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Originally Posted by SzczerbiakManiac

My dismay over the announcement to re-make RHPS was because I think it was a poor business decision.

You were worried about their bottom line? Why? My last concern when dealing with entertainment is whether someone makes money or not.

Not only can one not succeed at the attempt to deliberately make a cult movie, there are some things that simply cannot be made better, even if they are made better. I'll explain...

Wait, if you were deliberately making a cult movie, you'd want it to be a flop, not a cash cow.

Let's say someone in Hollywood got the wild idea to remake Gone with the Wind or The Wizard of Oz. The could hire the best writer, director, actors, designers, etc. Even if they made a fantastic film, it could never be "better" than the 1939 version because those films are so ingrained in our psyches they're sacrosanct.

Wait again. What do these movies have to do with remaking a cult movie? These are the exact opposite of a cult movie.

Also - remakes aren't usually supposed to be "better" than the originals. They are made in various flavors - to take a good idea and make it current, take a good idea and take it further, take a good idea and push it into a different context, take a good idea and look at another angle...

In any case, I think the first thing you said goes against the rest of the post.

For the record, I love Rocky Horror variations.

I have to say your whole post confuses me.



Remakes and book-to-movie adaptations make me simultaneously excited and frightened, and I make no bones about it. Something that actually gets to "beloved" status is going to get all sorts of reactions as someone tries to re-imagine it. I try to take each on a case-by-case basis. For my part, I'd like to see a complete redo of RH, but that's only because I don't have as much emotionally invested in it as many others do. If you hate the idea of anyone touching your beloved film (believe me, I've got my own list locked in a vault somewhere) that's totally justified.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

Wait, if you were deliberately making a cult movie, you'd want it to be a flop, not a cash cow.

I'm not sure cult film automatically equals flop. RHPS has made nearly $150 million over the years. It cost just about a million to make.

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

What do these movies have to do with remaking a cult movie? These are the exact opposite of a cult movie.

I used them as an example of beloved films, not cult movies.

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

Also - remakes aren't usually supposed to be "better" than the originals.

Sure, they're supposed to be better. But how many times are they better?

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

In any case, I think the first thing you said goes against the rest of the post.
I have to say your whole post confuses me.

That's okay, I confuse myself sometimes.

And it probably doesn't help that I was posting while very tired and in severe pain.

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

If you hate the idea of anyone touching your beloved film (believe me, I've got my own list locked in a vault somewhere) that's totally justified.

For me, and I suspect a lot of other RHPS fans, it's not so much that the movie is beloved, it's the experience. I don't do Rocky every week to see master cinematic opus. I go for the experience of audience participation mixed with live action mixed with filmed images mixed with some pretty damn good songs. Without all of those things RHPS is just another movie musical.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by SzczerbiakManiac

I'm not sure cult film automatically equals flop. RHPS has made nearly $150 million over the years. It cost just about a million to make.

Well yeah, but the vast bulk of that was AFTER it became a cult classic.

I'm trying to think of a good example of a cult classic that did big numbers from the start. So far I'm coming up dry...