In Hollywood, It’s a Reboot by Any Other Name
A NYT article I flagged from a few weeks back: “To Hollywood, ‘reboot’ is a four-letter word.” Indeed. The article provides a helpful list of “re”-terms:
THE REMAKE
Definition: Telling the exact same story as the original, with modern gadgets.
Example: “Poltergeist.”
THE REBOOT
Definition: Trying to recapture the glory of a dormant franchise.
Example: “Vacation.”
THE REVISIT
Definition: It’s really the same thing as a reboot.
Example(s): “Mad Max: Fury Road.” While promoting the film earlier this year, the director George Miller and the star Tom Hardy insisted it be called a revisit.
THE REIMAGINING
Definition: Acknowledges only the cherished entries in the franchise and ignores the others.
Examples: According to David Ellison, the producer of the recent “Terminator: Genisys,” it “is not a remake, it’s not a reboot, it’s not a sequel — it’s really a reimagining based on the Cameron source material.” Best that we all forget “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” (2003) and “Terminator Salvation” (2009).
“Jurassic World” also falls in this category. Even as early as the fall of 2013, the director Colin Trevorrow hesitated to use the word “reboot” while also saying goodbye to continuity from “The Lost World” (1997) and “Jurassic Park III (2001).”
THE RESET
Definition: New cast, same origin story. Needed when the previous entry is perceived to have failed creatively or financially. Skating by on brand recognition.
Examples: “Fantastic Four” (due in August) and “The Transporter Refueled” (set for September).
THE REVISE
Definition: Altering the continuity order of a franchise, to the edge of all logical sense.
Examples: The “Fast and the Furious” films. “Fast & Furious” (2009), “Fast Five” (2011) and “Fast & Furious 6” (2013) all take place before the events in “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” (which came out in 2006 and was the third film in the series). But “Furious 7,” which came out in April, takes places afterward. Not confusing at all.
Of course, all of these owe their origin to the Big Daddy of all the “re”-terms in Hollywood: Recycling.
Any of you happy with Hollywood’s “re”-whatever obsession?
For the rest of the NYT article, go here.