Lots of Hollywood movies flop. The notion that maintaining movie franchises is a safer option for the big studios to pump out every year is a financial decision that they’ve determined to be most profitable. But there are still John Carters and After Earths that come from original material or unproduced source material that are magnificent failures. Everyone loves their Inceptions and Loopers but part of the beauty and worth of these movies is their rarity. It’s also probable that there would be no Inception without Christopher Nolan rebooting the Batman story, updating it for a slick and cynical generation, and doing so with clear and abundant appreciation for the source material rather than snobbish perfunctoriness.
If we look at the movies themselves, trying to ignore the “this shouldn’t have been made!” attitude that plagues so many responses to contemporary blockbusters, there has been some gorgeous work done to artistically reimagine stories and characters that the filmmakers obviously love just as much as the biggest fanboy or girl. Marc Webb’s reboot of The Amazing Spider-Man is a masterful retelling of the Peter Parker origin tale, done with more heart and teenage realism than any movie previous. Likewise, Man of Steel may not be the image of Superman that exists in the hearts and minds of many, but Zack Snyder’s technical precision and narrative subtlety is a worthy companion to the mythological pantheon of Superman, and cinematic history as a whole. This is something remakes at their best can and will do.
