Hollywood remakes of european (mainly french) movies

Grisu

Grisu

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well I watched Nikita last night, and it came to me, why so many popular french movies are remade by Hollywood (usually being very similar) instead of just going the usual way of dubbing / subtitling.
It's even more confusing as the originals are usually (IMHO) much better than the remakes.
So why do they remake them? Would the american audienc not accept french movies?

Just so you know what I'm talking about, just a few titles:
Le Retour -> Sommersby
Trois Hommes et un Couffin -> Three Men and a Baby
La Cage aux Folles -> The Birdcage
Nikita -> The Assassin
La Totale -> True Lies
Abre los Ojos -> Vanilla Sky (ok this one's spanish not french :) )
 
I don't think most Americans would sit through a subtitled movie, and dubbing movies really sucks.

The UK has a similar issue with "foreign" films (not as bad though) - I think it's an inferiority complex around thinking English is the only important language. ;)
 
There are several french movies I would always prefer in their french version(some havn't been touched by hollywood)
The Professional
Crimson River(I think thats the title, it too has Jean Reno)
And naturally...The Brotherhood of the Wolf

Its rather obvious that Hollywood(or rather its writers) are are out of ideas
 
quite a few Americans told me that they would not watch 'foreign propaganda crap, and besides, the French suck, so I won't see a french movie.'
 
anarres said:
I don't think most Americans would sit through a subtitled movie, and dubbing movies really sucks.

The UK has a similar issue with "foreign" films (not as bad though) - I think it's an inferiority complex around thinking English is the only important language. ;)
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Actually, this is one area where I suppose my poor hearing pays dividends. I've become so used to watching T.V. with closed captioning on and movies with subtitles on that it doesn't bother me at all.

It's not just necessary for 'foreign language' films, by the way. I would not have had a clue what those folks in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels were saying if it weren't for the subtitles being on. :D
 
Putting the US bashing aside I do think Hollywood is doing nothing but stealing/buying the names and plots of old movies and comic books these days.

Not to mention digging up good movies like the Mask and making a pointless sequal. Yuk.

Anyway, Brotherhood of the Wolf was remade by Hollywood? I guess my version is french since its is dubbed in English with French credits?
 
anarres said:
I don't think most Americans would sit through a subtitled movie, and dubbing movies really sucks.

The UK has a similar issue with "foreign" films (not as bad though) - I think it's an inferiority complex around thinking English is the only important language. ;)
Click to expand...

Why would dubbed movies suck?

I mean, almost all the foreign movies we have are dubbed. So what? If you do it properly, you don't even notice it's dubbed.
 
KaeptnOvi said:
well I watched Nikita last night, and it came to me, why so many popular french movies are remade by Hollywood (usually being very similar) instead of just going the usual way of dubbing / subtitling.
It's even more confusing as the originals are usually (IMHO) much better than the remakes.
So why do they remake them? Would the american audienc not accept french movies?

Just so you know what I'm talking about, just a few titles:
Le Retour -> Sommersby
Trois Hommes et un Couffin -> Three Men and a Baby
La Cage aux Folles -> The Birdcage
Nikita -> The Assassin
La Totale -> True Lies
Abre los Ojos -> Vanilla Sky (ok this one's spanish not french :) )
Click to expand...

I think the American audience simply needs to feel a bit closer to the story. I mean when they watch a film, where people speak english, but it is clear the story is set in France or Spain, they can't really put themselves in the film character's place - "oh yeah, this can't really happen here, look, they're french, the americans don't act like that".

I'd say they are simply lazy, or worse - ignorant. Dismiss a movie just because it is subtitled/dubbed, that is rather stupid from my point of view.
 
From my perspective, being a tri-lingual european, I think the americans are afraid of any movie that doesn't fit into their (very) distorted picture of the world outside US borders.

Don't forget that Yanqui movies are shown all around the globe, with indiscutable success even if some of them clearly are 'propaganda crap' as a post above said.

In short, i would just blame the narrow minds of certain US citizens.
 
Bugfatty300 said:
Anyway, Brotherhood of the Wolf was remade by Hollywood? I guess my version is french since its is dubbed in English with French credits?
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not that I know of, as Esckey said, some of the ones he listed haven't been touched by hollywood, I guess Brotherhood of the Wolf is one of them

Anyway, another reason I heard for the remakes was the the american audience wouldn't go to the cinema to see a movie with actors they don't know :crazyeye:
 
I've seen La Femme Nikita and Point Of No Return (the U.S. copy) and I personally think Point Of No Return was a better movie. For one thing, and I notice this with many French films, I can't stand the background music. It simply drives me up a wall.
 
VRWCAgent said:
I've seen La Femme Nikita and Point Of No Return (the U.S. copy) and I personally think Point Of No Return was a better movie. For one thing, and I notice this with many French films, I can't stand the background music. It simply drives me up a wall.
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hmm, didn't notice the background music at all yesterday. the only thing I liked more in the point of no return was Bridget Fonda ;) the rest of the movie doesn't live up to the original, IMHO

another curious thing: Why do they call it "La Femme Nikita" in the US when die original french title was just Nikita? :confused:
 
KaeptnOvi said:
well I watched Nikita last night, and it came to me, why so many popular french movies are remade by Hollywood (usually being very similar) instead of just going the usual way of dubbing / subtitling.
It's even more confusing as the originals are usually (IMHO) much better than the remakes.
Click to expand...
It seems the situation bugged French director Luc Besson ("Nikita", "Léon" etc.) to the point where he started to make his movies in English - just in order not to have to go through the ordeal of seeing the Hollywood-hacks butcher them.:goodjob:
 
Verbose said:
It seems the situation bugged French director Luc Besson ("Nikita", "Léon" etc.) to the point where he started to make his movies in English - just in order not to have to go through the ordeal of seeing the Hollywood-hacks butcher them.:goodjob:
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....now he butchers them himself ;)
(can anybody say Taxi :eek: )
 
KaeptnOvi said:
....now he butchers them himself ;)
(can anybody say Taxi :eek: )
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Lessee, he wrote the script but didn't direct that piece of junk, I seem to recall.:)
 
I agree with anarres. Dubbed movies suck, and americans notoriously dislike subtitles.
 
:sad: Insomiac,eventhough it wasnt an french film,but i think hollywood gone too far by replacing Stellan Skarsgaard for Al Pacino.And the script was close to been written by a 10 year old
 
luiz said:
I agree with anarres. Dubbed movies suck, and americans notoriously dislike subtitles.
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I disagree,i got adjusted to it by habitually using the close-captioned even if it consist my own language.But on the former,it is downright insulting when a english language is overlapping the native tounge of another language.
 
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