I Didn't Realise How Frequently Remakes Happen, But These 13 Films Have Been Remade Over And Over Again

At some point, you gotta wonder, how many Snow White films do we need as a society.

It may seem like recently there's been no shortage of reboots of classic shows and films, but I'm here to say, the "art" of remaking classics is far from new!

CBC / Hulu / Via giphy.com

Here are 13 of the most popular movie remakes and franchise reboots in the film world...

1. The first A Star Is Born starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March was released in 1937. The title has since been remade four times.

United Artists / Warner Bros. Pictures

In 1951, the second adaptation of the movie was released as a TV film starring Kathleen Crowley and Conrad Nagel. In 1954, the story returned to the big screen with a Judy Garland and James Mason version. 1976 brought us the beloved Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson adaptation. And in 2018, the most recent version of the film starred Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. 

Every iteration of the film has been laden with awards. In total, the movies have received 25 Academy Award nominations and three wins.

Warner Bros. Pictures / Via youtube.com

The original 1937 version won the Oscar for Best Writing (original story), the 1976 film won the Oscar for Best Music (original song), and the 2018 adaption won the Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures Oscar.

2. Beginning as a comic strip in 1924, Annie has been put on stage three times and adapted to the screen four times.

Sony Pictures / Columbia Pictures

Eight years after the Little Orphan Annie comic strip debuted in post-WWI American newspapers, the film of the same name hit the big screen. Five years after that in 1938, a second adaptation of the film was released. 

The first two films were written with the assumption that viewers were already familiar with the story of Annie, and picked up in the middle of her story after being adopted by Daddy Warbucks. In the 1982 and 2014 versions – both simply titled Annie – her entire story from orphanage to luxury fills out the plot more. However, the 2014 film starring Quvenzhané Wallis is the only adaption to be set in modern times and not the Great Depression era.

In 1999, there was also a TV film adaptation, called Annie, that followed the 1982 theatrical release closely, and in 2021 there was a TV musical special called Annie Live!

Columbia Pictures / Via youtube.com

3. There have been 12 films in the King Kong franchise so far, and three of them are actually the same origin story of the titular beast.

RKO/Paramount/Universal/Warner Bros.

The first film came out in 1933, and has been ranked as the greatest horror film of all time. 43 years later, in 1976, the first remake of the film came out and was also called King Kong. Almost 72 years after the original, another King Kong was released in 2005. Then, in 2017, Kong: Skull Island rebooted the character once again to give us another take on the primate's origin.

Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) is also a remake in the King Kong franchise.

Toho/Legendary Pictures/Warner Bros. Pictures

The first King Kong vs. Godzilla came out in 1962, and was later remade in 2021 as Godzilla vs. Kong, to serve as a sequel to the King Kong canon established by Kong: Skull Island (2017) and Godzilla: King of Monsters (2019). And, of course, Godzilla is a pretty remade monster as well!

4. Little Shop of Horrors started out as a film in 1960, but then became a Broadway musical before being adapted into a film again.

The Filmgroup/Warner Bros. Pictures

The original film bares little resemblance to its musical successor, aside from the focus being on a man-eating alien plant. The reimagined 1982 Broadway musical introduced more campy elements that served to transition the story from a purely dark comedy, to something a bit more jazzy and fun. This version of the story featured rock and doo-wop tunes that became the source material for the 1986 theatrical remake.

It was reported in 2020 that there would be a second theatrical remake of Little Shop of Horrors starring Taron Egerton and Scarlett Johansson, but in September 2022, an announcement was made that the project was cancelled.

MTVNews / Via youtube.com

^ Somehow Chris Evans was also involved!

5. Becoming what might just be the most remade non-religious Christmas story ever, the Charles Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol, has birthed a whopping 16 adaptations!

Paramount Pictures/Disney / CBS

In total, there are over 147 adaptations of the 1843 novel, including plays, musicals, animations, films, all media titled Scrooge, and early radio productions. 

The bigger remakes range from A Christmas Carol (1938) to Scrooged (1988) and to The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992); probably the most widely viewed remake is Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983).

A beloved addition to the A Christmas Carol canon, here's the trailer for The Muppet Christmas Carol:

Disney / Via youtube.com

6. The prison sports comedy,The Longest Yard, originally came out in 1974, but has since had three remakes including two international ones.

Paramount Pictures / Sony Pictures

The first remake was released in 2001 in the UK and was called Mean Machine. This title comes from the fact that the UK release of The Longest Yard (1974) was actually titled The Mean Machine.

There was also a 2015 Egyptian remake of the movie called Captain Masr, and in both of these international adaptations, the sport the prisoners play is changed from American football to Association football. 

There was also the well-known 2005 remake starring Adam Sandler, appropriately named The Longest Yard.

youtube.com

When briefly talking about the remake on The Bill Simmons Podcast, Adam Sandler got real about his version by saying, "I was like, if they’re doing it, I might as well be in it. Compared to the first one, not even close. It ended up doing alright. Paid for some things in our house… It made no sense."

7. Originally starting out as a children's novel in 1972, Freaky Friday has been adapted five times into film!

Disney

Every adaptation of the film has been made by Disney, and follows the same mother-daughter body switching format — though the daughters' interests vary between films. For instance, Jodie Foster's character in the 1976 version was into water skiing, whereas Lindsay Lohan's character in the 2003 film was in a rock band. 

The original film starred Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster and gained three Golden Globe nominations. The 1995 made-for-TV-version starred Shelley Long and Gaby Hoffmann; the 2003 version notably starred Lindsay Lohan and Jaime Lee Curtis; and the 2018 Disney Channel version starred Cozi Zuehlsdorff and Heidi Blickenstaff.

In 2020, Freaky debuted as the only remake to change up the Freaky Friday formula significantly.

Universal Pictures / Via youtube.com

Not only was the film a slasher/horror comedy instead of a family film, it involved a serial killer (Vince Vaughn) swapping bodies with a teenage girl (Kathryn Newton), instead of the plot revolving around a mother and daughter switching bodies. In that sense, it may even serve as a spiritual remake of The Hot Chick (2002) as well.

8. The Mummy is not only a film with multiple remakes, but is also somewhat a franchise of remakes.

Universal Pictures

The original 1932 The Mummy saga starred Boris Karloff, 1999's The Mummy film series famously starred Brendan Fraser, and the 2017 Tom Cruise-led The Mummy film also rebooted the classic story for a third time.

1932's The Mummy was succeeded by five sequels, not including the 1959 British film titled The Mummy, which acted as more of a combination of two The Mummy US sequels. The 1999 series reboot had two sequels, not including The Scorpion King spin-off franchise.

Unfortunately, 2017's The Mummy was such a commercial failure that the big sequel plans for it were cancelled almost immediately.

Universal Pictures / Via youtube.com

Universal Pictures was planning an entire franchise for its monsters called "The Dark Universe Cinematic Universe" (or DUCU), but after the low ratings of The Mummy reboot, the plans were scrapped indefinitely.

9. The story of Snow White has been adapted to film nine times since 1902.

Disney / Relativity Media / Universal Pictures

In 1902, the very first screen adaptation of Snow White was a silent film. Just 14 years later, the first film remake was released, and acted as inspiration for a young Walt Disney. He would then go on to make Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – his first feature-length film in 1937!

Other Snow White adaptations over the years include the 1933 Betty Boop version Snow-White, Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), and Mirror Mirror (2012).

Disney

To bring this remake roster up to 10 films, in 2024, Disney is expected to release a live-action adaptation of their animated 1937 film, this time titled Snow White.

10. Her story being known to many, the Guinness Book of World Records awarded Cinderella the Story Most Portrayed On Film (when you count adult videos and parodies as well). There have been 23 theatrical releases of the title, and that's not even including the iconic A Cinderella Story franchise!

Disney

Starting with the first adaptation of the classic, Cinderella (1899) was actually a 6-minute French film. Though also a silent film, the first movie remake and full-length adaptation was Cinderella (1914) which comparably had a 52-minute runtime.

Disney would go on to contribute to Cinderella's remake history with a 1922 animated short, the classic full-length 1950s animated film, the 1997 first live-action remake for Disney starring Brandy and Whitney Houston, and the 2015 live-action film starring Lily James and Cate Blanchette — all titled Cinderella.

The other theatrical remakes of the princess story include the 1957 made-for-TV live-action Cinderella starring Julie Andrews, and 2021's Cinderella starring Camila Cabello.

Disney / Via youtube.com

And bonus fact: 13 of the Cinderella film remakes are actually international releases!

11. The Jane Austen romantic drama, Persuasion, has been imagined in film media three times, and as a TV mini-serial twice.

BBC / ITV / Netflix

The first adaptation of the novel was a BBC limited series in 1960, which is, unfortunately, pretty much lost to time. The next adaptation was also a mini-series, this time created for ITV in 1971. 

In 1995, BBC created the first film adaptation of the classic and, to seemingly follow the pattern, ITV created the first film remake of the romance in 2007.  

In 2022, Netflix released a modernised take on Persuasion that diverged from the source material in terms of diversity and diction, but visually was set in the period of the novel.

Netflix / Via youtube.com

This remake, starring Dakota Johnson, was ultimately criticised for the choice to modernise the dialogue and have the protagonist regularly break the fourth wall. These choices basically changed a lot of the character, Anne Elliot's, personality — and it wasn't well received.

12. Being known the world over as an iconic figure in pop culture since 1897, Dracula has inspired seven individual films. This includes Nosferatu, which is (basically) based on the Bram Stoker creature.

Film Arts Guild / Universal Pictures

The unauthorised German silent film, Nosferatu, was released in 1922, and was technically the first adaptation of the Dracula character. After Universal Studios acquired the rights to the character in 1930, the first film entitled Dracula – and the first ~authorised~ film adaptation – was released in 1931. Technically, you could call this movie the first remake film if you count Nosferatu, which many do considering how closely the characters and events follow the novel.

Later, there would be remakes of both Dracula and Nosferatu, including 1958 and 1979's Dracula, Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), which starred Gary Oldman as a more prince-like vampire rather than a Count.

At least for now, the Count Dracula remakes seem to be on a short pause, especially since the cancellation of Universal's DUCU. However, the most recent addition to Dracula lore will see Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult star in Renfield (2023), a horror comedy about Count Dracula's assistant.

Universal Pictures / Via youtube.com

13. And lastly, the origin story of Batman has been brought to film five times.

Warner Bros. Pictures

The first adaption of the hero's story was a 1943 fifteen-chaptered serial that had a runtime of 260 minutes, and starred Lewis Wilson as Batman. After this, the only other iteration of the Batman origin story before Warner Bros. acquired the character was 1966's Batman starring Adam West, and much of the cast from the earlier TV series. 

Warner Bros. went on to release Batman (1989) – starring Michael Keaton as the titular hero – and its three sequels, which also featured Val Kilmer and George Clooney as Batman recasted. 

They later released Batman Begins (2005), which brought in the Christian Bale era of the character, and The Batman (2022), which introduced Robert Pattinson as "Vengeance".

Warner Bros. Pictures / Via youtube.com

That's it for now! What are your favourite serial film remakes? Let us know in the comments.