There is safety in the familiar. This is why so many movies have sequels made, or get remakes, rather than having serious attempts made at something new and original. If there was any question that no movie is safe from being potentially remade, news has come down that apparently somebody is interested in remaking The Princess Bride.
As one can imagine, the idea of remaking the fairy tale film that seems to be not just liked, but absolutely beloved by pretty much the entire English speaking world, has not been well received by those fans. However, it's possible nobody had quite as good a response to this news as Westley himself, Cary Elwes, who modified one of his most famous lines from the film to respond to the remake report on social media.
For a lot of people, called The Princess Bride a "perfect movie" isn't even hyperbole. While the film wasn't a box office hit in its day, it was a film that benefited from the growing video rental market of the time. A lot of people discovered the movie on VHS and it became a cult hit, though now the movie is so popular we can drop the "cult" bit.
Cary Elwes is echoing a largely held belief that remaking great movies badly has the potential to damage the original. While I'm not sure I agree with the sentiment, the concept behind remakes at their heart is the idea that something about the original could be done better. Whether you're talking about remaking The Princess Bride or another widely loved film, there are going to be a lot of people who don't believe that's the case.
As far as what the odds are that we could actually see such a remake, it's hard to say. The comment comes from a Variety profile of Norman Lear, who produced the original film. Sony CEO Tony Vinciquerra is the one saying that some person or persons have approached him with an interest in remaking the film. It sounds like these are names we would know if we heard them if they are, in fact, very famous people.
Depending on how famous they are, how much pull they have in the industry, and how badly they want to make the movie, it's possible something like this could actually happen. Although, based on the largely negative reaction the idea is now getting, they might be thinking twice.
Of course, if there were serious negotiations going on about remaking the movie, it's unlikely the CEO of Sony would be talking so openly about it, so we can probably all relax, at least for now.
The desire to remake The Princess Bride makes sense. It's a well loved movie and if you grew up loving it, the idea of being part of a new version is certainly attractive. Of course, there's no need to bring the film to a new generation. The new generation has easy access to the original movie. The idea of a remake isn't shocking, but seeing the movie actually made again, seems, well, inconceivable.,
