It seems like almost every movie from the past has the potential to get remade by film studios these days, often to disappointing results. This can be for a variety of reasons, ranging from reboots not resembling what came before it to trying too hard to replicate exactly what happened in the original.
In some cases, the remake just doesn’t live up to the original at all, while in other cases, there just never seemed to be a need for the remake at all. The original wouldn’t even be that old in those situations. That said, a handful of remakes are actually just as good, if not better than what came before.
However, this is about the most baffling remakes ever made. It doesn’t always have to be the remakes that were considered the worst, just the ones that really made little to no sense to do, whether it’s because it was too soon after the original or because they missed the boat in some way.
Oldboy (2013)
This is something that happens far too often in the world of moviemaking. A great film is made internationally only for someone in the United States to find a way to remake it in English. The end result is often a misfire as the aforementioned The Departed is the exception, not the rule.
In 2013, this happened again as Oldboy was remade after being considered one of the best films ever made in South Korea. The original is held in high esteem for the shocking plot twists and incredibly well-executed action sequences.
Doing a remake of it a decade later was questionable, though the film had serious talent behind it with Spike Lee in the director’s chair and Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Olsen in the lead roles. The issue is that this remake is clearly steps behind what the original achieved, and no aspect hits as hard as it originally did.
The Mummy (2017)
In a few cases, films get remade several times over, which is the case with The Mummy. A remake of a 1932 film, the 1999 iteration is popular and beloved with millennials. It’s a fun action-adventure romp with a great cast that spawned a franchise and marked Dwayne Johnson’s first foray into acting.
The lackluster third installment had only come out nine years before the 2017 remake of the original. The idea for this was to start what was going to be known as the “Dark Universe,” putting Universal Monsters like the Mummy and Frankenstein in a shared universe.
This was one of those cases of trying to force a shared universe because things like the MCU were performing well. Even with Tom Cruise as the star, The Mummy was widely panned. It lacked the fun of the 1999 franchise, and people weren’t interested in a take on the story that was taken this seriously.
The Lion King (2019)
The history of Disney’s live-action remakes has been a mixed bag and that’s being generous. The films have mostly all made a lot of money but the quality has been severely lacking when compared to the animated originals they stem from.
In 2019, they chose to do a “live-action” remake of The Lion King even though the vast majority of the film is CGI. Disney even now touts it as the highest-grossing animated movie of all time. While the financial success was there, critics were less than thrilled.
1994’s The Lion King is one of the best movies of its time, yet this version was met with a mixed response. The problem was that it lacked a lot of the heart from the original, and while the visuals were impressive, the animals looking so realistic meant the expressions from the cartoon couldn’t be replicated, leaving it somewhat emotionless.
Ben-Hur (2016)
The 2010s really marked a time when remakes were coming at a rapid rate and that was as evident as ever in 2016. The decision was made to give the world a new take on Ben-Hur. The 1925 silent film was well received and the 1959 remake is considered one of the best and most impressive films ever made.
That remake was understandable also given that we’ve moved on from silent films to talkies. However, remaking it in 2016 proved to be a swing and a miss. This was intended to be a new interpretation of sorts but it was panned by critics everywhere.
This version was criticized for not having enough new ideas to be this fresh retelling and it tried to make up for it with an overuse of CGI and questionable editing. On top of the poor reviews, Ben-Hur was also a massive flop commercially, grossing just $94 million on a $110 million budget.
Mean Girls (2024)
This is one of those cases where a remake isn’t actually bad but certain aspects made it an odd remake. For starters, the original Mean Girls was only 20 years old when this arrived and remains something that people rewatch consistently, so a new version wasn’t needed.
However, going the route of making it an adaptation of the stage play rather than the actual film was an interesting choice that did something new. The problem was that it was oddly never marketed as a musical, so there are plenty of stories of audience members being confused when characters broke out into song.
Another issue was that some of the musical aspects were disappointing. Auliʻi Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey are great, Avantika gets a good musical number, and Reneé Rapp is outstanding in every scene but otherwise, the songs miss the mark. Mean Girls is a good remake, just one with some baffling aspects.
A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010)
If there’s one thing that gets remade more often than international films, it’s horror movies. Over the years, we’ve seen remakes of Friday the 13th, Halloween, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and more, so it was only a matter of time before we’d get A Nightmare on Elm Street.
The first film from 1984 is a classic and a couple of sequels are really good but some later entries did get a bit goofy. This 2010 iteration looked to return to a very serious, dark take on Freddy Krueger. Add in Jackie Earle Haley, hot off his performance in Watchmen, as Freddy and this had potential.
Unfortunately, it ended up as one of the worst-received entries in the franchise. The CGI on Freddy’s face was a far cry from the original makeup and while faithful to the source material, the film lacked what made the 1984 version so special.
The Crow (2024)
As is often the case, remaking something that has a large, loyal following and is beloved can be a huge mistake. Stuidos learned that lesson once again in 2024 with the remake The Crow. The 1994 original has a huge cult following.
It’s held up as one of the best comic adaptations ever made and Bradon Lee’s performance is hard to match. The 2024 reboot had Bill Skarsgård in the lead and he’d already proven his skills as an iconic character in 2017’s It.
Alas, this was yet another remake that disappointed critics and audiences. It only grossed about half of its $50 million budget and was met with overwhelmingly negative reviews. Alex Proyas, director of the original, refused to watch this and called it a “cynical cash-grab.”
Jacob’s Ladder (2019)
Sometimes, a reboot is announced and it just doesn’t feel like something that ever needed to be redone. Jacob’s Ladder falls into that category. The original, starring Tim Robbins, was released in 1990 and while it’s somewhat iconic, it was a box office failure.
Studios usually go for remakes of things that were already box office hits, so Jacob’s Ladder was an interesting choice. To be fair, this wasn’t given a major theatrical release and mostly was just broadcast on DISH Network, but that’s still not something you’d expect to get remade.
The “straight-to-TV” aspect seemed clear as this wasn’t exactly made on a big budget. That was evident in the final product and the reviews played into that, with a 4% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Psycho (1998)
Psycho is one of the best and most influential movies ever made. It inspired slashers for the next few decades and remains one of the most impressive films made by the legendary Alfred Hitchcock. The 1998 remake was none of those things.
For starters, this had a lot to live up to in terms of how special the original is. On top of that, 1998’s Psycho made the odd choice of simply being a shot-for-shot remake of the original, except in color. That’s not something reboots often do.
The film flopped at the box office and was a misfire with critics, even winning Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Director (Gus Van Sant) and Worst Remake). The usually solid Vince Vaughn was also very miscast as Norman Bates.
War Of The Worlds (2025)
H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds novel from 1898 has been adapted several times throughout the years with the most notable being in 1953 and, more recently, 2005’s version directed by Steven Spielberg. There was also a TV show from 2019-2022 that told another iteration of the story.
Then, from seemingly out of nowhere, Prime Video released its own take in 2025. This version took inspiration from Searching and Missing, as the film is told through various computer screens and centers on a Homeland Security agent who tracks threats.
Although the cast features names like Ice Cube, Eva Longoria, and Clark Gregg, reviews were about as bad as they get. The film sat at 0% on Rotten Tomatoes for a while but is now up to 3%. It was blasted by critics for almost every aspect and is a baffling remake that doesn’t work for the story it adapts.
