Every week, new movies pop up at the theater for hungry film fans to check out. Whether it’s the latest and greatest MCU production or an original drama based on true events, movies have been providing an awesome escape from everyday life for decades. Sometimes, you see a movie trailer and get excited about it months before the movie even hits theaters. Then, the day comes when you finally get to check it out, and… crickets.
Once in a while, a movie with great potential is so bad that it just begs to be redone or rebooted as soon as possible. In 2023, the volume of reboots, remakes, and sequels hitting theaters seems to be overwhelming, but oftentimes, these re-imagined films are just what the doctor ordered. It’s great when a film gets a reboot and the new version hits it out of the ballpark. These are the movies that deserved to be remade.
15 Spider-Man: Homecoming
Spider-Man: Homecoming arrived with a ton of hype in 2017. Not only did Marvel tease Spider-Man’s return in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, but MCU fans were excited to see a full movie featuring Tom Holland as the young web-slinger. The addition of Michael Keaton as the main protagonist Vulture was also welcomed, as it was Keaton’s first return to the screen in a superhero movie since Batman Returns in 1992.
A Spider-Man reboot in the late 2010s was absolutely necessary. Sony Pictures left a bad taste in viewers’ mouths with its lukewarm spidey flick The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012, and somehow the sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2014 was even worse. Luckily, fans love Holland as Spider-Man generally thought Keaton was a great villain.
14 The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Universal Pictures
It’s a little insane that it took 20 years for anyone to right the wrongs of the dismal 1993 film Super Mario Bros. While some hardcore fans thought that movie actually got a few things right, the 2023 animated film The Super Mario Bros. Movie did an excellent job of honoring Nintendo’s beloved franchise. Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Jack Black, and Anya Taylor-Joy highlighted an all-star cast of voices that brought the adventures of two plumbing brothers to life.
The original 1993 movie was panned by critics and fans alike for its poor acting, lack of plot development, and corny special effects. The new version was an upgrade on all of those things, and even added many new elements to surprise and delight fans, such as a Mario Kart race, a hilarious song about Princess Peach sung by Bowser, and a battle between Tanooki Mario and a speeding bullet.
13 The Batman
Since Christopher Nolan’s superb Batman trilogy of the late 2000s, DC has been all over the place with its big-screen depiction of the character. Ben Affleck’s version of Bruce Wayne/Batman has been met with mixed reviews, and it doesn’t always seem like DC has a clear vision of where they want the next generation of Caped Crusader films to go. By the late 2010s, it became clear that a Batman reboot was badly needed.
Directed by Matt Reeves, 2022’s The Batman was finally a step in the right direction. Robert Pattinson replaced Affleck as Bruce Wayne, and he did an admirable job of filling the role. Colin Farrell and Paul Dano were also met with critical acclaim for their roles as The Penguin and The Riddler, respectively. Unfortunately for DC fans, filming for the sequel of the movie has been delayed to 2024 due to the ongoing writer’s and actor’s strikes in Hollywood.
12 Mortal Kombat
Most kids who grew up in the 1990s are familiar with the video game Mortal Kombat. It features a ton of great characters, like Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, and Kung Lao, to name a few. One of the best parts of the game was that the player gets to finish off their opponent with a great move, often involving excessive amounts of blood and gore. It’s not surprising that the game was adapted into a movie, simply titled Mortal Kombat, in 1995. The film, however, didn’t live up to the hype of the game.
In 2021, Mortal Kombat was rebooted, much to the delight of video game fans everywhere. While the film didn’t necessarily improve on the acting or plot of the first film, it did deliver more thrills and much better special effects. 16 years was a long time for MK fans to wait for a new version, but they shouldn’t have to wait quite as long for a sequel.
11 Star Trek
Stark Trek has gone through many incarnations, reboots, and remakes over the years, but 2009’s Star Trek was a remake that was needed. At the time, there was a whole generation that had not experienced a Star Trek movie, and J.J. Abrams’ had the vision to use younger actors, more thrills, and better SFX to pull in a new audience.
Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Karl Urban were a few of the actors enlisted to help bring this vision to life, and they hit it out of the park. Fans no longer saw the franchise as an old, outdated sci-fi show they could tune in to each week. Instead, it became a global phenomenon again and sparked several successful sequels. Many viewers consider his role as Captain Kirk in Star Trek to be one of Chris Pine’s best performances.
10 The Incredible Hulk
2008’s The Incredible Hulk was far from a perfect movie, but it was a vast improvement on Ang Lee’s brutal 2003 version, simply titled Hulk. 20 years later, the debate on whether Hulk is an epic disaster or not rages on. If nothing else, the 2008 update at least does a better job of casting. Edward Norton plays Bruce Banner/Hulk, while Liv Tyler plays his love interest. Tim Roth plays the Abomination and did such a good job that he earned himself a cameo as the same character in the Disney+ series She-Hulk.
The Incredible Hulk wasn’t originally planned to be part of the current MCU, but Marvel thought it was canonical enough to be retroactively added. It was necessary as the 2003 film had visually appealing effects, but was bogged down in story. Critics also argued that Lee wasn’t faithful enough to the comics and instead focused on telling a dramatic story about fathers and sons.
9 Man of Steel
Let’s switch from the MCU to the DCEU for a minute. Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel was released in 2013 and provided audiences with some relief that DC was on the right track when it came to movies. 2006’s Superman Returns didn’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence in moviegoers. Roger Ebert called that movie “glum” and “lackluster”, and criticized the film’s heavy reliance on special effects.
On the upside, Man of Steel introduced viewers to a new Kal-El/Superman in Henry Cavill. The movie featured superb acting from Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, and Russell Crowe, to name a few. All of these actors are still relevant in 2023 and doing exciting projects more than 10 years later. Cavill continued to play the character after Man of Steel, proving that he’s more capable of carrying the Superman franchise than other actors. We’re looking at you, Brandon Routh.
8 King Kong
Director Peter Jackson knew exactly what he was doing when he rebooted King Kong in 2005. It’s easily one of the best King Kong movies, and it’s a vast improvement on the corny Kong films that came out of the 1980s. At the time, it had been almost 20 years since a live-action King Kong movie hit the theaters. King Kong crushed box office expectations, raking in $562.9 million ($830.9 million today).
Jackson’s remake starred Jack Black, Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody, and Andy Serkis. Although it was long – carrying a whopping 187-minute runtime – the story was told meticulously and thoughtfully. By the time the audience sees Kong almost an hour into the film, the suspense has been built up and viewers are on the edge of their seats. King Kong modernized the character for a new generation and breathed new life into creature features for the 21st century.
7 Godzilla
Just as King Kong did in 2005, 2014’s Godzilla brought back a classic monster character and enriched it with better special effects. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Ford Brody, a Navy bomb expert who is called in to help his father (played by Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad) in Japan. The pair realize that Godzilla has risen from the sea and is threatening to take out Tokyo, San Francisco, and everything in between.
While some Japanese fans had some bizarre complaints about Godzilla, most moviegoers agreed that the 2014 version was a huge upgrade from the hokey 1998 version. It holds a solid 76% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and was even nominated for more than a dozen awards in various categories.
6 Casino Royale
From 1995 to 2002, Pierce Brosnan did an admirable job of playing James Bond in four different movies. He gave the role of the British spy class, elegance, and style, and was a faithful embodiment of author Ian Fleming’s original vision of the character. By 2006, however, audiences were ready for a new actor to bring a sense of freshness and edge to the role.
Daniel Craig stepped in and played Bond for 2006’s outstanding reboot Casino Royale. Armed with a fantastic script and plenty of thrilling stunts, Craig showed moviegoers that there was still plenty of life left in the Bond character, and more of Fleming’s stories to explore on screen. Casino Royale was necessary in the mid-2000s because viewers were starting to feel like Bond was in a funk, rehashing the same spy clichés over and over.
5 X-Men: First Class
X-Men has gone through many incarnations since it first arrived on the film scene in 2000. Directed by Bryan Singer, the first movie spawned a sequel also helmed by Singer, followed by a third film directed by Brett Ratner to complete the trilogy. Many fans consider the first X-Men trilogy to be canonical, but the franchise sort of went off the rails after that.
The character Wolverine (played by Hugh Jackman) got its own trilogy, with audiences divided on how they felt about those three movies. X-Men: First Class rebooted the series in 2011, with Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, and Michale Fassbender taking on leading roles. The movie acted as a prequel of sorts and offered audiences a different take on the Marvel team that they know and love.
4 Batman Begins
Let’s just be honest: 1997’s Batman & Robin is utterly ridiculous. George Clooney stars as the Caped Crusader, while Arnold Schwarzenegger is the bad guy, Mr. Freeze. Both actors were chosen for their roles for their star power, rather than their acting chops, at the time. The result is a goofy movie with a thin plot and corny special effects. In 2005, DC knew it was time to get people excited about seeing Batman on the big screen again, and they called in the right guy for the job.
Christopher Nolan took the reins of the Batman franchise and crafted a masterful trilogy, beginning with 2005’s Batman Begins. Christian Bale was perfectly cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman, giving the character a seriousness and darkness that he so truly deserved. Batman needed a reboot after the hackneyed versions of the 1990s, and fans benefited from the change.
3 Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens
Star Wars fans couldn’t have been more excited when Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens hit theaters in 2015. After a mediocre prequel trilogy that didn’t seem to add much to the beloved franchise, moviegoers got a taste of what happened after the Empire fell. The movie follows a new hero named Rey (Daisey Ridley), an orphan who realizes she may have mystical powers. She’s drawn to the Force and enlists the help of Han Solo (Harrison Ford) to help her fight in the Resistance against Kylo Ren (Adam Driver)
To say the Star Wars prequels left a bad taste in fans’ mouths would be an understatement. That trilogy was criticized for everything from its silly characters to its cheesy dialogue to its underwhelming finale. With The Force Awakens, Disney managed to engage a new audience while still paying homage to the original trilogy. The film is considered one of the best J.J. Abrams shows and movies and the rebooted Star Wars train continues to roll on in 2023.
2 Creed
2015’s Creed brought back the beloved character Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) for a new adventure. Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) didn’t know his father Apollo – who was one of Rocky’s greatest opponents – but he believes he has the heart of a boxer. With Rocky’s help, Adonis tackles his demons inside and outside the ring on his way to a title shot.
Critics loved Creed, and it’s considered one of the best Rocky & Creed movies. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, the Rocky films got progressively worse with each sequel. Audiences were tired of the premise by the time Rocky V rolled around in 1990. By using younger actors and a fresh story, Creed pulled viewers back into the boxing world and reminded them why Rocky is such a strong sports franchise to begin with.
1 Mad Max: Fury Road
Mad Max: Fury Road roared into theaters in 2015. It was an update on the Mad Max series from the 1980s starring Mel Gibson. Fury Road stars Tom Hardy as Max Rockatansky, a rebel fighting to survive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland ruled by Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne). The film took George Miller’s iconic character and upped the ante to 100.
The movie was nominated for ten Academy Awards and ended up winning six. It featured non-stop action, awesome special effects, and a rocking soundtrack that kept the audience on pins and needles the whole time. It was a great reboot that showed Miller still has the magic touch when it comes to creating new worlds for Mad Max.
