
For better or worse, Hollywood is not very interested in entirely original movies. For decades, the big studios have played it safe by using existing, popular properties on which to base their movies and TV shows, whether it’s sequels, remakes, reboots, or adaptations. And while it’s a shame that more original product isn’t made–after all, even Star Wars and Ghostbusters were new once–you can understand Hollywood’s reluctance. With theater attendances falling over the past two decades and increasing competition from the big streaming services, a recognisable pre-existing franchise or property that has previously proven popular with audiences is a lot safer if you’re spending millions of dollars to get it to the screen.
As with every year, 2018 has offered plenty of remakes, reboots, and adaptations of varying quality. This year saw some long-running but dormant classic movie franchises return to the big screen. After decades of mediocre sequels and divisive remakes, the Halloween series was brought back to life with incredible success, which will inevitably lead to more sequels. Unfortunately the same could not be said of The Predator, which flopped at the box office, left most fans distinctly unimpressed, and probably killed the franchise for some time.
There were a variety of book adaptations too, from classics such as The Haunting of Hill House to modern favourites like Annihilation and Mortal Engines. Plus some older and foreign-language TV shows were reworked for modern American audiences. Of course, there were plenty of average remakes as well–movies and TV shows that, while entertaining, added little new to the existing material. So as entertaining as Lost in Space and A Star is Born were, they’re not included here. But there were some undisputed stand-outs and others that really are best avoided–let’s looks at the best and worst adaptations, reboots, and remakes of 2018…




