The Wizard of Oz. But Hollywood isn't above trying make sequels for it, such as Return To Oz, Oz: The Great and Powerful, and a sure to be horrible animated sequel next.
Also, Gone with the Wind and 2001.
There is no ultimate line of creative bankruptcy that Hollywood will refuse to pass. Everything, ultimately, is up for grabs. It's only a matter of time before we get a Wizard of Oz remake, or 2001: A Space Odyssey vs Predators vs Citizen Kane (in 4-D).
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
'80s TV Action Hero
Robocop, from what I hear...
'All he needs is for somebody to throw handgrenades at him for the rest of his life...'
Battle Royale. For fairly obvious reasons, such as it makes the recent Suzanne Collins-novel based films look like they weren't even trying.
I'll agree with Gone With The Wind, but not because of artistic integrity. It won't get remade because no one will greenlight a 4 hour movie in this day and age.
Suspiria. They tried to remake it, but the project was (thankfully) dropped. May they never try it again.
Still just awesome like that
The Wizard of Oz is already technically a remake anyway.
I suppose a fairly obvious film that can never be remade is The Room. It's just too perfect.
Insert witty 'n clever quip here.
Certain "classics" like Casablanca, Citizen Kane, and Gone with the Wind I don't see any studio trying to touch. I'd say Stanley Kubrick's films are also not going to get remakes because they're all so polarizing note
Haha! You are all so cute. There is no sacred ground in Hollywood!
"War without fire is like sausages without mustard." - Jean Juvénal des Ursins
Wasn't Barb Wire a remake of Casablanca?
Still just awesome like that
Plus, there was that other film version of Lolita (though I suppose that's just another adaptation rather than a film remake).
Insert witty 'n clever quip here.
Part of the reason u can't remake citizen Kane is because everyone knows the ending
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
The thing about remakes is that they don't have to be the same as the original.
Who watches the watchmen?
Still just awesome like that
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
But they remade The Great Gatsby and they're adapting Spider Man's Gwen Stacy story arc and everyone knows how those go.
edited 8th Feb '14 3:05:29 PM by Odd1
Insert witty 'n clever quip here.
Zzzzzzzzzz
There are no films that couldn't be remade. There are films that never will be remade, either due to content (no one will ever think remaking Birth Of A Nation is a good idea, for instance) or because the film is remembered only because it was somehow notable for the time it was made (Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon, for example).
But films that will never be remade simply because of their status as iconic? Even Casablanca wasn't safe from that threat — in 2008 Madonna was trying to shop a remake (starring herself as Ilsa, of course) to producers. Thankfully, no one was interested.
edited 8th Feb '14 3:28:23 PM by Madrugada
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Maddie: Given the nature of the kinds of nutters who would want that movie I dare say there is no such thing as never being remade even for such a ugly film. Granted we are very very unlikely to see it made by any notable studio with values their press image. But I wouldn't put it past them using some unrecognized backwater or backyard studio.
Who watches the watchmen?
HGW XX/7
Also, it's full of the worst kind of "Lost Cause" Southern mythologizing.
Schild und Schwert der Partei
Zzzzzzzzzz
Valid point about the nutters, Teuf, but I was speaking in terms of reputable, major studios or legitimate indie producers — "Hollywood".
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
Oh the Souff!
Did you know this section has a character limit?
Waterworld. It bombed, and bombed hard.
They do have medals for almost, and they're called silver!
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Hey a remake might just be the ticket. :P Water World Pirates of the Caribbean. Jack Mutant on weirder films to be made.
edited 8th Feb '14 6:03:05 PM by TuefelHundenIV
Who watches the watchmen?
A remake of a film like that could change all the problematic things, though.
There are some movies where they are good because they are so ingrained as products of their time. The story is so complete that a remake has nowhere to go. Or, in the case of something like Star Wars, there is such an open ended world to explore that a remake won't stand out as anything special compared to the franchise it spawned.
On the other hand, there are some movies that are excellent as standalone stories (possibly with inferior sequels) but have such a rich concept that there is room for a remake to explore new and original ground rather than simply going for the "original with shinier production techniques."
The "product of its time" thought is the reason I didn't care much about the Total Recall remake, because the story was actually rather mediocre but the twists and turns of the narrative is what made it a classic. The "room for original path" thought is the reason I am bothering to give the Robocop remake a chance, as the concept has aged incredibly well.
Exactly What It Says on the Tin. We all know that the film industry likes to remake past movies these days, with various degrees of success. But, what are those movies that can never be remade, even if they really tried to do so?
Vote. .#Bayonetta 4 Smash