REC is a Spanish film directed by Jaume Balagoro in 2007, it was distributed by Filmax with its budget of €1,500,000 it got a box office of $32,492,948 (Worldwide). Having it filmed with a handheld camera made it more realistic and it showed a first person perspective through the camera. The plot of the film is that two news reports are documenting a fire station and they go with them on one of their distress calls in an apartment building. While in the apartment building they get quarantined because of a virus spreading to the people living in the building and the film crew are trying to figure a way out. Quarantine is an American film directed by John Erick Dowdle in 2008, it was distributed by Screen Gems with its budget being $12,000,000 and it gained $41,319,906 in the box office (Worldwide). Like they do in REC, Quarantine is filmed with a handheld camera as it’s based on a film crew and its shows a first person perspective of the film. The plot of Quarantine is very similar to REC, it involves a film crew going with a fire station to go to a distress call in an apartment building, only to be faced with a deadly virus and the film crew need to escape. If you compare REC and Quarantine there are more similarities than differences, a similarity would be that the plot is almost the exact same except there is a bit more back story on how the virus came about in REC. A difference between the films would be that REC is in Spanish and Quarantine is in English, which probably explains why Quarantine is the most known film out the two. A similarity would be the use of the handheld camera for filming the footage for the film; they did this to make it feel a lot more real. A difference would be that the Budget for REC was a lot smaller than the budget for Quarantine and REC was praised as a better film by reviewers. Another similarity would be the endings, the ending to REC and Quarantine are the exact same where the reporter gets dragged away by an infected woman.
REC was highly successful in Spain so Screen Gem who are subsiding of Sony Pictures so Sony profits from the production, distribution and exhibition, this is known as vertical integration, Sony will earn money from the production of the film when it was filmed with the actors, location and the handheld camera, the distribution of the film by putting it on trains, vans and planes to send it to other countries to watch and the exhibition of the film is where it is being shown in cinemas and on DVD around the word, REC wasn’t shown in major cinemas it was only shown in small cinemas in large towns and cities. Sony bought the rights of the film and produced their own English version. By doing this they put Quarantine on into the cinema as well as a limited release of REC in the cinema. By doing this people would go see Quarantine and then see that the original is also in cinemas so a more niche audience would go and see REC in a less popular cinema, this is known as synergy where in this case REC and Quarantine have been released as the same time and Sony gained money from both films. The way that REC and Quarantine are filmed is a certain trend which is similar to first person shooter computer games, these types of games are very popular in the teenager and young adult audience, and this would draw their attention so they watch REC and Quarantine, this would also boost the sales in zombie games such as Left for Dead. When REC was shown in the USA and UK the majority of people would recognise anyone in the film as stars, however, a few stars starred in Quarantine who would be well known, such as, Jennifer Carpenter who starred in the American thriller TV series Dexter, Marin Hinkle who stars in the American sitcom Two and a Half Men, this would make people who are fans of these actors and shows would go to watch it.
The Karate Kid (Dir. John G. Avildsen 1984) American martial arts romantic drama film and The Karate Kid (Dir. Harald Zwart 2010) is a American martial arts film, which is a remake of the 1984 film of the same name. The setting of the film is in China around an Asian market area, this helps to show the audience what China is like in the less rural areas with fewer cars and more people walking around to get to places. It is about an American boy Dre (Jaden Smith) and his Mother who move to China as the mother has got a job transfer, Dre attends school where he becomes attracted to a girl, despite his effects to become closer to her a bully who also likes her starts to hurt it Dre (Jaden Smith), during one of the bullies beatings the caretaker (Jackie Chan) named Han at his apartment building comes to his aid as a karate master and helps the boy. To settle the dispute between the boys the caretaker takes Dre (Jaden Smith) back to school to speak to the teacher, at school the teacher believes in a more aggressive approach to karate so the teacher challenges Dre to fight the bully in a tournament to see who is better, Dre accepts and Han agrees to teach him Karate. In a short amount of time Han teaches Dre all he knows and fights in the tournament. Dre beats the bully and earns the respect of all his school and neighbourhood, was produced by Will Smith who is a very popular actor around the world, this would attract people who like Will Smith to come see a film he has produced. Will Smiths son, Jaden Smith, is the main character in the 2010 Karate Kid which would be his first lead role in a film, which would interest fans of Will Smith to how his son would act while his father is on set. Jackie Chan also stars in the 2010 Karate Kid, in the 80’s Jackie Chan, who is a professional at the art of karate, was very popular in Chine and the USA for doing Karate films, such as, Police Story, The Big Brawl and Heart of Dragon, so having Jackie play Jaden Smith’s teacher would show a younger audience is learning from an older more experienced audience. Having Jackie Chan in the new Karate Kid would make Jackie Chan fans feel nostalgic as Jackie Chan hadn’t been in a karate film in a few years. Columbia Pictures who are a subsidiary of Sony made the original Karate Kid in 1984 which was directed by John G. Avildsen and Columbia Pictures also made the remakes in 2010 which was directed by Harald Zwart , this is known as horizontal integration as the same company has made two of the same film with a 30 year gap, the main reason Columbia Pictures would have done this was to make more money using a recycled idea, doing this is also known as synergy as two companies, Sony and Columbia Pictures are working together on a film to make a joint profit.
War of the Worlds is a Paramount Pictures science fiction film (Dir. Byron Haskin 1953) which has a remake which was made in 2005 which was distributed by Paramount Pictures; it had a budget of $132 million and gained a box office of $591,745,550 (Dir. Steven Spielberg). It is about an alien race comes to earth and starts to kill and capture humans and the people of the 50's have to fight the aliens and their futuristic technology. The remake follows a certain family trying to get away from the aliens to a safer location. Paramount made both the original and the maker of War of the Worlds, doing this they gained any profit that came from both films, this is known as synergy. The main star in the remake is Tom Cruise who is a major actor all over the world, having Tom Cruise in the film will make fans of other films want to see it. Having Steven Spielberg direct the remake is a major factor of the film as Steven Spielberg has made some of the most successful films in the world, for these films he won tons of awards and gained the reputation for one of the greatest directors of all time. In an article on the MSN website a journalist interviewed Steven on why he made a remake of the 1953 "War of the Worlds", his answer to the question was he was comparing it to the 9/11 attacks, he also said that if the 9/11 attacks never happened then he probably would never would have made the remake. In the remake the aliens attacking earth would represent the terrorists that attacked on 9/11, this would relate to the people that were affected by the attacks. "When the aliens finally make their move, citizens gaze at the sky in disbelief. Then as one of the ‘tripod’ alien ships appear and starts zapping everything that moves with its death ray —literally vaporizing people and property (but not Tom, of course) — everyone makes a run for it" this can be compared to the people of Manhattan gazing up at the sky towards the plane zooming towards the trade centres, when it hits everyone begins to flee in fear. He also states that when Tom evades the alien attacks he is covered with ash, the ash being the remains of people being zapped and turned to ash, this would represent the ash covered people at ground zero. Towards the end of the film Steven Spielberg makes you realise the after effects of terrorism and how it can affect people.
In conclusion remakes are made for a few reason, they are made for money to just gain a profit for a production company which they did with Karate Kid 2010 and Quarantine in 2010 and they can be made for political reasons to raise awareness of terrorism which Steven Spielberg did in War of the Worlds in 2005, Remakes are usually not as good as the original but they are good for nostalgia so people can reminisce on their past.