Yes, but the earlier version was a silent film, which is pretty much apples and oranges. Flynn's The Dawn Patrol is a remake of a sound film, though. I am not opposed to remakes on general principle, if the remake is an improvement on the original or a vastly different take on the original. Most modern remakes are not improvements, IMO.
I am bothered more by sequels and prequels that either tell a part of a story that does not to be told (see the Lucas Star Wars prequels, which told how a story we had already seen to its conclusion began), or the sequel Star Wars: The Force Awakens which is essentially a remake of the first Star Wars film from 1977. I get why they do it. Everything is about money. I'm just saying why I don't like a lot of modern movies. Just because something makes money does not make it good. Prostitutes and drug dealers do it for the money too.
“I get why they do it. Everything is about money.”
Yep, they keep remaking the same movies for the same reason that most pop music uses one of 3 or 4 chord progressions. Those are the ones that the public enjoys enough to pay for, so the artists that don’t want to starve will keep cranking them out as long as people are buying.
A remake is a remake. It’s the studio saying “there’s still money in here”. The problem with modern remakes is they have to follow the “beat book” (a codified book that says exactly when any kind of story beat “should” happen that modern Hollywood worships), it tends to make all movies feel kind of generic but you can really feel it when they remake a “pre-book” movie. But I actually like modern remakes not for the movies themselves but for increasing the availability of the original, Ocean’s 11 was basically impossible to find before the remake, same with Flight of the Phoenix and others, part of that cash grab move is the re-release on DVD/ bluray.
Remember it’s a business first. The primary goal of everybody important in the creation of a movie is to make money, if it comes out art that’s great, everybody likes having some art to their name, but if it ain’t profitable they’re out of a job. Star Wars is an interesting example because a lot of what Disney has done with their first 2 SW movies is kiss the butt of the fanboys. Lucas’ prequels generated a lot of bad blood, so a big mission for Disney is proving they get it, they know what SW is and should be, and they’re not going to screw it up with midichlorians. I’m really interested in Ep 8 and seeing if they branch out more or if they keep close to home. Hopefully they branch out, 2 movies of “no we get it” is plenty.