I LOVE YOU! My heart sank reading this! THank you, thank you thank you thank you!!!!
I’m in the “the book’s right there” camp. That’s the apocryphal statement allegedly uttered by Roger Zelazny after the terrible movie “based” on his book Damnation Alley was released. Somebody asked him what he thought of how they ruined his book, and he said they didn’t ruin the book, the book’s right there, it’s fine, too bad they blew all that money making a bad movie. So I’m pro-remakes, even ones that suck. Because sometimes they don’t. And even if they do, the original is right there (in bluray collection in this instance), and sometimes remakes help the old movie find an audience. I dare anybody to have found a copy of Ocean’s 11 before the remake came out, that (excellent) movie had disappeared from the world, but it was easy to find for a few years because of the (mediocre) remake and its (worse) sequels.
Someday they’re going to remake the Godfather. It’s too well known a property to let rot on the art circuit forever. And yeah, there’s a good chance the remake sucks, but the original will remain intact. And maybe, just maybe, the remake won’t suck.