A while back I piped up on the subject of Hollywood movie remakes, and while there seems to be no slowing down with that sort of thing (already at least two more 80's favorites, Romancing the Stone and Overboard, have been added to the list of re fried dreams), Hollywood seems to have found another bumper crop from which to harvest old ideas: the television adaptation.The Dukes of Hazzard was one of my favorite TV shows as a kid. It was adapted to a film, twice I might add, and it was a flop twice. I never saw either of them, and I never will. Scooby Doo is another near and dear to my heart TV show that was made into a somewhat successful series of live action movies. Well, it's another adaptation that I didn't see, but I think the kids liked them. The list goes on and on and really, is too vast to list in its entirety here. But here are a few of them:
(Keep in mind that some of these became film franchises including multiple sequels in some cases)
The Addams Family
Alvin and the Chipmunks
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Brady Bunch Movie
Charlie's Angels
Masters of the Universe (based on the He Man cartoon)
Popeye
Sex and the City
Star Trek (all of them)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Transformers
The X-Files
Now, I'm going to stick it out there and say that 70% of these were not worth the time they took to make them. And I say that with confidence, even though I haven't seen all of them. Some of them made money, some of them lost money. Some of them just petered out after a few bad sequels. Some were adapted from cartoons and continue to delight younger audiences. I won't take away from Hollywood the successes that they've had, but I think it's safe to say that most TV adaptations are gimmicks and never really live up to the memory of the original series that they were based on.
So, in the spirit of TV adaptations I'd like to offer up to you the new trailer for the upcoming A-Team movie. That's right, B.A. and the crew are back at it, and coming to you on the big screen this June. I think you'll be surprised at a few of the casting choices, which have sparked my interest just a bit. I must say that this trailer did very little for me, but it is just a trailer. But don't take my word for it, check it out and decide for yourself.
So, what did you think of the trailer? Is it worth 9 bucks to go see at the theater? Are there some television shows that you'd like to see adapted to the big screen? Comments are welcome.
Kirk out.
