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5 Points In Defense Of American Remakes Of Foreign Language Films

The concept of any particular movie’s “necessity” is something I wish we could eliminate altogether. Every time a movie like Spike Lee’s Oldboy gets released, many critics and viewers will cite how “unnecessary” it is to make an American version of a foreign film that stands on its own and is internationally beloved.

[h2]4) They get screen time[/h2]

Oldboy

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Domestic studio movies simply are available for more domestic audiences to go out and see. It’s one of those instances where the choice isn’t between watching the original version of a story or the Hollywood version; it’s usually between the Hollywood version or nothing, because the original isn’t available in the viewer’s country (or else for the aforementioned reasons).

American companies are also more invested in their films being screened in their own country, and so a movie like David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will be played on far more US screens than the original Swedish adaptation. This is also an interesting example because the American remake of this story is arguably as good if not better than its predecessor.

The result, then, is that a far greater number of people’s lives are enriched by an adaptation of a Swedish novel than otherwise would have been if David Fincher and Daniel Craig and company had not made their movie. Again, I fail to see the downside of having multiple takes on this popular story.

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