"Gone With the Wind" starring Ashton Kutcher?

At a recent party a buddy of mine and I were discussing horror movies, particularly the "Evil Dead" collection, when I was informed that the original "Evil Dead," an instant cult classic, was to be remade. Now at first this puzzled me as those familiar with the films are aware that the original "Evil Dead" was essentially remade/updated by the same director, Sam Raimi, with the superior sequel "Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn." Having grown up on these films (father Sills was never much one for censorship) the news still intrigued me, so I did some follow up research.\nIt turns out a remake of the original is in the works with Sam Raimi overseeing, but not in the directors chair, and Bruce Campbell (Ash) also said to be involved. Now, while this news may tickle some fans of the genre (i.e. those who indulge in magazines like Fangoria), I have to wonder why there is a need to remake this already perfect, classic campy horror/comedy flick? In fact, why does it seem like lately Hollywood is out of ideas for films and instead seem to be turning to remakes for the solution?\nDuring this summer alone there have been a number of mediocre film remakes ranging from "The Amityville Horror," and "House of Wax" to the highly unnecessary remake of "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner," "Guess Who," with Bernie Mac as Spencer Tracy's character. And with the upcoming film renditions such as "The Pink Panther," and of course the fairly anticipated remake of "King Kong" (the second large ape remake) by mega director Peter Jackson, it is apparent that Hollywood has a lot of faith in movie remakes. \nIf you think about it, remakes do make sense, financially at least. Take horror films, a genre that has truly embraced the "remake" with updated versions of films like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Dawn of the Dead," "The Haunting," not to mention a list of future horror remakes including "The Hills Have Eyes," "The Fog," "Suspiria," and even the horrible Jamie Lee Curtis flick "Prom Night." These movies, often based on originals that were unsuccessful to begin with, have done wonders at the box office. This said, the question still stands: Why do remakes? Is there a loss of creativity right now? Is originality dead? \nI am not preaching that remakes as a whole are all horrible, I just believe it is important to pick your winners carefully. In fact, some of the greatest films ever made were actually remakes of previous films. Take for example the Akira Kurosawa classic "Seven Samurai" which I believe was remade twice: once in the form of a western with "The Magnificent Seven," and later with Pixar's animated classic "A Bug's Life" (think about it, seven Japanese samurai saving a village from bandits, versus seven loveable bugs saving an ant farm doomed by grasshoppers.)\nRemakes have also been very affective in introducing American audiences to films from abroad. Before helming "Batman Begins," director Christopher Nolan followed up his hit "Memento" with a dark, quiet remake of the Norwegian film "Insomnia." While "Crying Game" director Neil Jordan took the wonderful Jean-Pierre Melville classic, "Bob le Flambeur," and gave it a nice little modern touch with 2002's "The Good Thief."\nNow in my mind, there is nothing wrong with taking a great story, whether from a book or film, and taking it in a different direction. After all, art has been imitating art for thousands of years. However, the key word here is art, and with that how does one warrant what is worth being remade and what should be left alone?\nI mean could you imagine a remake of the Martin Scorsese classic "Raging Bull" for the MTV generation. Vin Diesel takes on the role of boxer turned glutton Jake LaMotta. You could have Jessica Alba as LaMotta's lover, Topher Grace could shine as his brother/trainer, and Chris Columbus would take the helm as director. Or what about a new rendition of "Casablanca" with Vince Vaughn taking on Humphrey Bogart's memorable role, Tara Reid as Ilsa, and Cedric The Entertainer as Sam. McG would direct. Obviously you see where this is going.\nIt's a shame to see Hollywood go down such an easy route. Sure these remakes are making tons of money, and sure some can be fun (I did rather enjoy the "Dawn of the Dead" update mainly because, although it's a cult classic, the original is so dumb and poorly acted) but I believe ultimately this trend is hurting film as a whole.