Let Me In remake? Rehash more like it.

Posted by Bel. The time 3.08pm here in Wellington NZ.

I reviewed the Swedish film Let The Right One In back in February. I should have known that anything so entertaining and cinematic would eventually be trampled on by Hollywood.

The trailer for the American remake (directed by the auteur behind Cloverfield and several episodes of Felicity) has just hit the web - and, well, it looks familiar, huh?



Please, do yourself a favour and see the original first. As anyone who's been treating themselves to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, etc, can attest, Swedish language films are easy to follow. The language patterns are eerily similiar to English, so you get into it easily with the subtitles and don't find yourself as conscious of them as with some foreign films. (A trait I know puts a lot of people of exploring non-mainstream movies).

America's continuing fascination with re-doing overseas films instead of releasing and distributing the originals has a sad valid economic reasoning. [Read more here on the LA Times if you want to nerd out]

Less than ten foreign films have ever grossed over US$20 million in America - and only one has made more than US$100 million.

To put that in perspective, Tim Burton's recent release Alice in Wonderland made over US$100 million 'domestically' just on its opening weekend alone - and then made US$265 million in just over a fortnight.

Box Office Mojo have all the info in a big juicy table and, although it's interesting to see a few titles there to add to the must-see list, all in all it's pretty dire.

When you realise that an utter bomb like All About Steve, featuring Sandra Bullock's Razzie Award-winning 'Most Awful Performance', made as much money in the US as Amelie (ONE OF THE BEST FILMS EVAH) ...Well. It kinda breaks your heart.