This week in response to the release of Total Recall I’m going to be putting together a little showcase of other recent (or not so recent) remakes, comparing them to their original source material in terms of budget*, financial success**, and overall Quality***.  I’ll give in depth numbers for seven sets of films and a full list of other remakes in the genre (Not including Foreign-to-American adaptations) including links to the original movie(s) for each.  Today, Let’s look at Dramatic remakes.

 Cape Fear (1962) Vs. Cape Fear (1991)

      J. Lee Thompson     [Director]     Martin Scorsese

Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum     [Starring]     Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte

       95%     [Tomatometer]     76%

        7.8     [IMDb Score]     7.3

              Low Budget     [Budget]     $55,310,000

         $149,500,000     [Domestic Gross]     $125,000,000

         The Winner:  Tie

  The Karate Kid (1984) Vs. The Karate Kid (2010)

John G. Avildsen     [Director]     Harald Zwart

    Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita      [Starring]     Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith

      90%     [Tomatometer]     67%

      7.1     [IMDb Score]     6.2

             Low budget    [Budget]     $40,000,000

          $188,040,000     [Domestic Gross]     $163,215,000

       The Winner:  Original

  Ocean’s Eleven (1960) Vs. Ocean’s Eleven (2001)

          Lewis Milestone     [Director]     Steven Soderbergh

 Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin      [Starring]     George Clooney, Brad Pitt

     46%     [Tomatometer]     82%

      6.5     [IMDb Score]     7.7

                           n/a    [Budget]     $104,851,000

          $40,030,000     [Domestic Gross]     $226,240,000  

          The Winner:  Remake

 The Poseidon Adventure (1972) Vs. Poseidon (2006)

                      Ronald Neame     [Director]     Wolfgang Petersen

Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine  [Starring]  Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell

              79%     [Tomatometer]     33%

              7.1     [IMDb Score]     5.6

                    $25,760,000    [Budget]     $172,770,000

            $435,380,000     [Domestic Gross]     $65,540,000

            The Winner:  Original (By Far)

     The Stepford Wives (1975) Vs. The Stepford Wives (2004)

 Bryan Forbes    [Director]     Frank Oz

                Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss  [Starring]  Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick

        67%     [Tomatometer]     26%

        6.9     [IMDb Score]     5.1

                               n/a   [Budget]     $103,000,000

          $16,030,000     [Domestic Gross]     $68,090,000

         The Winner:  Original

    Straw Dogs (1971) Vs. Straw Dogs (2011) 

Sam Peckinpah     [Director]     Rod Lurie

          Dustin Hoffman, Susan George   [Starring]  James Marsden, Kate Bosworth

        91%     [Tomatometer]     42%

       7.6     [IMDb Score]     5.7

              $17,300,000    [Budget]     $25,000,000

         $50,300,000     [Domestic Gross]     $10,310,000

         The Winner:  Original 

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) Vs. The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

John Frankenheimer     [Director]     Jonathan Demme

          Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey   [Starring]   Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber

    98%     [Tomatometer]     81%

     8.1     [IMDb Score]     6.6

         $19,600,000    [Budget]     $91,550,000

        $53,030,000     [Domestic Gross]     $75,530,000

         The Winner:  Original 

  Other Drama Remakes

        Four Brothers (2005)

       Meet Joe Black (1998)

     Mighty Joe Young (1998)

            Scarface (1983)

              Solaris (2002)

*Budget does not include many significant costs of the film i.e. Marketing Costs.  Budgets Adjusted for Inflation for 2010.

**Numbers given are Domestic Grosses and do not include DVD sales, Merchandising Revenue, or any other sort of revenue that Studios ultimately receive from a film.  Grosses Adjusted for Inflation for 2010.

***Winners are based on critical consensus, not personal opinion.