Using existing intellectual property (IP) is the prevailing method of creation in Hollywood for TV and movies. This is because it’s easier to green light something with a proven track record, that is mostly plotted in some form, than taking the time to think of, develop and hone a new, potentially riskier idea.

Listen, I’m not writing this because I hate rebooted IP. There’s some good examples, and ragging on them has become tired. That said, I absolutely do hate them for the most part, not because they’re lazy in and of themselves, but because they’re the result of a long line of executives afraid of getting fired because they took a chance on a new script. So it’s somehow an understandable problem, I can’t really blame someone too much for covering their ass. It’s the system, man.

So here we are stuck in this pretty dumb version of an entertainment landscape where everything is a prequel or a biopic or an adaptation of a toy. Maybe it’s a phase, but it’s lasted for a good couple decades so I don’t know. Maybe I’m being defeatist, but it feels like we’re just gonna have to sit in it. And if I’m sitting in the cold wet bus seat of IP culture, I might as well see some good stuff on my ride.

Here are some examples of good IP reboots, and hopefully what they did right can be used when they decide to turn the game Operation into a limited run Netflix series. This is not a definitive list or even a great one, for I am just one man trying to finish this before my edible kicks in.

The Brady Bunch Movie

This movie hit at that peak 90s moment of nostalgia for the 70s, when irony was roaming the Earth like a noble dinosaur. I know this is the only world this movie can live in, but there are still plenty of lessons to learn from it. First, they frame the movie not as a reimagining, but as just The Brady Bunch in the 90s with no explanation of what the hell is happening. More reboots should do this. Just take Family Matters and make it a movie where Carl hates Urkel, but to the outside world he’s just a cop with anger problems, and then Urkelbot accidentally joins antifa.

The other thing that can be learned from this is to take some chances with casting. I just looked up Gary Cole’s IMDb and before The Brady Bunch Movie it’s a lot of TV movies with titles like When Love Kills: The Seduction of John Hearn. Let a fully unknown (to comedy audiences) person star in a comedy. You don’t need the star power if the character already exists. Also, just put Jennifer Elise Cox in more stuff. Her Jan Brady is one of the best comedy performances of the 90s.

The Thing

This is one of my all time favorite movies, so I could go on about what it does right. But what makes it work as a reboot, at least for me, is that I’ve never seen the original The Thing From Another World (1951). I have absolutely no attachment to the source material and I can watch without the expectations. 

I understand why this doesn’t happen more often. Star Wars has a built-in audience, you can’t depend on fans of 50s sci-fi to be there on opening night, and The Thing famously underperformed upon release. But with more movies going direct to streaming, those kinds of first week numbers seem to matter less when compared to the 80s. Let Boots Riley have Death Race 2000 or something. Let more niche directors pick from a big pile of unused titles and make them on smaller budgets. 

Little Shop of Horrors

I hadn’t seen this since I was a kid and just rewatched it and it’s so good and the lesson to learn here is simple: take old Roger Corman movies and make them into musicals. It’s just sitting right there, and I’m not sure I see a downside. I would pay full theater price to see the Nazi biker funeral brawl scene from Wild Angels as a jaunty number.

21 Jump Street

I missed this movie when it originally came out and I felt like a 2021 watch might date it poorly, but not that much! It’s got a bunch of really funny bits and it does some of the previously mentioned things like being an IP without much attachment and being a comedy version of a corny dated show. 

There’s not a ton of new stuff to glean from this one, it’s just a great example of what you can do if you give a shit! Oh, and there’s a part where Channing Tatum is on drugs and runs into a high school music class and yells, “Fuck Miles Davis!” that’s really funny. Sorry for spoiling that part.

Recommend If You Like is not owned or funded by a billionaire or even a millionaire. We do have a Patreon. Even sites owned by billionaires and millionaires have Patreons so please don’t hold that against us. And we’re paying all of our writers, photographers and graphic designers. So please consider our Patreon. If you can't afford to become a patron, please sign up to our mailing list. It's free and we're asking here instead of a pop-up. Pop-ups are annoying.