Skip to main content

5 movies that deserve a reboot

In an era when a Top Gun sequel is one of the year’s biggest hits, no intellectual property is too old to revive and bring back to theaters. We’ve been living in a time filled with reboots for a while now, but Maverick feels like a sort of pinnacle, and a reminder that reboots are produced for a reason.

Even in an era filled with reboots, though, there are still plenty of movies that have yet to be touched by the studios. Among those titles, there are definitely some that are worthy of renewed attention, and a few that would even be great for potential reboots in our IP-happy era. Here are five movies that deserve a reboot, but haven’t gotten one yet.

The Breakfast Club (1985)

The Breakfast Club
98m
Genre Comedy, Drama
Stars Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall
Directed by John Hughes

Given the way that the teen stars of prior eras are now playing parents on shows like RiverdaleThe Breakfast Club seems to be rife with opportunities for a solid reboot.

The original movie, which followed five kids who find themselves in detention and form unique connections as a result, could very easily be remade, and some of the original cast could even show up as parents, teachers, or other authority figures. It seems like an opportunity just waiting to be seized by the right studio.

The Breakfast Club Official Trailer #1 - Paul Gleason Movie (1985) HD

Grease (1978)

Grease
110m
Genre Romance, Comedy
Stars John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing
Directed by Randal Kleiser

Grease got a sequel, but that sequel left such a bad taste in most people’s mouths that appetites for more Grease stories quickly dissipated entirely. It may be too late for any kind of legacy sequel, but a full-on reboot of Grease in 2022 could be a thrill.

The movie was a fun throwback to 1950s culture (dig those poodle skirts and racing cars!) and while some of it is dated (must Sandy change her entire personality to get her man?), a reboot could fix those issues and make it relevant to the youth of today. Plus, Travolta is still around. Maybe he can play the Frankie Avalon part?

GREASE | Trailer | Paramount Movies

Seven Samurai (1954)

Seven Samurai
207m
Genre Action, Drama
Stars Toshirō Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Yoshio Inaba
Directed by Akira Kurosawa

Seven Samurai has been rebooted, in a way, but no one has ever attempted to remake the original. The Magnificent Seven and its remake, which moved the story to the Old West, are all fine and dandy, but the brilliance of the original is almost entirely singular.

Another filmmaker is unlikely to top what Seven Samurai accomplished, but we don’t get as many samurai epics as we once did, and Seven Samurai is the kind of story that will always stand the test of time, as the movie’s long history has already proven.

Seven Samurai (1954) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers

Starship Troopers (1997)

Starship Troopers
129m
Genre Adventure, Action, Thriller, Science Fiction
Stars Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards
Directed by Paul Verhoeven

In 1997, Starship Troopers was smarter about the military-industrial complex than most movies are today.  Twenty-five years later, it would be incredible to see the film’s original cast paired with a crew of young recruits.

Although the original satire remains pitch perfect, a reboot of Starship Troopers could certainly find new and original things to say with the material. After all, it’s not like we learned anything from that first movie, so it makes some sense to try again.

Starship Troopers Trailer - 20th Anniversary Edition Available on 4K Ultra HD

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Breakfast at Tiffany's
114m
Genre Comedy, Romance
Stars Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal
Directed by Blake Edwards

Breakfast at Tiffany’s has so many charms that it feels almost undeniable … at least until you remember that Mickey Rooney spends his portion of the film playing an offensive Asian stereotype.

While a reboot of this movie wouldn’t include any of the original stars, remaking it could allow the new version to redeem many of the flaws of the original while keeping the heart of the story intact. Breakfast at Tiffany’s deserves a movie that isn’t momentarily embarrassing, and our modern studio system could give it one.

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S | Official Trailer | Paramount Movies

Editors' Recommendations

Movie images and data from:
Topics
Joe Allen
Joe Allen is a freelance writer based in upstate New York focused on movies and TV.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is now streaming
Characters in The Super Mario Bros. movie align on the poster.

The top movie of 2023 finally heads to streaming as The Super Mario Bros. Movie is now available to watch exclusively on Peacock.

Based on the multimedia franchise by Nintendo, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is an origin story for iconic Italian-American brothers Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day). While working as plumbers in Brooklyn, the brothers are sucked into a Warp Pipe and transported into an alternate world. Mario ends up in the Mushroom Kingdom, while Luigi winds up in the Dark Lands. When Luigi is imprisoned by Bowser (Jack Black), Mario must team up with a new group of new friends to defeat Bowser and save his brother.

Read more
Why is it so hard to make a hit Terminator movie again?
Arnold Schwarzenegger aims a rocket launcher out of a car window.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines Robert Zuckerman; Warner Bros.

He said he'd be back, didn't he? On July 2, 2003, The Terminator finally made good on his promise. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the blockbuster sequel that turned 20 this month, brought James Cameron's sci-fi action franchise into the 21st century, albeit without the involvement of Cameron himself, nor that of two of the stars of the previous installment in the series, Linda Hamilton and Edward Furlong. What the movie had going for it was the hulking man in biker black: A dozen years after he last donned the leather and shades, Arnold Schwarzenegger reprised his signature role, the literal killing machine with the oddly Austrian accent, the bad robot gone good, the T-800.

Read more
Christopher Nolan should direct a James Bond movie. Here’s why
tenet christopher nolan john david washington

Throughout his long career, Christopher Nolan has been fairly open about how much influence the Bond movies have had on his work. Whether it's the cool spies in Tenet or the sleek action of The Dark Knight, Nolan has been riffing on Bond in one way or another for years.

Now, as he's promoting Oppenheimer, his latest project, Nolan also made it clear that should the opportunity present itself, he would be happy to direct a Bond movie. “The influence of those movies in my filmography is embarrassingly apparent. It would be an amazing privilege to do one,” he said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, while acknowledging that making that kind of movie comes with certain constraints. Even so, it's somewhat thrilling to imagine what a Nolan Bond movie would look like. Here's what we'd like to see were he to ever actually take on the iconic British spy:
Cast Dev Patel as James Bond

Read more