Is this really necessary?

A disturbing trend has been emerging in Hollywood the past few years, the extreme need to beat film franchises into the ground by endlessly remaking them, releasing sequels to them or otherwise just over exposing what began as decent movies. Now, in some cases, remaking a movie is a good idea (i.e. this summer's The Incredible Hulk as opposed to The Hulk from a few years ago) and some sequels are actually better than the first movie (i.e. T-2 vs. The Terminator and The Dark Knight vs. pretty much any other Batman movie made), but in the past two days, I have heard of three movies that really don't need to get made. We'll start with the one that is truly a done deal.
MTV has announced that they will be remaking The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Behold the horror:

MTV is resurrecting Dr. Frank-N-Furter, Brad, Janet, Riff Raff and the rest of the singin' and dancin' weirdos of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, turning everyone's favorite midnight musical comedy into a TV movie. The Rocky redux will feature the original campy 1975 screenplay by Jim Sharman and Richard O'Brien, according to Variety, along with the classic soundtrack for the two-hour teleflick. There might be a couple of new songs written specifically for the TV take, which MTV is hoping to have on the air next year. No word yet on a director or cast, but it seems unlikey original stars Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Patricia Quinn or Meat Loaf will be meeting over at the Frankenstein place for another go-round. (Source E Online)

If the music is the same and the script is the same, what is the point of remaking the movie? It will be the same movie with different actors, maybe a new song, and, since its MTV that's making it, an annoying amount of product placement and a behind the scenes special starring the cast of The Hills that will be played ad nauseum before, after and during the movie. Plus there will be a reality show asking America to help cast the movie and lots and lots of bling. Maybe some glitter too. And the obligatory appearance on TRL. None of this is sounding appealing to me. The whole fun of The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the campiness of it and going to midnight showings and being harassed by theater majors who's job it is to act out the movie while its being shown. Why mess with that?

On to the next horrible idea. New Line Cinema made so much money off of the latest redo of Hairspray that now they want a sequel. That's right, a major Hollywood studio actually wants John Waters to write an continuation of one of his movies. Behold the awful:

New Line Cinema has made a deal with "Hairspray" creator John Waters to write a treatment for a sequel to summer 2007’s hit musical feature. Planning to return are director-choreographer Adam Shankman, producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron and Tony-winning songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, who will write new songs for the film. No cast has been engaged yet, and none of the stars of "Hairspray" had sequel options. But the studio hopes to reunite the original cast in a film that will be ready for release by Warner Bros. in mid-July 2010. (Source Variety)

While I truly enjoyed the newest incarnation of Hairspray, as well as the original movie and the Broadway play, I really don't see the point in making a sequel. Didn't everything end happily in the first one? What more can they do? I guess, given the volatile period the movie is set in, there is still more to delve into, I just don't see the point in making a sequel to a movie that has already been remade as a play and again as a movie. Hasn't the ozone been polluted enough with Hairspray?
And finally, the most offensive sequel in the making, that could turn out to be genius, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are in the process of writing a sequel to Anchorman. Behold the potentially terrible:
Ron Burgundy fans rejoice! It looks like Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, the brains behind Anchorman, are ready to put the sexist, freewheeling newscaster back in the anchor chair. McKay tells EW.com that he and Ferrell have begun work on a sequel that could jump ahead a decade to the '80s. (We can see it now: Ron discovers hair mousse.) DreamWorks says it hasn't yet talked to the duo, but that doesn't mean Ferrell and McKay aren't dreaming up inappropriate new plots. "The audience will now allow us to do even crazier stuff," McKay says, "and that's really all we're looking for in our careers." (source EW.com)
I'm of two minds on this one. As a big fan of Anchorman (my husband and I watch it at least once a month and frequently quote from it. Yes we are those people), I am excited at the possibility of seeing Ron and the gang again and the idea of jumping them into the 80's could be pure comic gold. But, as a realist, I worry that a) the rest of the cast won't sign on (mainly Christina Applegate, who is not only enjoying her new Emmy nominated role in Samantha Who, but has also said in the past that making Anchorman was not the most pleasant experience for her) and it wouldn't be Anchorman without Champ, Ric (Steve Carrell has also been enjoying a lot of success as of late), and the Bri-man. And b) the comments that McKay made about doing even crazier stuff also worries me, considering the latest teamwork between McKay and Will Ferrell has been Stepbrothers (which is out in theaters tomorrow) which has gotten mediocre reviews and the previews make it look like a bunch of butt jokes coupled with some juvenile pranks. Now, I haven't seen the movie, so I'm probably judging a bit harshly. And I did enjoy the other McKay/Ferrell collaboration, Talledega Nights the Ballad of Ricky Bobby (it poked fun at everything I hate about NASCAR, therefore, made me laugh), so I reserving my true despair over this potential project until I get more information on it.
That's all for me today. The boss is still out of town, but has called 15 times since we started keeping track. My bet was 16, so I'm probably going to lose. That's ok though, its spirit of the game that counts.
Later!