13

The current movie industry seems to be engaged in an orgy of remakes to reduce the risk of funding completely new scripts. We have had a recent remake of Total Recall and are about to get a remake of Robocop. Sometimes the remakes happen very quickly (the Swedish movies Let the Right One In and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo were both remade in English very quickly).

Some of the scripts start as books (The Big Sleep, for example), some start as plays (The Front Page was originally a stage play but was remade as a movie several times, in 1931 and 1974 as The Front Page and in 1940 as His Girl Friday) and others as screenplays (Robocop seems to have started as a screenplay).

What is the most remade story?

NB For clarity let us exclude series where a character such as James Bond repeats and stick with those where the story credit references a single play, book or original script.

Improve this question
2
  • Any other requirements? I guess a book has a much higher chance of being turned into a movie multiple times than just a screenplay, though those wouldn't then necessarily be remakes of a particular movie/screenplay but just different interpretations of the book. The recently brought up 9 versions of Les Miserables already set quite a high limit in this case. I also think The Count of Monte Christo has been done a feeled thousand times.
    – Napoleon Wilson ♦
    Jan 11, 2014 at 21:32
  • If the numbers are dominated by books rather than original scripts or plays, then I might suggest splitting the question. But right now I don't want to be more specific.
    – matt_black
    Jan 11, 2014 at 21:34

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
7

It depends on how you define it, as you can look at something like Hitchock's Psycho, which was remade almost scene for scene and shot for shot, or adaptations of works. You can also limit it by Hollywood, Bollywood, German, etc.

The Great Gatsby has been made into a film seven different times in the US, but the overall record holder for a same name film is undoubtedly Romeo and Juliet. I believe the number of times that it has been made into a film a little more than 1300 times in various countries and languages. I don't believe this counts "knockoff" type films where the story is same/similar but the title is different.

Improve this answer
4
  • 3
    I think Romeo and Juliet is the best technical answer, and would add that there are countless movies (made by Hollywood and religious groups, et al.) based on the bible.
    – Ben Plont
    Jan 12, 2014 at 16:59
  • @BenPlont Though most probably on different excerpts of it.
    – Napoleon Wilson ♦
    Jan 12, 2014 at 18:21
  • And then there were None has had been made into a movie 10 times.
    – Hannover Fist
    Mar 31, 2022 at 21:39
  • 1
    "the number of times that it has been made into a film a little more than 1300 times in various countries and languages." [Citation needed]
    – galacticninja
    Jul 28 at 5:34
6

My money is on Romeo and Juliet. But without proper in depth research, my money maybe ill-placed.

References:

Improve this answer
2
  • It might be a little pedantic, but these are not remakes, but a list of movies based on the same base story.
    – Quora Feans
    Oct 19, 2019 at 14:49
  • I would have set my money on The Three Musketeers, but if Wikipedia is right, Romeo and Juliet have indeed more remakes.
    – Doc Brown
    Oct 20, 2019 at 21:51
2

Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland is one of the most, if not the most, frequently adapted stories in film. Wikipedia’s list of "Films and television programmes based on Alice in Wonderland" shows that, as of July 2023, there are 39 theatrical films, 6 direct-to-video films, and 18 TV films that have retold or reimagined Lewis Carroll’s classic novel.

Improve this answer
-2

If we limit it to Hollywood, then one particular remake comes to mind...

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) dir. Don Siegel which then was re-made as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) dir. Philip Kaufman which then was then re-made as The Body Snatchers (1993) dir. Abel Ferrara which was finally re-made as The Invasion (2007) dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel.

Improve this answer
1
  • 4
    That's only 3, which isn't a lot by Hollywood standards.
    – matt_black
    Feb 1, 2015 at 19:53

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .