Special Report

The 25 Best Movie Remakes of All Time

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

Hollywood is going through a sequels and prequels era right now, but remakes have always been a trend. In order to draw audiences to theaters, movie producers often opt to remake well-known movies that fans already love.

In some cases, what made these original films special is missing from the newer offering. In many other cases, however, a remake is better received than the original thanks to fresh ideas, new visual effects, or an improved screenplay.

24/7 Tempo has identified the best 25 movie remakes, based on audience and critic ratings on the Internet Movie Database and Rotten Tomatoes.

There is an almost perfect split between older and newer remakes on our list. Nineteen of the best remake movies were released after 2000, and 16 were released between 1959 and 2000. Of the more recent releases, six have come out in the last five years.

In addition to remakes, sometimes sequels are better than the first installment of a franchise. These are the best movie sequels of all time.

Click here to see the best movie remakes of all time

To determine the best remakes of all time, 24/7 Tempo developed an index based on several measures from the Internet Movie Database and Rotten Tomatoes. The index is a composite of the movies’ IMDb rating, Rotten Tomatoes audience score, and Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score. All ratings were weighted equally. Only films with at least 5,000 reviews on IMDb were considered. Supplemental data on domestic box office and production budgets by movie came from industry data site the Numbers.

Courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

25. The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
> Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo, Denis Leary
> Director: John McTiernan
> IMDb rating: 6.9 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 70%
> RT audience score: 77%

The 1999 thriller “The Thomas Crown Affair” is a remake of the 1968 film of the same name. The movie follows a billionaire who steals art and is being pursued by a private insurance investigator and the two end up falling in love. According to Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus, the remake is “of uncommon charm.” “The Thomas Crown Affair” is getting another remake, starring Michael B. Jordan (Creed movies).

[in-text-ad]

Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

24. True Lies (1994)
> Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold
> Director: James Cameron
> IMDb rating: 7.2 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 71%
> RT audience score: 76%

The 1994 hit action-comedy movie “True Lies” is based on a 1991 French comedy “La Totale!” The plot of the American movie is centered on a salesman who is actually a secret agent tracking down nuclear missiles. “La Totale!” follows a civil servant who is actually a secret agent using his skills and resources to find where his son has been going instead of school. Remake director James Cameron is developing a “True Lies” TV reboot.

Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

23. Aladdin (2019)
> Starring: Will Smith, Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott
> Director: Guy Ritchie
> IMDb rating: 6.9 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 57%
> RT audience score: 94%

Disney’s live-action “Aladdin” is a remake of the studio’s 1992 critically-acclaimed animated version. The remake was surrounded by much controversy, including for not being true to the original Middle Eastern story and hiring Guy Ritchie, who is better known for making gangster movies, to be director. Despite that, and not being liked by critics as much as the original, the remake was a financial success, grossing over $1 billion worldwide against a budget of $182 million.

Courtesy of Buena Vista Pictures

22. The Parent Trap (1998)
> Starring: Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid, Natasha Richardson
> Director: Nancy Meyers
> IMDb rating: 6.5 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 86%
> RT audience score: 70%

The 1998 remake of “The Parent Trap” helped turn Lindsay Lohan into a star. In this retelling of the 1961 film, Lohan plays a set of twins who, after being separated at birth, happen across each other at a summer camp. There, they decide to switch places to spend time with the parent they have never met and try to push the parents back together.

[in-text-ad-2]

Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

21. Beauty and the Beast (2017)
> Starring: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans
> Director: Bill Condon
> IMDb rating: 7.1 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 71%
> RT audience score: 80%

“Beauty and the Beast” is one of the best reviewed movies in Disney’s recent string of live-action remakes of the studio’s classic animated films. The Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus describes the film as a “faithful yet fresh retelling” of the original. It stars Emma Watson as Belle, who is taken prisoner by a prince-turned-beast (Dan Stevens) who needs to find love to turn back into a man.

Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

20. The Italian Job (2003)
> Starring: Donald Sutherland, Mark Wahlberg, Edward Norton
> Director: F. Gary Gray
> IMDb rating: 7.0 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 73%
> RT audience score: 80%

The 2003 heist action movie “The Italian Job” is a remake of the 1969 British film of the same name, starring Michael Cane. Critics on Rotten Tomatoes describe the remake as a “modern take” on the 1969 original — and entertaining but largely because of the charismatic actors. The 2003 movie follows a crew of thieves who plan revenge against a former crew member who double-crossed them.

[in-text-ad]

Courtesy of Buena Vista Pictures

19. Eight Below (2006)
> Starring: Paul Walker, Jason Biggs, Bruce Greenwood
> Director: Frank Marshall
> IMDb rating: 7.3 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 72%
> RT audience score: 79%

“Eight Below” is a remake of one of Japan’s most popular movies, “Antarctica,” from 1983. The American version is a fictionalized tale of the true story from the 1950s about a group of huskies that were left to fend for themselves in Antarctica’s brutal winter after severe weather forced Japanese researchers to leave them behind. “Eight Below” offers a Disneyfied version of that story, with Paul Walker and Jason Biggs playing the guilt-ridden explorers who want to go back and rescue their dogs as soon as they can.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

18. Cape Fear (1991)
> Starring: Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange
> Director: Martin Scorsese
> IMDb rating: 7.3 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 75%
> RT audience score: 77%

Martin Scorsese remade the classic 1962 thriller “Cape Fear” in 1991. Like the original, Scorsese’s version is about a lawyer (Nick Nolte) who withholds evidence to put a violent sex offender (Robert De Niro) in prison for 14 years. When the convict is released, he aims to ruin the lawyer’s life through stalking and violence. Eventually, the lawyer must go outside the law to protect his family. Both De Niro and Juliette Lewis, who plays the lawyer’s daughter, were nominated for Oscars for their performances.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

17. Dawn of the Dead (2004)
> Starring: Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Mekhi Phifer
> Director: Zack Snyder
> IMDb rating: 7.3 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 75%
> RT audience score: 77%

Zack Snyder’s “Dawn of the Dead” is a remake of George A. Romero’s 1978 horror film of the same name. The movie follows a woman who escapes from her zombified neighbor and realizes everyone in her neighborhood is a zombie. The 2004 version is a “worthy remake,” according to Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus, and “pays homage to the original while working on its own terms.”

[in-text-ad-2]

Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

16. Pete’s Dragon (2016)
> Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Robert Redford, Oakes Fegley
> Director: David Lowery
> IMDb rating: 6.7 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 88%
> RT audience score: 72%

A mix of live action and animation, “Pete’s Dragon” was originally released by Disney in 1977. The original, with Hollywood legends Mickey Rooney and Shelley Winters, was described on Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus as “boring and slow” and “a lesser Disney work.” Its 2016 reimagining was a success, with the Critics Consensus saying the update “gives the original a visual overhaul without overwhelming its sweet, soulful charm.”

Courtesy of United Artists

15. The Birdcage (1996)
> Starring: Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman
> Director: Mike Nichols
> IMDb rating: 7.1 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 81%
> RT audience score: 81%

“The Birdcage” is a classic comedy in which a gay cabaret owner (Robin Williams) and his drag queen partner (Nathan Lane) pretend to be a straight couple to impress the straight-laced parents of their son’s new fiancée. The story was adapted from the French film “La Cage aux Folles,” which became the highest-grossing foreign-language film in American movie history when it was released in 1978.

[in-text-ad]

Courtesy of Overture Films

14. Let Me in (2010)
> Starring: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloë Grace Moretz, Richard Jenkins
> Director: Matt Reeves
> IMDb rating: 7.1 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 88%
> RT audience score: 76%

“Let Me in” is a horror movie about a lonely 12-year-old boy who strikes up a friendship with a neighbor. He soon grows suspicious that she is involved in a string of gruesome murders in the area. The film was adapted from a Swedish movie released just two years earlier. The Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus says “Let Me In” is “similar to the original in all the right ways — but with enough changes to stand on its own.” Both audiences and critics gave the film largely positive reviews.

Courtesy of New Line Cinema

12. Hairspray (2007)
> Starring: John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Nikki Blonsky
> Director: Adam Shankman
> IMDb rating: 6.6 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 91%
> RT audience score: 84%

Director Adam Shankman’s exuberant 2007 film about dance-crazy Baltimore youth fighting for civil rights in the 1960s adheres more to the Broadway musical version than John Waters’ subversive 1988 take on the culture. The reboot is also noteworthy for John Travolta’s turn in drag as the mother of a teen dance queen.

[in-text-ad-2]

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

11. Insomnia (2002)
> Starring: Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank
> Director: Christopher Nolan
> IMDb rating: 7.2 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 92%
> RT audience score: 77%

The 2002 version of “Insomnia” is another American remake of a foreign film — in this case, a 1997 film from Norway. In the American version, detectives are dispatched to find a murderer in a remote town in Alaska where the sun doesn’t set. The detectives struggle with their own personal baggage as well as the sleep deprivation brought about by the midnight sun. Both the original and the remake are certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

10. Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
> Starring: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts
> Director: Steven Soderbergh
> IMDb rating: 7.7 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 83%
> RT audience score: 80%

For his 2001 remake of Ocean’s Eleven, Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh brought back the tried and true formula that made the 1960 version so successful — putting together a group of A-list stars for a Las Vegas casino heist of epic proportions. In the original “Ocean’s 11” Frank Sinatra plays Danny Ocean. He gathers fellow World War II servicemen (played by Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Cesar Romero, and more) for his crew.

In the remake, George Clooney is the titular Ocean, with A-list accomplices like Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, and more. The remake was so successful that it spawned two sequels as well as the 2018 female-led reboot “Ocean’s 8.”

[in-text-ad]

Courtesy of New Line Cinema

9. It (2017)
> Starring: Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Martell, Finn Wolfhard
> Director: Andy Muschietti
> IMDb rating: 7.3 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 86%
> RT audience score: 84%

“It” is a supernatural horror film based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name. The film is the second adaptation of the novel, with the first being the ’90s TV series “It.” The movie tells the story of seven teenagers fighting an evil entity — which often appears in the form of a clown — in their hometown.

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

8. A Star Is Born (2018)
> Starring: Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott
> Director: Bradley Cooper
> IMDb rating: 7.6 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 90%
> RT audience score: 79%

“A Star is Born” is one of those movies that gets a remake every so often. The 2018 remake is the fourth version of the music drama. The original, which is the only one of the four with a perfect critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, was released in 1937. All four movies follow a famous musician struggling with alcoholism who helps a young and promising singer find fame, and the two fall in love.

Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

7. The Fly (1986)
> Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz
> Director: David Cronenberg
> IMDb rating: 7.6 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 92%
> RT audience score: 83%

David Cronenberg’s 1986 “The Fly” is an imaginative remake of the 1958 horror film about the consequences of dabbling with nature. The film follows a scientist (Jeff Goldblum) who transforms into a hybrid between a man and a fly after an experiment goes wrong. Both the 1986 and 1958 movies were well received by both critics and fans.

[in-text-ad-2]

Courtesy of Lionsgate

6. 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
> Starring: Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Ben Foster
> Director: James Mangold
> IMDb rating: 7.7 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 89%
> RT audience score: 86%

The 1957 “3:10 to Yuma” is a Western classic. It tells the story of struggling rancher Dan Evans, who volunteers to escort a notorious outlaw to a train station so the criminal can go on trial for his misdeeds. Along the way, Evans contends with the criminal’s gang and family trying to free him, as well as the tempting offer of a large bribe to let him go. Both the original film and the 2007 remake with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale received rave reviews from audience members and critics alike.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

5. The Thing (1982)
> Starring: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David
> Director: John Carpenter
> IMDb rating: 8.1 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 85%
> RT audience score: 92%

Before John Carpenter’s “The Thing” became a horror classic in 1982, audiences were frightened by the original version, “The Thing from Another World,” from 1951. Both films draw from the classic sci-fi novella “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell Jr. In all iterations of the story, scientists in a remote antarctic research station find a crash-landed alien, which soon unthaws and shapeshifts into identical versions of animals and people alike, and paranoia ensues as the scientists must find and destroy the invader.

[in-text-ad]

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

4. Scarface (1983)
> Starring: Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer
> Director: Brian De Palma
> IMDb rating: 8.3 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 82%
> RT audience score: 93%

Though 1983’s “Scarface” is still well known today, what may be less well known is the fact that it is actually a remake of another movie that came out over 50 years earlier. The 1932 version of “Scarface” was based on a 1929 pulp fiction novel of the same name by Armitage Trail. The book was loosely based on the exploits of Al Capone, one of America’s most notorious gangsters.

In the book and both films, the lead character is an ambitious figure in organized crime whose greed proves to be his downfall. “Scarface” is set for another remake, with “Call Me By Your Name” director Luca Guadagnino attached to the project, as of September 2020.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

3. Scent of a Woman (1992)
> Starring: Al Pacino, Chris O’Donnell, James Rebhorn
> Director: Martin Brest
> IMDb rating: 8.0 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 89%
> RT audience score: 92%

“Scent of a Woman” is a remake of an Italian drama of the same name. In the Italian version, a blind captain, who is assigned an aide by the army, travels to Naples to meet an old friend. The two former soldiers have planned to fulfill a pact to end their own lives. The Italian movie was nominated for two Oscars, including best writing and best foreign movie. The American film, which follows a blind retired colonel and a prep student hired to help him around, was nominated for four Oscars, with Al Pacino winning for best actor.

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

2. The Departed (2006)
> Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson
> Director: Martin Scorsese
> IMDb rating: 8.5 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 90%
> RT audience score: 94%

Director Martin Scorcese’s “The Departed” is based on the critically-acclaimed police thriller “Infernal Affairs,” which is set in Hong Kong. Scorsese’s gritty flick about the Irish mob in Boston and the undercover cop who helps take them down and exposes a mole in the FBI took home four Oscars, including for best picture and best director.

[in-text-ad-2]

Courtesy of United Artists

1. Some Like It Hot (1959)
> Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon
> Director: Billy Wilder
> IMDb rating: 8.2 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 95%
> RT audience score: 94%

The 1959 “Some Like It Hot” movie is a remake of a German film from 1951 titled “Fanfaren Der Liebe,” which happens to be a remake of a 1935 French film “Fanfare of Love.” The German film follows two men who disguise themselves as different people to find work. The American comedy centers on two musicians who witness the infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago. They dress up as women so they can join an all-female band traveling the country and thus escaping the mob.

Get Ready To Retire (Sponsored)

Start by taking a quick retirement quiz from SmartAsset that will match you with up to 3 financial advisors that serve your area and beyond in 5 minutes, or less.

Each advisor has been vetted by SmartAsset and is held to a fiduciary standard to act in your best interests.

Here’s how it works:
1. Answer SmartAsset advisor match quiz
2. Review your pre-screened matches at your leisure. Check out the advisors’ profiles.
3. Speak with advisors at no cost to you. Have an introductory call on the phone or introduction in person and choose whom to work with in the future

Get started right here.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.