The Lion King is coming back to theatres. And so is Dumbo. And Spider-Man. And Rocky. And if it’s not a remake, it’s a sequel, or an adaptation. Even Margaret Atwood is, more than 30 years later, writing a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. Norm Wilner's job means he sees basically every major movie or television show of consequence which, especially lately, means watching the same stories again and again.
What’s happened to push the entertainment industry further and further away from taking risks on original content? Why do we keep lapping it up? Is it basic economics? Laziness? A desperate need for comfort in a cold, cold world? And if you are going to remake a movie, how do you do it right?
GUEST: Norm Wilner, senior film writer at NOW, host of the Someone Else’s Movie podcast