The Ocean’s Eleven Original and Remake 

A movie remake generally is a movie which utilises another movie that has been released prior as the main source material. Theres many reasons for movie remakes from studios relying on the success of previous movies to new film makers wanting to recreate the movie with their own creative input. Additionally, there's many marketing advantages for remakes, as there is already an established concept and they tend to be relatively cheap as you wouldn't need a full team of writers to come up with something from scratch (J.Bogage, 2016). That is what attracts studios to green-light many remakes and sequels to these remakes.

Moreover, even though there’s many fans that loves to see a different take on their favourite films, there’s also plenty of fans which feel as though the cinema is filled with movies they've already seen and do not really care to see their favourite movie with a modern kick as they feel it is getting too much to take (heart, 2016). These groups of people are also the first to point out that remakes generally aren't critically acclaimed as their original counterpart. If this is really true then why do film studios continue to make remakes? Why can’t filmmakers come up with new original ideas that we've never seen before? This might be because sometimes remakes really work. Back to back sequels and remakes of already successful films are a guaranteed way to provide filmmakers with a surefire triumph. This is because the franchise already has a good following and fans will be almost guaranteed to see another film. In that case, without the original version, most the modern versions probably wouldn’t have been as much of a hit (heart, 2016).

A good example of this is the Ocean’s movie franchise. The 2001 George Clooney version might not have been successful without the original Ocean’s Eleven film and it went on to make two more movies as sequels and became the Oceans trilogy.Creating a successful remake can be difficult to do as there are many factors to consider such as paying proper respect to the source material while also adding something new. You also have consider consider other aspects like the relevance and spirit of the film (S.Reeves, 2015). There have been many remakes that have had fans irate such as ‘Clash of the titans’ (2010) and ‘Psycho’ (1998). However, Ocean’s Eleven definitely got it right as it was able to maintain the same energy, spirit, while making it entertaining and adding something new to the existing source material (S.Reeves, 2015).On the surface, both of the movies are comedies about eleven men robbing a few casinos in the same night. However, despite having the same title and two teams carrying out a heist on Vegas casinos, are totally different.The original Ocean’s Eleven cast was iconic as it included members from The Rat Pack who were Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr, Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop.

The remake casted some very good actors as well such as George Clooney, Brad Pitt. Julia Roberts, Matt Damon etc. All of them took pay cuts to make the filming of the movie possible and was encouraged to have faith in the project as it was a very star studded cast like the Original movie (g-funk, 2016).In both movies the main character is Danny Ocean, played by Frank Sinatra in the original and George Clooney in the remake. In the original, Danny Ocean is an ex sergeant during World War II and he gathers a team from his former squadron to carry out a military style heist on five major casinos in Vegas (g-funk, 2016). The remake gives Danny a little more character as his ex wife gives him extra motivation for the heist (g-funk, 2016). The plan involves getting her back from the casino owner Terry Benedict. Where as in the original Danny is driven more through greed. Additionally, the addition of the character Terry Benedict (played by Andy Garcia) in the remake gives a antagonist roll throughout the film, which the original did not have until the last act. He serves as a force opposing Danny’s plan which adds personality to the movie (g-funk, 2016).The biggest difference between the two movies might be that in the remake, the crew keeps the money at the end, plus no one dies. This gives the movie a more light and fun tone than the original. The military backstory to link all the characters in the original is non existent in the remake. In the remake, Danny knows a few of the men on the heist but there’s also some people he’s newly meeting (g-funk, 2016).