Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2013 June 19

= June 19 =

South African Broadcasting Coporation
The SABC has 18( eighteen) Radio stations; how many songs do they play daily within a 24hours day, how much of their content is South African? — Preceding unsigned comment added by GloriaBosman (talk • contribs) 15:20, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

Was there ever a remake of a classic movie where the main character dies...
But in the remake the main character lives, so it will be better received by audiences? Adaptations of books (Scarlet Letter, etc.) don't count.--Jerk of Thrones (talk) 19:54, 19 June 2013 (UTC)
 * I am rummaging through my memory banks and haven't come up with a good one yet. I can say that the horror films made by Universal Studios {Dracula, Wolf Man etc) in the 30s and 40s seemed to kill off the monsters at the end of each film only to have them pop up in the next one since they were a steady revenue stream. I know this isn't exactly what you are looking for and I look forward to any answers that others might provide. MarnetteD | Talk 02:03, 20 June 2013 (UTC)
 * The final disposition of Quasimodo in the various film versions of Hunchback of Notre Dame has gone from dying to maybe or maybe not dying to definitely surviving. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:14, 20 June 2013 (UTC)
 * A bit obscure and kind of "cheating": I've seen some "Tudors" stuff on youtube where fans spliced together a series of clips to make it appear that Anne Boleyn didn't get the axe after all, and most everyone lived happily ever after. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 06:11, 20 June 2013 (UTC)

Interesting; I assumed there were more examples. I was thinking it would be funny if someone remade Citizen Kane and he finds Rosebud and becomes a better and happier person once he and Rosebud are reunited, and he lives happily ever after. Critics would love it (not)...--Jerk of Thrones (talk) 04:01, 20 June 2013 (UTC)
 * You mean he finds his childhood sled again, stashed in his attic or garage or something? (Or maybe finds it on eBay?) ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 06:12, 20 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Your CK example reminds me that in the era before film there was a phenomenon during the Victorian era where some of Shakespeare's tragedies had their endings rewritten so that everyone lived. This is described quite humorously in Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby and is portrayed to hilarious effect in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (play) which is available on DVD. Who knows what may happen in the future - some day maybe they will make a new version of the HBO show (and GRR Martin books) where everyone lives at the Red Wedding. :-) MarnetteD | Talk 04:24, 20 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Not quite what you're looking for, but in the classic 1929 Pandora's Box, Lulu isn't killed by Jack the Ripper in the French version. Clarityfiend (talk) 09:57, 20 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Here we go: Robert Mitchum's character is killed in Out of the Past (1947), but Jeff Bridges' lives, Against All Odds. If you really, really stretch the meaning of "classic", then one 50 Foot Woman dies in 1958, but another lives in 1993. There are probably more to be found in List of film remakes. Clarityfiend (talk) 10:01, 20 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Dang it. Out of the Past is adapted from a novel (as is the Hunchback). Clarityfiend (talk) 10:08, 20 June 2013 (UTC)
 * In the 1942 Cat People, Irena commits suicide. The synopsis of the 1982 remake seems to indicate she lives. Klaatu dies (in a complicated sort of way) in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), but not in the 2008 remake, at least according to the synopsis. Clarityfiend (talk) 10:15, 20 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Here's an interesting one (though the films are based on a novel): In The Three Godfathers (1919), one survives; in Three Godfathers (1936), they all die; and finally in 3 Godfathers (1948), John Wayne's character lives. Clarityfiend (talk) 10:34, 20 June 2013 (UTC)


 * In George Sluizer's 1988 film The Vanishing, the hero dies. In his 1993 US remake the hero lives. I recall at the time of the remake, the producers wouldn't accept an unhappy ending. --TrogWoolley (talk) 15:14, 20 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Don't let them get their hands on Romeo and Juliet. Or Hamlet.  Or the New Testament.  --   Jack of Oz   [Talk]  22:26, 20 June 2013 (UTC)
 * How about Cyrano? —Tamfang (talk) 22:34, 20 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Well C.D. did live in Roxanne (film) :-) Granted that isn't a remake. MarnetteD | Talk 22:57, 20 June 2013 (UTC)


 * "Spared By The Adaptation" (TV Tropes) lists a couple of examples (though not all of them are main characters and I'm unsure whether it was about audience reception in each case) such as When a Stranger Calls (2006 film) (remake of When a Stranger Calls (1979 film)) where "both the kids and the would-be killer" are spared, or "Mari and Justin" in The Last House on the Left (2009 film) (remake of The Last House on the Left (1972 film)). Judy in The Crazies (2010 film) (remake of The Crazies (1973 film)) or more complex examples such as "The Village Elder in The Magnificent Seven. Chico is a partial example, as he's a composite of two of the main characters of Seven Samurai: Kikuchiyo, who dies, and Katsushiro, who does not." ---Sluzzelin talk  00:15, 21 June 2013 (UTC)
 * (oops, and I missed the "classic" part. That leaves me with the last example, sort of. ---Sluzzelin talk  00:21, 21 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Not even that. The OP specified the main character. Clarityfiend (talk) 03:44, 21 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Get Carter (1971) vs. Get Carter (2000). Clarityfiend (talk) 03:49, 21 June 2013 (UTC)