Going 'Overboard': Hollywood's glut of gender-swap remakes

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From the polarizing "Ghostbusters" remake to the controversy over female versions of James Bond and Doctor Who, Hollywood's proclivity for gender-swapped retreads is among its most enduring and contentious.

The trend – seen as empowering or annoying, depending on who you ask – is getting fresh attention with "Ocean's 8" due for release on Friday, "Overboard" still in theaters and "What Men Want" coming out in January.

The new "Overboard" swapped Goldie Hawn from the 1987 comedy for Eugenio Derbez and Kurt Russell for Anna Faris, and has grossed a healthy 70 million US dollars worldwide on an estimated 12-million-US-dollar budget.

Dancers attend the premiere of Sony Pictures' "Ghostbusters" at TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California, US. /VCG Photo

But it was disliked by the vast majority of critics, according to online reviews collator Rotten Tomatoes, which dismissed it as a "remake that fails to clear the fairly low bar set by the original."

There's nothing new in Hollywood, and gender-swapping has been popular since Howard Hawks cast Rosalind Russell for "His Girl Friday" (1940) in a part played by a man in the source movie, "The Front Page" (1931).

A slew of female-led remakes followed – from "The Incredible Shrinking Woman" (1981) and "The Next Karate Kid" (1994) to "American Psycho II: All American Girl" (2002) but were largely seen as pale imitations.

Cast members Kate McKinnon (L) and Kristen Wiig attend the premiere of the film "Ghostbusters" in Hollywood, California, US. /VCG Photo

"Ghostbusters" (2016) could well be studied in future film history classes for the bizarre backlash it received from the legion of "ghostbros" who swore lifelong loyalty to the 1984 original.

Much of the criticism was grounded in straightforward misogyny with a certain kind of male moviegoer scandalized both by the presumption of a remake and by the very idea of women trying to be funny.

Source(s): AFP