English-Language Remake of “The Orphanage” …Why?

‘If only I could go with you’, Wendy sighed. – From J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan”

I saw some amazing films last year at Auckland’s 40th International Film Festival. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters was an awesome viewing pleasure, but by far my favourite outstanding film was The Orphanage:

A woman who, with her husband and adopted son, returns to her hometown to fix up the orphanage where she grew up, only to find her son befriended by the ghosts that haunt it.

Normally such news would have me regurgitating past rants about remakes and prequels, but this might will be good …For anyone that has no interest in watching the original and reading subtitles at least, “America”.

The Spanish-language horror hit The Orphanage is getting a US remake, with Guillermo del Toro as producer and low-budget horror veteran Larry Fessenden at the helm. But why remake such a recent and critically acclaimed film?

The Orphanage earned ten times more abroad than it did from its US release, and New Line probably hopes to replicate the film’s foreign success at home.

So why not simply give these foreign films a bigger marketing push in the first place and avoid the cost of remaking them? It’s likely another example of studios playing it safe with stories that are already hits instead of taking risks on fresh scripts. As Bayona himself said after his film’s release:

“The Americans have all the money in the world but can’t do anything, while we can do whatever we want but don’t have the money…The American industry doesn’t take chances, that’s why they make remakes of movies that were already big hits.”

The project is in search of a lead actress.