Classic action movies, fantasy, drama, crime — you name it — the entertainment industry is all about remakes and reboots these days.
Yeah, they’re not exactly the best at it, but there are a few gemstones among the copious oodles of mediocrity. Even a blind squirrel will find an acorn occasionally, and it’s always nice to dream.
Speaking of dreaming, there are some fantastic action movies (mostly from the 1980s) that would be sublime candidates for a TV series, if well executed, of course.
Many fans cry ‘sacrilege!’ whenever someone chooses a classic for a remake, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles in contemporary entertainment circles.
So, if it must be done, why not go all out and try for some first-rate action flicks? While some classic action movies belong to the hallowed halls of remembrance, a few pass the litmus test for the next great TV series.
Escape from New York
On its surface, this one seems like a far cry from series adaptability. It’s an open-and-shut case of get in, grab the MacGuffin, and get out.
This classic Kurt Russel action flick is a cheesy 80s flick directed by John Carpenter. It’s one of those guilty-pleasure action movies that you just can’t get enough of.
Snake Plisskin is legendary in action film circles — the John Wick of 1981. That’s a hard act to pull off in a decade that gave us Rambo, John McClane, Indiana Jones, Martin Riggs, Conan, Mad Max, Ripley, and The Terminator.
What makes Escape from New York viable, however, is not just Snake Plisskin (who would be difficult to cast as a Kurt Russel replacement) but the world itself.
Nowadays, the entertainment industry is all about the dystopian future, and the world of Escape from New York is ripe for the plucking. A United States that uses entire cities as prison facilities is a fantasy setting worth exploring, as are the people who fill it and contain it.
Snake is not even a necessary component. In fact, to avoid the modern clash of ‘remake versus nostalgia,’ the series can easily focus on any city and any character a potential showrunner so chooses.
Seven Samurai
With the success of Shogun, there is clearly a built-in fanbase for all things ‘samurai,’ whether it’s action movies or extensive series. Couple that with an overall plot that inspired the Magnificent Seven, and you have a lot to work with.
While ‘last stand’ movies (and stories in general) are nothing new, a TV series opens the door to the kind of in-depth character interactions a movie has to condense.
In Seven Samurai, there’s the classic group of seven mercenaries tasked with defending hungry farmers. Some of the epicness of a last stand disappears with a series unless it’s a limited one, but there remains much to draw from in the process of creating a protracted story.
The original is already 200+ minutes long, and there is a wealth of content left on the drawing-room floor. Despite that, Seven Samurai is arguably better than its American successor, especially in character depth and cinematography (minus the technological constraints of the time period).
It wouldn’t be the easiest series to make. Translating a last-stand plot into one with enough stakes to draw in the audience is not an enviable task.
But it can be done, and filmmaking history is replete with examples. A little creativity goes a long way, especially in an era where consumers constantly have to sift through the detritus to find gems.
Total Recall
To be fair, a Total Recall series is already available, courtesy of Art Monterastelli and CHCH-TV, a Canadian TV channel.
In fact, the entire reason I’m listing Total Recall is in reference to the Arnold Schwarzenegger version, and this Canadian series and its profound combination of two Philip K. Dick short stories: We Can Remember It For You Wholesale and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The series never went anywhere for a host of reasons requiring an entirely separate article. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not worthy of a second go-round.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s version is the one that sticks in people’s minds the most, and it’s part of the equation here, to be sure.
In the Canadian series, Rekall is one of a handful of corporations that heavily influence the government in a pseudo-technocracy.
It follows the Blade Runner slant, with a detective investigating the murder of his partner by an android. However, memory manipulation and Rekall play major roles.
This series is right up Apple TV’s alley, with memory expansion and manipulation, self-aware androids, virtual reality, technocracies, sci-fi noir, and highly technological conspiracies.
If the right hands swoop it up, maybe it will help us all forget about that detestable abomination starring Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, and Jessica Biel, the repugnant 2012 version directed by Len Wiseman (insert emoji vomit here).
Dredd
Though there is a Mega-City One series somewhere on the horizon, it’s been on hiatus since sometime after 2015.
Besides, Mega-City One is not about Judge Dredd; instead, it focuses on the titular city and the judges as a group.
Dredd is not a franchise for cheap, cash-in deliveries. The fanbase is hardcore and won’t tolerate some wishy-washy TV version of Dredd or the world he inhabits.
The great thing about Dredd is the subtle layers within his persona. He never removes his helmet and is a man of few words. It might take five or six seasons worth of material to peel back the layers.
The comics have done so extensively, but the two action movies and audio dramas have come nowhere near tacking the enigmatic, disciplined, and hardline Judge.
Hell, it would take several episodes just to cover all the various functions of the Lawgiver, the weapon of choice among the Judges in Mega-City One.
Up until the MCU (and even today, to some degree), comics are never given their due as a medium for incredible, in-depth storytelling. Movies, TV shows, and books always get all the glory in that regard.
But if there is one thing Marvel and DC prove over and over again, whether anyone is paying attention or not, it’s that comic books are gold mines for immense character and world-building in a more visual medium.
Judge Dredd should have been in the TV series production phase a long time ago.
The Warriors
For a brief moment, many of us thought that the Russo brothers (of MCU fame) were going to make one of the best action movies of the 1980s (1979, to be more precise, but an 80s hit, nonetheless) into a series.
Like Dredd, nothing ever came from it for reasons that are still vague or just unknown. Shift Gangs of New York to modern times, and you’ll have an idea of what makes The Warriors tick.
In fact, take Gangs of New York, mix it up with the political intrigues of Game of Thrones, and toss it into modern-day New York City (or insert another major American city here), and The Warriors emerge as a potentially epic franchise.
Even in the condensed dynamic of city versus state, country, or continent, the world-building potential is immense, with plenty of characters for audiences to invest in.
The Warriors is a cult classic that never quite got the time it deserved. The director, Walter Hill, along with the writers and producers, faced a time crunch and budget issues throughout.
The push and pull of warring gangs, like the warring Stark and Lannister families, is the perfect setting for a prolonged TV series. As a bonus, the more visceral and violent actions that were cut can now play out more effectively on platforms like Max, Showtime, Apple TV+, etc.
The most intriguing aspect, however, is the cultural/social dynamic. The gangs in The Warriors are not a representation of society’s failings but a fact of life—an existing formula not constrained by society’s defining aspects.
In many ways, it’s similar to Escape from New York but more focused, expunging the exterior elements in favor of what’s within.
Black Rain
Black Rain never seems to get much love within the action movie lexicon, and that’s a shame. It’s one of Michael Douglas’s best movies.
Remaking it into a TV series will also bring Japanese culture to the forefront while series such as Shogun are riding high. It will also remedy some of the stereotypes reciprocated in the film.
The premise was pretty simple in the movie: two detectives from New York City have to escort a member of the Yakuza to Japan.
However, a series could easily expand upon Yakuza within a noir framework in modern-day Japan. The detectives ultimately end up being dragged into the dark underbelly of gang activity in the Land of the Rising Sun.
In retrospect, the movie is not as epic an adventure as it sounds on paper. However, a TV series can really expand upon many of the themes within Black Rain.
Big Trouble in Little China
This is one of those action movies that needed time to grow on people.
It was originally panned, and the reaction was severe enough to drive John Carpenter into independent filmmaking and away from everything and everything Hollywood.
As another collaboration between Director John Carpenter and Kurt Russell, Big Trouble in Little China owns the cult classic status so often applied to initially ill-received films.
Though there were talks over a sequel back in 2015, Big Trouble deserves a TV series that can make the most of this strange but complex world where magic nestles comfortably against realism. Only when one infiltrates the other do the real theatrics begin.
There is a comic book series (a Boom! Studios creation) that proves there is life left in the franchise if the right minds are willing to take it over.
The fascinating appeal of a realistic veneer casually covering a world rife with magic, curses, elemental warriors, and monsters is undeniable. It might be an expensive endeavor, but a 6 to 8-episode run isn’t asking too much, is it?
Are there any action movies, classics or otherwise, that you think will make a fantastic TV series? Let us know in the comments!