Chris Columbus blasts Hollywood remake habit

Chris Columbus has hit out at the practice of remaking films.

The 63-year-old director’s Christmas classic ‘Home Alone’ is being reimagined in the Disney+ film ‘Home Sweet Home Alone’ and Columbus has slammed Hollywood for continuously remaking old movies.

Asked if ‘Harry Potter’- a franchise in which he directed two movies – should get the remake treatment, Chris told Jake’s Takes: “I can’t answer the first… I don’t know.

“In this version of Hollywood that we live in, everybody is remaking everything and rebooting everything. I mean, there’s a ‘Home Alone’ reboot coming out.”

The ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ director continued: “What’s the point? The movie exists, let’s just live with the movie that existed. There’s no point in us remaking ‘The Wizard of Oz’, there’s no point in any of us remaking the classic films. Make something original, because we need more original material. So, no point.”

Columbus also revealed that he would love to adapt the ‘Harry Potter’ stage play ‘The Cursed Child’ for the big screen with original stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint reprising their roles as Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley respectively.

He said: “I would love to direct ‘The Cursed Child’. It’s a great play and the kids are actually the right age to play those roles. It’s a small fantasy of mine.”

Chris previously explained how he feared that he would be fired from ‘Harry Potter’ if the films didn’t go well.

The filmmaker – who helmed both ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ and ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ – said: “The reality is the pressure of the world was upon us, and on me particularly because I knew if I screwed this one up it’s all over. You can’t screw up this book.

“So I had to go to the set every day with sort of tunnel vision in terms of not thinking, and that was a lot easier 19 years ago before the internet blew up.”