‘Clash of the Titans,’ ‘Red Dawn’ and ‘A-Team’ lead 1980s encore at theaters

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Rachel Abramowitz goes back to the future to look at Hollywood’s big-time interest in the 1980s.

Actor-writer-director Jorma Taccone remembers with loving fondness the gear montage from almost every ‘80s action flick of his youth -- Rambo movies and ‘Die Hard’ and the ‘entire canon’ of Arnold Schwarzenegger. ‘It’s people putting the big Bowie knife into the sheath, the shell belts over the chest, click-clacking the gun. It was a quintessential awesome moment. It has permeated the minds of people who grew up in that era. There are entire websites dedicated to the gear-up montage.’

Of course, Taccone has included several choice gear-up moments in his new film ‘MacGruber,’ based on the ‘Saturday Night Live’ skits and starring Will Forte and Kristen Wiig. Opening May 21, ‘MacGruber’ pays homage to the action films of the Reagan years. But Taccone is far from the only filmmaker discovering his mojo in the high-concept, garish boom-boom fare of that long-ago decade.

They’re baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

If you go to the cineplex any time in the next year or so, you can catch new, big-screen versions of ‘Clash of the Titans’ (April 2), ‘The Karate Kid’ (June 11), ‘The A-Team’ (June 11), ‘Red Dawn’ (Nov. 24) and ‘The Thing’ (2011), as well as the sequel ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’ (Sept. 24) and ‘Hot Tub Time Machine’ (just opened), which is not a remake or sequel, just the tale of a pack of middle-aged guys (including ‘80s fixture John Cusack) who return to their youthful heyday in a time-bending Jacuzzi amid a zillion references to touchstones like ‘Back to the Future,’ the rock group Poison and girls in leg warmers. And still more are brewing. There’s the big-screen version of ‘21 Jump Street’ (co-written by Jonah Hill), a new version of ‘Poltergeist,’ ‘Ghostbusters III’ and ‘The Smurfs’ movie with Neil Patrick Harris (or, in ‘80s parlance, Doogie Howser) about those lovable blue creatures best known from the Hanna-Barbera animated series.

Call it the nostalgia of the fortysomething studio head, producer or writer for the films of their youth and the wonder they once engendered. Or call it a sign of the creative exhaustion plaguing Hollywood.

Having plundered comic books and ‘70s genre staples such as ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,’ nervous producers are vigorously hunting for brands with built-in audience awareness, not just here but in foreign markets, where American TV seems to play in an endless loop.

The marketing theory, as espoused by more than a few participants, is that the new editions (usually endowed with the latest in filmmaking magic and playing off some new cultural elements) will appeal to both nostalgic parents and their progeny. Of course, for every ‘Charlie’s Angels’ hit, there’s a ‘Land of the Lost‘-size flop.

‘Moviegoing habits in general are more multigenerational’ than in the past, says Doug Belgrad, co-president of Sony’s Columbia Pictures. ‘In certain demographics, it’s even grandparents, parents and kids going to movies together. If it’s something that the head of the family remembers fondly and thinks his kids might enjoy seeing the update -- that’s marketable. . . . There also has to be something fresh for the audience but that’s still consistent with the brand or property.’

THERE’S MORE, READ THE REST

-- Rachel Abramowitz

RECENT AND RELATED

Black Pegasus? ‘Clash’ has horse of a different color

‘Clash’ and ‘Percy Jackson’: Same myths, epic differences

Bill Murray on ‘Ghostbusters III’: This is my nightmare’

Ivan Reitman: ‘Ghostbusters’ game revived film franchise

‘Tron: Legacy’ director: ‘We are on a different server now’

‘Tron: Legacy’ secrets revealed

John Milius: ‘Red Dawn’ remake has terrible script

‘A-Team’ director: Don’t expect a tribute film

‘Karate Kid’ slammed by original writer

CREDITS: At top, photo illustration by An Moonen / Los Angeles Times, using images from ‘The A-Team’ (Twentieth Century Fox), ‘Hot Tub Time Machine’ (MGM) and ‘The Karate Kid’ (Sony)