There are plenty of people out there who still remember Ladyhawke and how the story goes, but it might be time to see if it can be refreshed for the current generation to enjoy. One of the biggest issues with bringing this movie back though would be timing, as in when to bring it back in order to give it the best showing and attract the biggest possible crowd. Like all genres, fantasy movies do have a time and place when people tend to pay greater attention, and it does help when filmmakers gauge these times so as not to release something during a moment in cinematic history when something else is insanely popular. Such a practice has changed over the years, but there are still moments when it’s wiser to go with the current trend than against it. Imagine what might have happened to some of the greatest movies in history if they’d been released during a time when another genre was more prominent. It’s likely that a few of them wouldn’t have been as well-received. Sadly though, Ladyhawke’s reception wasn’t that great, to begin with, and its status as a cult classic has grown throughout the years in a way that wasn’t accomplished upon its release.
Despite the fact that people enjoyed the story, this movie didn’t make its budget back and was considered a financial failure, though the story has endured for a while now and a lot of people continue to talk about it. As a fantasy tale, it’s one of those that people can’t help but enjoy now and again since it is a great story that has a lot more potential than people give it credit for. In this day and age, it might actually raise a few questions about religion and the dark arts, but it would be worth it to see this movie restored in a way that might bring a bit of life back to the love story and the adventure that was supposed to make it so great in the first place.
The casting would be an interesting bit of development since it’s very likely that these days there would be plenty of people that might be thought of for each role since each individual had a well-defined part to play, but it’s easy to think that some aspects would change if only to make the movie run just a bit smoother in order to keep things from stagnating. Critics of the original movie did mention that it had pacing problems, so perhaps a bit of work done to the writing should be able to smooth things out enough to help it avoid feeling so choppy. But apart from that, the story could possibly be left as it is for the most part. Another question is whether a CGI wolf and hawk would be used, or if actual animals would be used for parts of the movie. CGI animals have been an issue in some movies since they don’t always appear as real as people want them to, but there’s also the idea that the realism might need a bit of help by using actual animals that have been well-trained.
It does feel as though there would be a bit of pessimism levied against a reboot or remake of this movie, especially since some folks would rather see the classics left as they are. But then again, those same people are usually the ones that might grumble and mutter under their breath when reboots happen but are secretly impressed even if they don’t want to admit it. Ladyhawke could be rebooted in a very successful way, and it could even be improved upon just a bit with all due respect to those that made the movie what it was in the first place. It might even be wise to add in a few of the original actors if they were up for it in cameo appearances. That at least might placate a lot of fans that might not want this movie to be touched or changed in any way. But thinking that it needs to sit and be left alone is an enticing thought since reboots aren’t always the way to go.
Being indecisive about this matter isn’t exactly a hard condition to figure out since many people would rather leave the old classics alone rather than revisit them again and again. Sometimes a movie simply needs to be left alone since no matter what flaws it might have, it’s still the original movie that people enjoy, and constant changes might ruin the experience after a while. But Ladyhawke is a movie that might deserve another shot at greatness and could possibly be enhanced a bit by a reboot if it were to cover the source material and pay respect to the original movie.
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