Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Disney/Netflix/Universal/Everett
Adaptations are hard—so hard, in fact, that when they don’t work out, the IP is often shelved and forgotten. For every Barbie, Iron Man, Hunger Games, or Chicago, dozens of Green Lanterns, Cats, and unfinished Divergent franchises never have another chance to “get it right.” Sometimes, these adaptations are massive disasters that bring entire studios to their knees, losing millions and making the IP radioactive for another go. Most of the time, which is even sadder, these works are modest-enough successes that remaking them into something more satisfying isn’t worth the effort. I live every day in fear that I will never see a proper filmed adaptation of Into the Woods, Les Miserables, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, or Phantom of the Opera, because their existing adaptations are, you know—fine.
Why try it again with something that already didn’t work? Because sometimes, in a few rare instances, the second time’s the charm. (In the case of Netflix’s recent Avatar: The Last Airbender re-remake, however, sometimes even a second take doesn’t cut it—and it’s better to stop while you’re already behind.)
Below, we ranked seven films and TV series that gave beloved stories a second chance at life on-screen after a disastrous first start from pretty successful to most successful, based on how much of an impact—and improvement—they made over the original adaptations.