17 Major Movies You Didn't Realize Were Actually Remakes

Man on Fire is one of Denzel Washington's most action-packed movies. The Oscar winner plays John Creasy, a former Marine hired to protect Pita (Dakota Fanning), the young daughter of a rich couple living in Mexico City. The girl and her protector form a bond during this time. He even helps her gain a competitive edge in her swim meets. But then Pita is kidnapped, and a guilt-stricken Creasy sets off on a one-man mission to make her abductors pay. Man on Fire performed well upon its release in April 2004, thanks to Tony Scott's hard-hitting direction of the action scenes and the surprisingly sweet chemistry between Washington and Fanning. 

Its $77 million domestic gross was a vast improvement on the $519,000 gross of the original Man on Fire. Released in 1987, it stars Scott Glenn as Creasy and Jade Malle as Sam, the counterpart to Pita. The major difference between the two pictures is setting. Whereas Washington's version is set in Mexico and fueled by drug cartel kidnappings, Glenn's version is set in Italy and has him taking on the Mafia. If anything, the original, a French/Italian co-production, is notable for a supporting cast that includes Joe Pesci, Jonathan Pryce, Danny Aiello, and Brooke Adams.

Fatal Attraction is one of those rare movies that rocked the country when it opened. It's a simple tale about married Dan (Michael Douglas), who cheats on his wife with Alex (Glenn Close). When he breaks off their fling, she famously refuses to be ignored and begins making Dan's life miserable. She boils the family's pet rabbit, abducts his kid for a trip to the amusement park, and eventually attacks Dan with a knife. Although Alex is a psycho, many people responded to her plight. Consequently, the movie was seen as both a cautionary tale about infidelity and a proclamation about how men sometimes use women for their own gratification, without much regard for their emotions.

The screenplay for Fatal Attraction was written by James Dearden, based on a 1979 short film he wrote and directed called Diversion. It follows what happens when a married man named Guy has a one-night-stand while his wife is out of town. The woman involved wants more than a single night, though, so Guy quickly finds himself being stalked. Diversion only runs 50 minutes, meaning Dearden - aided by director Adrian Lyne - had to flesh out a lot of the story points to make the idea work as a feature-length film. That ended up being a shrewd move, as Fatal Attraction remains a pop cultural touchstone, continuing to provoke audiences with its themes.

Some Like It Hot is very reasonably considered one of the greatest comedy motion pictures of all time. This 1959 laugh-fest from director Billy Wilder casts Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon as Joe and Jerry, two musicians who witness a mob hit. To escape meeting a similar fate, they pretend to be women and hop a train to Florida with an all-female jazz band. Their ruse is convincing, although it threatens to be blown when Joe becomes attracted to one of their traveling companions, Sugar, played by Marilyn Monroe. With a sharp, witty script, pitch-perfect performances, and crisp direction, Some Like It Hot is a movie that fires on all cylinders. That contributes to its status as a classic.

Fanfare of Love is not in the same classic league, but without it, there would be no Some Like It Hot. The 1935 French comedy has a mostly identical storyline, with one minor exception. Instead of hiding from the mob, the unemployed musicians at the center dress up as women in order to work. They devise their ruse so they can join an all-female band. The premise is sturdy, but the American version obviously benefitted immensely from the Curtis/Lemmon/Monroe/Wilder collaboration. That was a lot of peak talent coming together, and it allowed the concept to soar.

Meet the Parents brought together the unlikely pairing of Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller. Most people wouldn't think to put those two actors together, but they created comedy gold. De Niro does a riff on his intense screen persona, playing Jack Byrnes, an intimidating man looking to spook his daughter's fiancée, Greg Focker. Stiller earns huge laughs from how he conveys Greg's perpetual anxiety when it comes to his soon-to-be father-in-law. The movie was a huge hit, grossing $166 million domestically. It solidified Stiller's stardom and showcased De Niro's seldom-seen comedic abilities. Two sequels followed. 

Most people have never even heard of, much less seen, the movie Meet the Parents is based on, despite it having the same title. The original is a low-budget independent production about a guy having a disastrous first meeting with his girlfriend's parents. The biggest name in the picture is comedian Emo Phillips, who portrays a video store clerk. The rest of the cast is comprised of unknowns. Despite just barely getting a release, people at Universal Pictures saw it, bought the rights, and brought in writers Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg to rejigger the premise into something slightly larger-scale. They ended up with a genuinely crowd-pleasing comedy.

12 Monkeys is one of those movies that solid-but-unspectacular business upon its initial theatrical release but has become a certified cult classic thanks to home video. Bruce Willis plays a prisoner sent back in time to gather information about a developing plague that will someday prove calamitous for mankind. It's believed that what he learns could help prevent the spread. The plan does not go the way it's supposed to, leading to a series of complications, including incarceration in a mental institution. 12 Monkeys benefits from being seen at home, where viewers can rewind to more easily follow the complex, twisty plot. 

Director Terry Gilliam and screenwriters David and Janet Peoples significantly expanded upon Chris Marker's 1961 short film La Jetée. This French production follows a prisoner living in the post-WWIII world. He is chosen to participate in a risky time-travel experiment. As with Willis's character, he misses the mark several times before finally landing in the right place. Both characters also utilize a potent childhood memory in the course of their mission. La Jetée is notably different in storytelling style, as it uses still photographs rather than live action. That was changed for 12 Monkeys, and Gilliam also abandoned the original's black-and-white photography.

Three Men and a Baby was the fifth-biggest movie of 1987. No one saw that coming. Ted Danson, Tom Selleck, and Steve Guttenberg play friends who discover a baby in front of their loft. An accompanying letter informs them that the child was fathered by Danson's character. When he temporarily goes out of town, the other two have to teach themselves how to parent an infant. All sorts of comic complications arise from that premise. Audiences were charmed by watching these hapless men trying to figure out formula, diapers, and constant crying. 

The movie was released by Disney's Touchstone Pictures division. At the time, it was common practice at Touchstone to buy the rights to foreign hits, then remake them for American audiences. Three Men and a Baby is just one example of that in action. In this case, the original was a French comedy entitled Three Men and a Cradle. It was nominated for best foreign language film at the 1985 Oscars. It, too, shows three happy bachelors having their lives changed after caring for, and developing a bond with, a newborn. Both pictures also share an unfortunate subplot about the guys crossing paths with drug dealers, a strand that feels wildly out of place with the more domestic humor at the core. Not that audiences cared too much in either case.