Remake

A remake is a film that has the same story, and often the same title, as a film that was made earlier. In the history of cinema, remakes have generally been considered inferior to the earlier versions, by film critics and cinema-goers alike, but there have been memorable exceptions to that generalization.

Remakes of major films include:

Ben Hur
Brief Encounter (Alan Bridges; US, 1974) (original film: Brief Encounter (David Lean; UK, 1945), based on the short play "Still Life" by Noel Coward)
Diabolique (Jeremiah S. Chechik; US, 1996) (original film: Diabolique/Les Diaboliques (Henri-Georges Clouzot, France, 1955) from the novel by Pierre Boileau)
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Frank Oz; US , 1988) (original film: Bedtime Story (Ralph Levy; US, 1964))
A Farewell to Arms (Charles Vidor; US, 1957) (original film: A Farewell to Arms (Frank Borzage; US, 1932), based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway)
A Fistful of Dollars/Per un pugno di dollari (Sergio Leone; Spain, 1964) (original film: Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa; Japan, 1961))
The Front Page (Billy Wilder; US, 1974) (previous film: His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, US, 1940)) (original film: The Front Page (Lewis Milestone; US, 1931), from the play by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur)
Hello, Dolly (Gene Kelly; US, 1969), turned into a musical film (original film: The Matchmaker (Joseph Anthony; US, 1958), from the play by Thornton Wilder)
Henry V (Kenneth Branagh; UK, 1989) (original film: The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fift with his Battell at Agincourt in France (Laurence Olivier; UK, 1944), from the play by William Shakespeare)
High Society (Charles Walters; US, 1956), turned into a musical film (original film: The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor; US, 1940), from the play by Philip Barry)
His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks; US, 1940) (original film: The Front Page (Lewis Milestone; US, 1931), from the play by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur)
The Importance of Being Earnest (Oliver Parker; US/UK/France 2002) (previous film: The Importance of Being Earnest (Kurt Baker, US, 1992)), (previous film: The Importance of Being Earnest (Anthony Asquith; UK, 1952) from the play by Oscar Wilde)
The Jackal (Michael Caton-Jones; US, 1997) (original film: The Day of the Jackal (Fred Zinnemann; UK/France, 1973) based on the novel by Frederick Forsyth)
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
The Maltese Falcon (John Huston; US, 1941) (original film: The Maltese Falcon (Roy Del Ruth; US, 1931), based on the novel by Dashiel Hammett)
A Man for All Seasons (Charlton Heston; US , 1988) (original film: A Man for All Seasons (Fred Zinnemann; UK, 1966), based on the play by Robert Bolt)
Move Over, Darling (Michael Gordon; US, 1963) (original film: My Favorite Wife (Garson Kanin; US, 1940)
My Fair Lady, Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
No Way Out (Roger Donaldson; US, 1987) (original film: The Big Clock (John Farrow; US, 1948), a film noir based on the novel by Kenneth Fearing)
The Parent Trap (Nancy Meyers; US, 1998) (original film: The Parent Trap (David Swift; US, 1961)
A Perfect Murder (Andrew Davis; US, 1998) (original film: Dial M for Murder (Alfred Hitchcock; US, 1954), based on the stage thriller by Frederick Knott)
The Preacher's Wife (Penny Marshall; US, 1996) (original film: The Bishop's Wife (Henry Koster; UK, 1947))
Psycho (Gus Van Sant; US, 1998) (original film: Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock; US, 1960), based on the novel by Robert Bloch)
Quo Vadis?
Rear Window (Jeff Bleckner; US, 1998) (original film: Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock; US, 1954), based on the short story "It Had to Be Murder" by Cornell Woolrich)
Stagecoach (Gordon Douglas; US, 1966) (original film: Stagecoach (John Ford; US, 1939), based on the short story "Stage to Lordsburg" by Ernest Haycox)
State Fair (Jos� Ferrer; US, 1962) (previous film: State Fair (Walter Lang; US, 1945)), turned into a musical film (original film: State Fair (Henry King; US, 1933))
The Thirty-Nine Steps (Don Sharp; UK, 1978) (previous film: The Thirty-Nine Steps (Ralph Thomas; UK, 1959)), (original film: The 39 Steps (Alfred Hitchcock; UK, 1935) based on the novel by John Buchan)
Village of the Damned (John Carpenter; US, 1995) (original film: Village of the Damned (Wolf Rilla; UK, 1960), based on the novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham)