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Sometimes the word "reboot" needs to be retired on film. DEFINITION*: verb – to restart (a computer) by loading the operating system; boot again. noun – an act or instance of restarting a computer. This word, as the definition indicates, is a computer term and had no meaning prior to the advent of PCs in the home and at work. The term was hijacked by the motion picture industry in 2005 with Batman Begins. With four prior movies produced by Warner Bros., the last of which was an unmitigated disaster, the studio wanted everyone to know that this film was something new and unrelated to the previous series. It’s no secret that a movie series will sometimes ignore a movie that bombed and just move on with the series as if that embarrassing entry never happened, so WB could have done that with Christopher Nolan’s film. That wouldn’t exactly work, though, because Nolan wanted to tell the origins of Batman, something that had not been done successfully with any of the previous movies; his take would then be a prequel except for the fact that he wanted to include the Joker in his own sequel, thereby nullifying Tim Burton’s Batman. This discontinuity would confuse the audience–how could there be two Jokers, especially with completely different origins and behaviors? Simple, this was a new series that had nothing to do with the previous films. But it wasn’t a remake of the 1989 movie because, while based on the same source material, it told a completely different story. They needed a new way of explaining what they were doing–hence the cribbing from the computer world.

Audiences bought it. They understood that the series was being “rebooted,” meaning that the old was being erased and a new “operating system” was being written in its place. The old series still existed, but this was a different take on the Batman mythology. The problem was that since the word “reboot” worked in this case, people began adopting it to refer to every instance of a new version of a known product. Superman Returns has been dubbed a "reboot", it's not! it's part of the same franchise and ignores 3 and 4, it's a retcon sequel as it's in the same franchise.

Now, every remake and sequel is called a reboot. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is made by other people because the first one was deemed a bad movie, let’s call it a reboot to distance itself from the original! New versions of old horror movies are made and are dubbed “reboots,” even though they tell the same story as the original movies, though perhaps elaborating the story. Even though Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street all spawned multiple sequels, their “reboots” retold their origins. Guess what? Those are remakes, plain and simple. You can argue that the recent versions started the series over again, but unlike Batman Begins, they don’t do a completely different take on the material.

Even films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I Spit on Your Grave, The Hills Have Eyes, Last House on the Left, The Crazies, Maniac, Robocop, Fright Night, Let Me In, the upcoming Overboard, the upcoming Big Trouble in Little China etc. are remakes, plain and simple.

True reboots are: Casino Royale since it truly started the series from scratch, adapting the first James Bond book Ian Flemming wrote (the only time the book was accurately adapted for the big screen), and ignored everything that came before (though Judi Dench reprising her role as M was confusing in this context). Spider-Man Homecoming did the Batman Begins route and ignoring 2 established series and being part of the MCU. Rise of the Planet of the Apes due to the fact that it tells the origins of how the apes took over out world but in a completely different manner than the movie it closely emulates, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. Star Trek is another example as it reboots the series back to basics in an alternate universe. Man of Steel is another example that ignores the previous Superman movies even the retcon sequel Superman Returns. It is a new take on the Superman legend.

“Reboot” is a term that is not only incorrectly attributed to the wrong type of movies, but it is overused. It’s now jumped ship to other types of entertainment. Rather than use it as a catch-all for any adaptation, we need to return to using the correct terminologies.

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I'd truly love to never hear the word "reboot" ever again, definitely!

Ummmm.... Your history is wrong the term reboot was used in the world of comic books for decades and describe the temperature restart continuity from day one. I'm old enough to know that the original Crisis On Infinite Earths was described as a reboot in 1985. And absolutely no one anywhere was confused buy Batman begins and The dark Knight and wondering how it connects to Tim Burton's Batman. That was something that literally nobody ever worry about at the time.

Reboot and remake are words that I could do without hearing again. It's like saying here is a balcony sandwich, only this time it's on whole wheat bread instead of white. Re-imagining is another one I dread to hear.

As for the word origin, I'll go with the computer over the comic book.

@znexyish said:

Reboot and remake are words that I could do without hearing again. It's like saying here is a balcony sandwich, only this time it's on whole-wheat bread instead of white. Re-imagining is another one I dread to hear.

As for the word origin, I'll go with the computer over the comic book.

I didn't say the term originated with comic books, I said that it wasn't invented in 2005 when Batman Begins was released but was in wide use for DECADES before that, as one example, in 1985, that is 30 years before Batman Begins, The Crisis on Infinite Earths was described as a 'reboot' of the DC Universe

Sorry didn't mean to say that you did. Of course it was around years before in comics and computer terms. Now it's just a different way to I say the same thing. People get tired of hearing sequel so there's a switch to remake then when people get tired of that it's switched to reboot.

@znexyish said:

Sorry didn't mean to say that you did. Of course, it was around years before in comics and computer terms. Now it's just a different way to say the same thing. People get tired of hearing sequel so there's a switch to remake then when people get tired of that it's switched to reboot.

No, those three things are distinct.

A remake is when you take a movie which was a stand-alone, to begin with, and make a version that is updated in some way for the times but which tells essentially the same story as the original movie.

A sequel is a movie that in some sense continues the story of another movie.

The term reboot is specifically franchise-based, it refers to a series of movies which were all part of the same continuity, but that continuity is blown away and another, completely different franchise, which has absolutely no connection to the previous franchise.

A reimagining is when you take the same essential premise, but tell a completely different story from the original film

Reboot and remake are not two words for the same thing. If someone were to make a new version of Gone With the Wind it would be a remake, but not a reboot.

Batman Returns was a sequel

Batman Begins was a reboot

True Grit(2010) was a remake

Now, what is really weird is that today movie directors seem not to care at all, they just do whatever they want, ignore the last 10 sequels, or they make a movie which is partially a reboot and partially a sequel, such as the 2008 Incredible Hulk movie.

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