Caesar: And in Rome, Marc Antony is to speak for Caesar. His authority is not to be questioned.
Canidius: His word will be yours. As always, Caesar’s word is law.
Caesar: Of course. But remind him to keep his legions intact. They make the law legal.
– Wanger. W. (Producer), Mankiewicz. J.L. (Director). (1963). Cleopatra [Motion Picture]. United States: 20th Century-Fox
Even though remakes are as old as the movie industry, the recycling of ideas in the American film landscape is getting more prevalent.
In the 1930s, the storylines of 16 percent of the 500 most successful films were recycled. Films such as Dracula and Frankenstein were made several times. Treasure Island (1934) and A Tale of Two Cities (1935) had been produced previously as silent films.
In the 1980s, the percentage of rehashed storylines increased to 22 percent. The 80s became the decade in which the Star Wars and Indiana Jones series were continued. It was also the time of the Scarface remakes (1983) and the creation of franchises such as Die Hard, Police Academy and Rambo.
In the first ten years of the 21st century, no less than 36 percent of the 500 most popular films are either a remake, sequel, spin-off or part of a franchise. Harry Potter, Pirates of The Caribbean, Lord of the Rings, and (again) Star Wars – to name a few – are turned into film series. Other examples include the Disney remakes of the Marvel superhero films, and the modern takes on Starsky & Hutch (2004) and Miami Vice (2006).
“We have no obligation to make history. We have no obligation to make art. We have no obligation to make a statement. To make money is our only objective.” – Michael Eisner, Disney CEO (1984-2005)
In other words, there has been a 20 percent increase over 80 years since the 1930s in the number of major American films whose storylines is either a remake, sequel or spin-off. The number of mainstraim American films which can be labelled “recycled” according to these criteria was 36 percent in the 2000s.
For every given male character, there is a female version of that character, and vice versa.
Chorus of Theban Elders: ‘Therefore, while our eyes wait to see the destined final day, we must call no one happy who is of mortal race, until he hath crossed life’s border, free from pain.’
– Sophocles, Oedipus Rex
Taken from Oedipus the King, lines 1529-1530; as published in The Tragedies of Sophocles (1917), translated by Richard Claverhouse Jebb.
In 2002, Norwegian footballer Kenneth Kristensen signed for third-division team Floey and was paid his weight in shrimps.
The modern Spanish Navy is still called the Armada.
There are more Catholics in Scotland than in Northern Ireland.
A 2005 United States medical research project showed that 20% of interviewees admitted to taking Derbisol, a drug that does not exist.
The director and producer of the 1971 film Fiddler on the Roof was called Norman Jewison.
See other: Quite Interesting Facts
To repel attackers, the bombardier beetle shoots a noxious mixture of boiling chemicals out of its bottom in a series of rapid blasts.
The National Health Service is the world’s 4th-largest employer after the US Defense Department, the Chinese Red Army, and Walmart.
Palm trees are a type of grass.
The seventh most common sentence in The Hunger Games trilogy is “they swallowed hard”.
In 2015, a town in North Carolina rejected a solar farm because residents believed it would “suck up” sunlight and kill the local plants.
See other: Quite Interesting Facts
Perchik: You have wit, even some intelligence!
Hodel: Thank you.
Perchik: Perhaps, but what good is your brain? Without curiosity, it is a rusty tool! Good day, Hodel!
Hodel: We have an old custom here! A boy talks respectfully to a girl. But that is too traditional for an advanced thinker like you!
Perchik: Our traditions! Nothing must change! Everything is perfect as it is!
Hodel: We like our ways.
Perchik: Our ways are changing in other places. In the city, boys and girls can be affectionate without a matchmaker’s permission? They hold hands together. They even dance together.
– Jewison. N. (Producer, Director). (1971). Fiddler on the Roof [Motion Picture]. United States: The Mirisch Production Company
Matthew Harrison Brady: We must not abandon faith! Faith is the most important thing!
Henry Drummond: Then why did God plague us with the capacity to think? Mr. Brady, why do you deny the one faculty of man that raises him above the other creatures of the earth? The power of his brain to reason. What other merit have we? The elephant is larger; the horse is swifter and stronger; the butterfly is far more beautiful; the mosquito is more prolific. Even the simple sponge is more durable. But does a sponge think?
Matthew Harrison Brady: I don’t know. I’m a man, not a sponge!
Henry Drummond: But do you think a sponge thinks?
Matthew Harrison Brady: If the Lord wishes a sponge to think, it thinks!
Henry Drummond: Do you think a man should have the same privilege as a sponge?
Matthew Harrison Brady: Of course!
Henry Drummond: Then this man wishes to have the same privilege of a sponge, he wishes to think!
– Kramer. S. (Producer, Director). (1960). Inherit the Wind [Motion Picture]. United States: United Artists
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