The Lost Boys Remake: Could This Be a Commercial Success?

The Lost Boys was one of the greatest cult classics of the 1980s, and its legacy still lives on to this day – just like the characters in the movie. It’s easily one of the most iconic horror movies of all time and inspired countless other vampire offerings in the years that followed.

Movie production studios are constantly looking for legendary films to bring back for modern audiences, and The Lost Boys is a solid contender for the reboot treatment. That’s because the original amassed excellent returns against its production cost. There has long been talk of a new picture, but there haven’t been any reports for a while.

Reboot Announced Back in 2021

Warner Bros. announced the possibility of a remake of The Lost Boys in 2021, with rising stars Noah Jupe and Jaeden Martell attached to lead. Jonathan Entwistle, the mind behind The End of the F***ing World, was set to direct, with Randy McKinnon handling the script.

There were also some unofficial reports that Taika Waititi was interested in making the new picture with Timothée Chalamet and Evan Peters starring, but those have been confirmed as false. The use of Jupe and Martell in the lead roles makes more sense, as these relatively unknown actors would mirror the breakout roles of the original picture’s stars.

A reboot movie would have to try to recapture everything that made Joel Schumacher’s offering such a breakout hit. That film made vampires edgy long before the likes of Twilight and True Blood came along. The genre has changed a lot since its release, though, so a reboot would have to bring some fresh ideas to the table.

New Picture Could Represent Big Business

When The Lost Boys first dropped in 1987, it brought in $32 million against its modest production budget of $8.5 million. At the time, this was a good return for what was considered a reasonably niche picture. If a reboot is released to modern audiences, it has the potential to be a much greater success in today’s market.

That’s because it already has a sprawling franchise to use as a springboard to gain widespread attention. Along with attracting fans of the original film and its various sequels, The Lost Boys was also represented in novels and comic books. There’s also a themed slot game, which is listed as one of the top online casino NJ real money games on the market. Titles like this will help draw attention to a reboot film.

If there is a new version of The Lost Boys, it will join several other film franchises that have been rebooted for modern viewers. Some of these have been hugely successful, with the Jurassic World movies raking in billions at the box office. Those films were helped by the multimedia franchise model with related games as well, highlighting how well this could work for The Lost Boys. 

It’s highly likely that, if a new version of The Lost Boys is made, it will have a much higher production budget than the original. Indeed, in the modern film business, it would be reasonable to expect it to have a budget closer to $80 million. With the backing of the past films and the multimedia franchise, Warner Bros. would be expecting returns of at least $300 million. Judging by the box-office take of various other reboots in recent years, the profits could potentially be much higher than that.

With such a budget, it would be possible to get some well-known actors on board as well. If there were a huge name on the billboard, it would add to the movie’s chances of being an overwhelming success. In today’s market, you’re looking at around $8 million to cast a big player like Chalamet. That’s how much he got paid for Wonka, suggesting that he’ll only be looking at projects that pay that much now. However, he did reportedly only get $3 million for Dune, so there’s a chance that he could go lower if it’s something he’s keen to make.

There aren’t any reports on how much stars like Kiefer Sutherland got paid for the original, but it’s likely to be a lot less than that. Indeed, it was probably only in the hundreds of thousands. The picture did help his career take off, though, and he went on to earn more than $40 million for the first three seasons of 24.

There haven’t been any reports that The Lost Boys remake has been cancelled, so it’s reasonable to assume that it’s still going ahead. A new picture could be a major success, thanks to the help of the modern franchise model and the notoriety of the original film. This is one reboot that Warner Bros. should make happen.