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16 Movie & TV Remakes That Made Major Changes To The Lead Roles, Successfully Increasing Diversity In The Industry

These reboots and remakes are gender-flipping lead roles that surprised many when they were announced.

Daphnie
16 Movie & TV Remakes That Made Major Changes To The Lead Roles, Successfully Increasing Diversity In The Industry

When we talk about reboots of television shows and movies, people are either a fan of them or they aren't. A lot of the debate comes in when people try to heavily compare the reboot to the original, or stand with the opinion that nothing will be better than the original.

We're going to talk about some of the reboots that made big changes to the lead roles, which you can assume very heavily stirred the pot on the opinion of the reboot. Some fans loved the changes made to the new version while others claim that nothing will beat the original and that too much change is bad.

Regardless of anyone's personal opinions, we still wanted to share these reboots that made huge changes. Some of them are out and have been aired for a while now, while others aren't even out yet, so we can get a little sneak peek of what is to come.

We're going to go over top viewed television shows and movies such as How I Met Your Mother and Ghostbusters. Looking at some of the most popular movies and shows from before to now is a huge change, but it's not always a bad thing.

Let's dive deeper and check out these reboots that made big changes.

1. Doogie Howser, M.D

Doogie Howser, M.D was originally starring a young Niel Patrick Harris, but in the reboot, they've completely switched the script. The reboot series will be titled Doogie Kamealoha, M.D, and will star Peyton Elizabeth Lee as a 16-year old in the series.

2. Ghostbusters

This one was a reboot that got a lot of opinions thrown at it. The original Ghostbusters was played by men, but in the remake, they switched to the leading roles being female.

The reboot of Ghostbusters is starring Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon.

2. GhostbustersColumbia Pictures

3. He's All That

The original He's All That was starring Rachael Leigh Cook and Freddie Prinze Jr and was released in 1999. The reboot is now starring TikTok star Addison Rae and Tanner Buchanan from Cobra Kai.

4. LA's Finest

LA's Finest is a television show starring Jessica Alba and Gabrielle Union. Though this isn't a direct reboot, this series was inspired by the Bad Boys movies starring WIll Smith and Martin Lawrence.

4. LA's Finestgabunion/Instagram

5. How I Met Your Father

How I Met Your Mother was an extremely popular TV show and so naturally a reboot is on its way. How I Met Your Father, the reboot, will star Hillary Duff as the narrator and will be available to watch on Hulu.

6. Oceasn's 8

Ocean's 8 which starred Rihanna, Anne Hathaway, Sandra Bullock, and Cate Blanchett was a remake and spinoff of the original Oceans which starred Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Matt Damon.

6. Oceasn's 8Barry Wetcher/Warner Bros. Entertainment

7. Dr. Jekyll And Ms. Hyde

In 1995 this gender-flipping movie was released starring Sean Young and Tim Daly.

8. What Men Want

Taraji P starred in What Men Want in 2019 which was essentially a reboot and play off of What Women Want starring Mel Gibson.

9. American Pie: Girls' Rules

American Pie is a classic in American culture, so making a reboot sounded perfect. American Pie: Girl's Rules was released in 2020.

10. Elementary

Elementary, starring Lucy Liu was a twist on Sherlock Holmes and Lucy plays the character of Holmes' sidekick.

11. The Next Karate Kid

The Next Karate Kid reboot starring Hilary Swank and Pat Mortia wasn't as loved by fans as we'd hoped.

11. The Next Karate KidAmazon

12. Doctor Who

Doctor Who is yet another classic and the reboot was starring a strong female role played by Jodie Whittaker.

13. The Equalizer

The original The Equalizer was played by Denzel Washington, so we couldn't think of a better actress to star in the reboot than Queen Latifa.

14. The Hustle

The Hustle, starring Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway is a low-key reboot of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

15. The Tempest

This 2010 film The Tempest was starring Helen Mirren.

16. Herbie: Fully Loaded

Herbie: Fully Loaded, starring Lindsay Lohan, should've been a great reboot, but fans just weren't feeling it.

Some of these reboots were successful while others really didn't live up to the original. Either way, we like to see some of these reboots make some changes.

What are some of your favorite reboots that have surfaced? Do you think they lived up to the hype?

Daphnie