Jeremy Robertson's son might not be old enough to know the importance of applying and then removing wax from a car, but the Parkersburg resident can't wait to share "The Karate Kid" with his 2-year-old.
"I'm glad they're making all these movies again," Robertson, 29, said. "Why not? Plus, I can now share them with my kids. Lucas isn't old enough, but I can tell him this is what I watched as a kid."
For many other young adults who grew up in that seminal decade known as the '80s, reboots of popular TV shows and movies from their childhood is viewed with a certain level of scorn.
Either way, it seems Hollywood is firmly entrenched in the Era of the Reboot.
A new version of "The Karate Kid," this one starring Jackie Chan and Will Smith's son, Jaden Smith, opens Friday. Opening along with that reboot is the movie "The A-Team," based on the popular TV series starring Mr. T.
In the works are reboots of the "Smurfs," the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," "Footloose," "Masters of the Universe," "Conan," and "The Crow."
Fact Box
Movie times:
"The A-Team"
Marietta -4:30 p.m., 7:20, 10:10, Friday
Parkersburg -12:50 p.m., 1:25, 3:30, 4:40, 7:20, 7:50, 10:10, 10:45, Friday
"The Karate Kid"
Marietta -4 p.m., 7, 10, Friday
Parkersburg - 1 p.m., 1:35, 4, 4:30, 7, 7:30, 10, 10:30, Friday
Source: Fandango.com
Rumored remakes:
"Red Dawn"
"Fright Night"
"Conan"
"Footloose"
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
"Drop Dead Fred"
"Masters of the Universe"
"Romancing the Stone"
"Daredevil"
"Tomb Raider"
"Thundercats"
"Cliffhanger"
"Flight of the Navigator"
"Fletch"
"Highlander"
"Judge Dredd"
Source: Times research
In fact, reboots have become so popular in Tinseltown that movie studios aren't waiting the typical two decades to revive a popular series or property. The Spider-Man franchise is currently in the midst of a controversial reboot that would set the webslinger back in high school, despite the box office domination the Marvel property has brought with it.
Jessica Williams, 29, of Vienna, W.Va., was a huge fan as a child of the "Transformers" cartoon, but found the first movie OK and the second one disappointing.
"The second one just took away from the cartoon," she said.
Williams said she's anxious to see the new "Karate Kid" movie, but not so much "The A-Team."
"I kind of want to see it, but I don't," she said. "Mr T. gave it a thumbs down and one of the original cast members did too, so I could wait for video to see it."
Williams said she's more interested in the Karate Kid reboot because it looks like it has a new angle on the familiar movie franchise.
But as for a remake of "Footloose," possibly starring "High School Musical's" Zach Efron? No thanks, she said.
"It's just stupid," she said. "The original was good enough. I don't know why they have to remake it."
Andrew Hamrick, 24, of 215 Second St., Marietta, is also not a fan of rebooting popular shows and movies - mostly because the results aren't friendly to his memories.
"'Transformers' wasn't very good and I saw part of ('G.I. Joe') but I didn't finish it because it wasn't G.I. Joe-ish enough for me," he said.
Hamrick said he was a huge Tranformers fan growing up and was most disappointed with the movies because they didn't focus enough on the Autobots and Decepticons.
If these films disappoint their most fervent fans, like Hamrick and Williams, then why do they keep getting made?
Hamrick believes it's because audiences like known characters and storylines.
"There's a built-in fan base, as opposed to trying to come up with something new that nobody's ever heard of," he said. "So it's safer to make."
For someone like Robertson, who said he's not a hardcore fan of most of these franchises, that might hold true.
"I go for the entertainment," he said. "So I'm not really expecting anything besides a lot of action., but I can see why people go in with a different attitude of expecting something and then being disappointed."
