New Road House Movie Proves It’s Time To Remake Tom Cruise’s 36-Year-Old Thriller With 9% On Rotten Tomatoes

Summary A remake of Cocktail could benefit from a modern retelling, keeping the unique Jamaican setting and adding modern romantic elements.
Similar to Road House 2024’s success, a Cocktail remake would need a strong lead, compelling action, and believable romance.
Despite its flaws, the dedicated following of the original Road House shows that faithful remakes can find success and admiration.
The success of the Amazon Prime Road House remake perfectly demonstrates that a modern take on an oft forgotten Tom Cruise movie from 36 years ago could also benefit from a modern reinterpretation. While far from perfect, Road House’s reviews are good enough to validate the remake’s existence, while also paving the way for other classic ’80s movies to receive the update treatment. Additionally, the Road House 2 tease, suggests the entertainment industry isn’t quite done with modernizing classic action thrillers, further highlighting the potential for other ’80s movie remakes.
Many of Tom Cruise’s best movies are from the 1980s, but one movie in particular is among one of his most poorly received movies to date. As such, its legacy could actually benefit from a remake, as it isn’t uncommon for remakes of classic movies to be better than the original. Furthermore, as demonstrated by the recent success of Top Gun: Maverick, it’s very possible that a modern remake of the late ’80s critical disaster in Cruise’s filmography could benefit from a modern retelling. As such, one Cruise movie from the ’80s needs a remake after Road House’s success.
Related All 11 Fight Scenes In Road House 2024, Ranked The 2024 remake of Road House is just as action-packed as the 1989 original, and the best fights have a visceral, bone-crunching impact.
Road House 2024’s Success Proves A Remake Of Tom Cruise’s Cocktail Movie Could Work
Cocktail’s similar vibe and setting are already perfect for a remake.
Based on the Heywood Gould novel of the same name, Cocktail sees Cruise as a New York City business student who takes up bartending in Jamaica to make ends meet. Filled with beautiful scenery and a unique cast of characters, Cocktail is unfortunately marred by a confusing message, as the movie’s emphasis on Cruise’s Brian Flanagan making money overshadows the forced love subplot between himself and Elisabeth Shue’s Jordan Mooney. As such, a remake of Cocktail could work well since it would be the perfect chance to restructure its themes.
Cocktail ‘s remake would need a strong lead, compelling action, and believable romance to improve its predecessor’s failures.
With a similar laid-back vibe combined with the ridiculousness of most ’80s movies, a Cocktail remake for modern audiences could maintain its unique Jamaican location and underdog protagonist, while blending it with modern romantic storytelling devices. The Road House remake worked because it demonstrated that it was capable of keeping the good elements from the past, such as its location and hard-as-nails protagonist, while updating them with modern martial arts sensibilities and romantic storytelling. Cocktail’s remake would need a strong lead, compelling action, and believable romance to improve its predecessor’s failures.
Although the 1989 Road House isn’t a critical darling by any means, it still has a dedicated following that admire it greatly despite its flaws.
Cocktail’s Divisive Legacy Would Give A Remake A Bigger Advantage Than Road House 2024
Road House needed to remain as faithful to its original movie as possible.
Cocktail isn’t as fondly remembered as Road House, so a remake could be good for its legacy, and while the 1989 Road House isn’t a critical darling, it still has a dedicated following that admires it greatly despite its flaws. As such, the remake needed to remain somewhat faithful to it. Cocktail is not as beloved, so a competent remake might actually be better for a proposed remake. Aside from possible cameos by Cruise and Shue, virtually nothing from the original Cocktail would need to be in a remake, which is a stark difference from Road House.