‘Four Weddings’ and ‘What Women Want’ are two remakes that nobody wants

Hollywood never tires of raiding its own closet, and the three remakes once announced with equal parts fanfare and skepticism have now played out in full. Each arrived with a built-in audience that remembered the originals, and each learned that nostalgia alone rarely guarantees a hit. The projects also reminded viewers that gender swaps, anthology formats, and cult-classic reboots carry their own distinct risks when the source material already feels complete.

A Four Weddings and a Funeral TV remake is definitely coming to Hulu

Whoever said that romance is dead mustn’t have got the memo that a Four Weddings and a Funeral TV remake was being developed over at Hulu. Rejoice! Romance is alive and well, everyone! Just kidding. We have a lot of feelings about this and none of them are even vaguely romantic or loving. Titan of the British rom-com (and writer of the original 1994 movie) Richard Curtis is the executive producer of the remake, which has been given a full series order over at Hulu. The only upside of this monstrous decision is that Mindy Kaling (The Mindy Project) is writing the script for it, which at least suggests it might take on a fresh life and some actual comedy (rather several scenes of Hugh Grant failing to control his stammer in front of a beautiful woman).

The series ultimately premiered on July 31, 2019, and ran for ten episodes through early September. Nathalie Emmanuel anchored the cast as Maya, an American woman navigating London’s wedding circuit, with Nikesh Patel, Rebecca Rittenhouse, Brandon Mychal Smith, and John Reynolds rounding out the ensemble. Mindy Kaling and Matt Warburton served as showrunners, shifting the focus toward an anthology structure that revisited different couples each week while keeping the original film’s blend of humor and heartbreak. The production leaned on the same Richard Curtis touchstones—grand parties, last-minute declarations, and the occasional funeral—yet placed them in a contemporary, multicultural frame.

The ultimate gender-swap nightmare remake is moving forward: What Men Want

Try to contain your excitement for this one because a What Women Want remake is moving forward over at Paramount, only this time it’s called What Men Want. We assume it’ll still make us want to smash our heads through the theater screen just as much as Nancy Meyers’s 2000 romcom did with Mel Gibson (Braveheart) & Helen Hunt (As Good as It Gets) in the lead roles. To recap, the movie followed a chauvinist pig (Gibson) who develops the power to hear women’s thoughts after getting electrocuted and uses this super skill to nail a woman he’s secretly super into. The remake (which is scheduled for early 2019) is said to only be “inspired” by this dreck and is to star the always phenomenal Taraji P. Henson (Proud Mary) and the ludicrously hot Max Greenfield (New Girl). The always funny Tracy Morgan (30 Rock) is also attached, so who knows? Maybe it’ll turn out alright. Maybe we’re being overly cynical for no reason. Or maybe it’s going to be another one of those films that should have just been written as an original idea and not one riding on the already crappy coattails of a shitty movie nobody liked much to begin with.

The finished film arrived in theaters on February 8, 2019, under the direction of Adam Shankman. Taraji P. Henson played Ali Davis, a sharp sports agent who gains the ability to hear male thoughts after a psychic mishap and uses the advantage to close deals and navigate office politics. The picture earned $72.2 million worldwide on a reported $20 million budget, enough to turn a modest profit but far short of the original’s cultural footprint. Reviews were mixed, with critics noting that the gender-reversed premise worked best when it let Henson’s timing and physical comedy carry the scenes rather than relying on the same broad gags that powered the 2000 version.

Paramount Network’s Heather reboot has a new premiere date

To finish this week’s roundup of terrible remakes and reboots, we return to an old favorite of ours: the troubled Heathers reboot. For the five people in the US who actually give a single shit, the Heathers reboot has a new premiere date of July 10. Paramount Network announced the news via its Instagram with a neon teaser that urged people to “lick it up”. By which we can only presume they mean the terrible mess they’ve made of the 80s cult classic movie (starring our forever beloveds Christian Slater & Winona Ryder) – frankly we don’t want our tongues anywhere near it. The first season of the controversial show was postponed “out of respect for the victims, their families, and loved ones” involved in the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida back in February, as the Heathers reboot happens to feature scenes of gun violence.

The series finally premiered on October 25, 2018, as a five-night event after additional delays pushed it past the originally floated summer slot. The show retained the core premise of a new girl navigating a toxic clique but updated the setting to a present-day high school dealing with social media, sexual identity, and school violence. The content proved too volatile for sustained broadcast; Paramount Network canceled the series after one season, citing both low ratings and ongoing sensitivity around real-world incidents that echoed the show’s storylines.

Reception and legacy of the Four Weddings and a Funeral miniseries

Audiences who tuned in for the limited run found a breezy but uneven collection of romantic vignettes. The series earned modest streaming numbers and drew praise for its diverse ensemble and updated take on Curtis’s signature blend of farce and feeling. Critics noted that the anthology format sometimes undercut emotional investment, yet the show still managed to land a few standout episodes that captured the original film’s charm without simply copying its beats.

Box office and critical response to What Men Want

Commercially the picture performed adequately in a crowded February marketplace, buoyed by Henson’s star power and a marketing push that leaned into the gender-swap hook. Reviewers split along familiar lines: some welcomed the updated workplace satire, while others found the script too faithful to the original’s broader comic impulses. The film’s strongest asset remained Henson’s ability to sell both the professional ambition and the romantic confusion at the story’s center.

The troubled production history and cancellation of the Heathers series

From the start the reboot faced an unusually hostile environment. Multiple school shootings during production forced repeated postponements and an initial cancellation that was later reversed. When the show finally aired, the tonal whiplash between dark satire and timely commentary on gun violence left viewers and advertisers uneasy. The network’s decision to air the season as a compressed event rather than a weekly series underscored how little appetite remained for the material once real-world events had overtaken the script’s provocations.