If you have a plan to remake a film that was widely marketed, selling on the back of a star-studded cast, then the new version is virtually obligated to do the same, lest it is already deemed as inferior right from the outset.
Ocean’s Eleven raised the bar significantly high for later films
Even though the original movie boasted the likes of Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Cesar Romero, Sammy Davis Jr., Norman Fell, Shirley MacLaine, and many others among its ensemble cast, it would be quite fair to state that Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven raised the bar significantly high for the heist films to follow.
Getting in the talented George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Andy Garcia, Julia Roberts, Don Cheadle, and countless more popular faces, alongside a lot of known cameos, the director didn’t even have to ask his crew to even dial up the star power, as the principal players had been positively radiating it from the very second day that they first appeared onscreen.
Undoubtedly, one of the finest remakes to have come out of the modern Hollywood cinema, Ocean’s Eleven went down pretty well with both, fans and critics alike, ultimately getting in about $450 million at the box office globally, before going on to spawn two sequels and a spinoff that had failed to recapture the magic.
It’s been over 20 years on from its release, and the heist caper is coming back in a huge way on streaming, with FlixPatrol still revealing Ocean’s Eleven as one of the top ten most-watched movies/series on HBO in around 20 countries – making in a massive number in itself – and it still remains fun and joyous to watch now as it ever did.
