Footloose remake trailer and video now on-line

In April, I did a blog regarding the Footloose remake and how it might be interesting.  After seeing a couple of trailers and the Big and Rich/Gretchen Wilson video related to the remake, I’m very interested.  It seems all involved have done a nice job both updating it for another generation and giving those of us who are fond of the original something in this film.  Plus, I’m a sucker for the M-TV films cinematography.  Their films since the late 90′s have a very distinct look about them, and I knew it was one of their productions before even seeing the M-TV films logo.

Here’s the  trailer teaser :

The Dance Your Ass Off T-Shirt and the screen time given to the VW Bug are definitely nods to those of us that saw the original and it’s nice to see them take the nostalgia route with this.  They didn’t need to do that to appeal to a different generation.  I also find the fact that the film is featuring country music to be very intriguing.   In the original, if you themed the music country I don’t think it would have worked.  The timing was off for country music.  It was four years after Urban Cowboy and the Country Music popularity that surrounded it.   Music was a big part of  Footloose’s success.  Going the pop route Footloose took advantage of the rebirth of Top 40 radio to market the music and the film.   While you can make the argument that country would have been popular where Footloose was set in 1984, it wouldn’t translate well to the big screen.  In 2011, the general popularity of Country Music is such that you can integrate it into the film.  Perhaps, if Country radio plays the songs, it just might move country radio into a cycle of more pop based up tempo music, as opposed to the mid tempo country music currently in favor.

Here’s both the 2011 trailer and the 1984 trailer for the film:

In 1984 all the marketing was about the music and the dancing.  This time around it seems if the marketing is a little more about the relationships, the trouble maker ends up doing good storyline and the dancing.  That’s not a bad thing, because while the music and dancing was important to the film, I think people liked the film because of the story line.  That was also somewhat where the original failed.   It could have spent a little more time on character development.  You can’t judge a book by it’s cover and you can’t judge a film by it’s trailer, however, M-TV films has a knack for creating interesting characters and stories.

Footloose isn’t high art, but this may very well be an entertaining movie and the music might be pretty cool too.  This might even be a remake that’s a little better than the original.    Would you have thought that as M-TV started it’s third decade they’d be behind the Footloose remake, and it’d be country?  I sure wouldn’t have.