'Point Break': A look at the trailer and why it's being remade

A trailer has been released for the remake of the Patrick Swayze movie 'Point Break.' The original movie's resemblance to a certain box office-topping franchise may have been what made movie executives go ahead with a 'Point' remake.

 Alcon Entertainment and Warner Bros. have released a trailer for their upcoming remake of the 1991 movie “Point Break.” 

The original version starred actor Keanu Reeves as FBI agent Johnny Utah, who’s tasked with looking into bank robberies that were carried out by a group of people wearing masks of US presidents. Another agent suspects the culprits might be surfers, and so Utah is asked to investigate those who enjoy the sport, meeting a group of friends led by a man named Bodhi (Patrick Swayze). Utah soon finds himself enjoying the group's lifestyle. 

The 1991 version was directed by Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow, who was behind the 2008 Best Picture winner “The Hurt Locker.”

The new version, which is set to be released in December, stars Luke Bracey of “The Best of Me” as Utah and “Deliver Us from Evil” actor Edgar Ramirez as Bodhi. It’s directed by Ericson Core, who headed up the 2006 movie “Invincible” with Mark Wahlberg.

The trailer shows Bodhi’s group employing in various activities such as parachuting, skiing, and surfing.

So why did studio executives green-light a remake? The most obvious is the motivation to remake any movie that the public still thinks of fondly, and “Point Break” is still well-regarded by fans.

But another is… well, we’ll go back to the plot. Law enforcement official goes undercover with a group of suspected criminals, begins to bond with them and even dates one of them, finds himself conflicted… yes, it does sound like the plot to the movie that kicked off the mega-successful “Fast and the Furious” franchise. 

The similarities are acknowledged by many, with Forbes writer Scott Mendelson calling “Fast” a “rip-off/homage” to “Point” and writing of the first "Fast" movie, “The film hews so closely to the Point Break narrative that Universal/Comcast Corp. is lucky that 20th Century Fox didn’t sue them.” Guardian writer Benjamin Lee writes of the upcoming movie that it “[takes] the ‘Fast and Furious’ formula that, well, ‘Point Break’ did first.” 

As we previously mentioned, “Fast” has become a smash hit of a series, with the most recent – the seventh in the franchise – grossing more than $347 million domestically, according to the website Box Office Mojo. Movie executives may be banking on the narrative being one that moviegoers enjoy and will go see in another film. It also looks as though “Point” will have various action sequences like those seen in “Fast,” – minus all the cars.