A year ago, I wrote an article titled “Nothing new under the sun: confronting the problem with summer blockbusters.” Besides having the best title that I have ever come up with (it’s all down hill from here), it covered my fears and frustrations regarding the nineteen major sequels, remakes and spin-offs that were set to release in the summer of 2025. After experiencing last summer for myself, I am sad to say that my cynicism wasn’t challenged.
Not until last week.
On April 24, 1967, the publication of “The Outsiders” changed stories about youth forever. Written by sixteen-year-old S. E. Hinton, the novel struck a chord with its honest portrayal of the universal emotions experienced by teenagers. Rather than fading with the changing times, that emotional core kept the story relevant in both school curricula and popular culture, eventually leading to an incredibly book-accurate 1983 film adaptation directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring, among others, Matt Dillon, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe and the most out-of-pocket young Tom Cruise to ever make it on screen. But even that wasn’t enough. So, in 2023, “The Outsiders: A New Musical” premiered in San Diego before moving to Broadway, winning Best Musical at the 77th Annual Tony Awards in 2024. And a little over a week ago, I saw the show’s first American tour in Columbus, Ohio.
Advice for all wannabe cynics: avoid stories created and acted by people whose passion explodes from every moment.
It wasn’t just the amazing sets, unbelievable dances and shockingly impactful stage fights that set the production apart. It wasn’t the singing that far surpassed the original Broadway cast, or how the acting never fell short of striking right at the heart. It was the fact that I had already read the book. I had already watched the movie. I had even already listened to the soundtrack. Yet I, one of the biggest skeptics of remakes and retellings that I know, was fully invested from the very first scene.
The reason? The story I saw on stage could only be told as a staged musical.
There is a beauty to the variety that comes with different types of storytelling. Talk to screenwriting Professor Sean Gaffney about it for too long, and you’ll find yourself with a list. Literature uses words to build details and create themes. Film uses images to build action and create a story. Theater uses dialogue to build relationships and create human experience.
Literature highlights theme. Film highlights story. Theater highlights human experience.
That understanding is what separates “The Outsiders” reincarnations from blockbuster remakes.
While both the movie and musical adaptations of Hinton’s novel are incredibly faithful, they each lean into completely different strengths. The book became a classic thanks to its theme of staying golden: refusing to let one’s spirit fully grow up and be darkened even in the face of such an inherently messed-up world. The movie hit home with its intensity and energy, creating a striking contrast between the violent plot and the heartfelt story beats between characters. And the musical? It dives straight into the soul of each character, enveloping audiences in their real, fully shared experiences.
If I were to go back a year and talk to my cynical self, I would start off by telling her that she wasn’t wrong. The movies she was so frustrated with were, in fact, lazy imitations of something better, and she was right to call for a higher standard. But there was something else she wasn’t right about.
Since the beginning of time, humanity has latched on to stories that we tell again, and again, and again. From “The Odyssey” to Joseph and his brothers, some stories carry an inherent power that is worth holding onto. Revisiting. Remaking. There is something powerful in reimagining those tales that have most impacted us in new ways, but doing so well requires first understanding why stories are told in the way that they are… and how to lean into that.
Modern blockbuster remakes are not bad because they are telling stories that audiences already know. Instead, they fail at making an impact because they don’t understand how and why stories are told the way that they are. How the impact changes when going from animation to live action. Or from video games to films. If studios really want audiences to fall in love with their properties all over again, they should spend less time making their retellings exactly the same and more time finding ways to highlight different aspects of the tales we already love.
Who knows, it might lead to another Tony-winning musical.
