OK, FINE. If you want to tell a different story then TELL A DIFFERENT STORY.
I have a theory why this doesn't work anymore, but it takes a while to explain so buckle up:
We live in modern times where a whole lot more of culture fights for our attention. Ultimately our days have 24 hours, so there is only so much culture a single human being can consume and appreciate. This is the result of having said culture always available to us, practically at our fingertips and literally in our pockets. The internet largely reduced the importance of the previous gatekeepers of culture, which ultimately lead to a fragmentation into a lot of subcultures. We have been cursed, and we live in "interesting times".
When big money comes into play they want a return on their investment. This is especially true in highly competitive markets aimed at teens, which are said to be easier to manipulate and to imprint "tastes" on. So, how do you fight for the fickle attention of said new target audience? You take an already established brand or franchise with an existing fan base. Largely because the talk and discussion about it in the old fan base will drum up interest in the media (secondary, like "Hollywood News", or social, like Facebook and Twitter) to talk about said new project, which in turn will make waves to reach the new target audience.
But of course you won't just remake your franchise, because all those creative people want to express their own opinions with it. They want to bring it to the present day, with current aesthetics, themes and sensibilities. It goes, as we Sithlords like to say, "woke". Because the people working on it want to be proud of it. It shall be successful because of them, only because of them, and not because of the established brand. At the end of the day the original creators are already long gone, and the current ones are also in a highly competitive field and want to increase their market value.
And that, my children, is how we got that Ghostbusters reboot. And nothing has been learned from it.
variety.com
