Actually, remakes were not uncommon back “in the old days”. Alfred Hitchcock made “The Man Who Knew Too Much” in 1934 and 1956. “The Maltese Falcon” was made in 1931 and 1941. “The Wizard of Oz” was made in 1925 and 1939. That’s just a few; you can find an extended list in Wikipedia by searching “list of film remakes.” Various reasons can be attributed to a film being remade, such as new technology like sound or color coming along, but the most important reason is probably that the plot has to come from somewhere and in an era without video recording of any type or no or little television, you can figure that a film released twenty or even ten years ago has not been seen by hardly anyone in the intervening time and has been pretty well forgotten.
Actually, remakes were not uncommon back “in the old days”. Alfred Hitchcock made “The Man Who Knew Too Much” in 1934 and 1956. “The Maltese Falcon” was made in 1931 and 1941. “The Wizard of Oz” was made in 1925 and 1939. That’s just a few; you can find an extended list in Wikipedia by searching “list of film remakes.” Various reasons can be attributed to a film being remade, such as new technology like sound or color coming along, but the most important reason is probably that the plot has to come from somewhere and in an era without video recording of any type or no or little television, you can figure that a film released twenty or even ten years ago has not been seen by hardly anyone in the intervening time and has been pretty well forgotten.