Top 10 Darkest Movie Reboots

Let’s bring it to a more mature audience. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down our picks for the top ten dark and gritty reboots.

For this list, we’ll be looking at movies that served as darker and grittier reboots of previous, rather kid or family-friendly, films or franchises. We’ll be ranking our choices based both on how dark the movie is compared to its past iterations and on the quality of the movie itself. However, we’re excluding direct or obvious remakes like “It.”

“The Amazing Spider-Man” might’ve felt like an unnecessary reboot, but it was still a fun movie that introduced the great Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker. While Garfield’s Parker was much more fun than Maguire’s, the movie itself was much darker than the three movies that preceded it. Whereas Maguire’s movies were full of color, corny humor, and fun, “The Amazing Spider-Man” was both physically and tonally darker. It treats the responsibility theme with far more importance and dramatic weight, and Peter’s personal life suffers greatly because of his commitments. “The Amazing Spider-Man” is sure to go down as the darker middle brother between Maguire and Holland’s more upbeat films.

You wouldn’t have thought you needed a dark and grittier Power Rangers, but here you have it. Anyone who grew up in the ‘90s is sure to remember the corny but awesome “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” and their equally campy film adaptation. However, the 2017 reboot completely did away with any semblance of camp or cheese and presented a movie that took itself surprisingly seriously. While it did feature some lighthearted moments, the film remained quite dark throughout its runtime, with numerous onscreen deaths, troubled teenage lives, and a rather serious and creepy villain. In particular, the opening five minutes are a barrage of unrelenting darkness.

The original “Superman” movies are classics of the superhero genre. Well, the first two at least. And while “Superman Returns” attempted to revitalize interest in the stagnant franchise by rebooting the series for modern audiences,“Man of Steel” turned out to be a much more successful film at the box office. While it doesn’t quite reach “The Dark Knight” levels of darkness, “Man of Steel” is undeniably bleaker than its predecessors, full of death, destruction, and tragedy. It also kickstarted the DCEU, a franchise that is well-known (if not renowned) for its darkness. Not everyone appreciated Zack Snyder’s atmospheric take on this iconic superhero, but it was certainly unlike any onscreen Superman we’d seen before!

The “Godzilla” series has spanned decades and countless movies, over which time they have significantly ranged in quality and campiness. The original Japanese film is a monster movie classic, while others dramatically veered into ridiculously campy territory. “Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla”... anyone? The 2014 movie successfully rebooted the franchise for contemporary audiences by bringing the series back to its scary and dramatic roots. It also served as the first entry in the MonsterVerse franchise, which also includes the popular “Kong: Skull Island.” We can’t wait to see what comes next!

Look, we love Sylvester Stallone as much as anyone, but there’s no denying that his “Judge Dredd” fell short of expectations. Luckily for moviegoers and fans of the source material, a new movie based on the “Judge Dredd” comics was commissioned and released in 2012 starring Karl Urban and Lena Headey. While Stallone’s movie was relatively serious, it contained some ridiculously corny acting and costumes, and it often played for campy laughs. “Dredd” much more successfully captures the gritty aspect of the character and the comics, complete with a dark storyline and hyper stylish, horrific violence.

Horror reboots can be extremely hit or miss. Most suck, but some, like “Evil Dead,” manage to successfully bring the story and characters to modern audiences. “Evil Dead” is an odd soft reboot/continuation of the original trilogy, and it is much darker and bloodier than the three movies preceding it. While the first “Evil Dead” delivered some genuine scares in 1981, audiences most appreciated its darkly humorous elements, and the series soon went in a full-on comedic direction. The reboot completely does away with the original’s sense of humor, as it is interested solely in scaring and revolting its audience. It succeeded.

By the late 2000s, the “Star Trek” film series desperately needed a reboot. Gone were the days of “The Wrath of Khan.” Instead, we were being treated to middling and tired entries like “Star Trek: Insurrection” and “Star Trek: Nemesis.” Luckily for fans of the classic franchise, renowned director J.J. Abrams rebooted the series in 2009 and successfully managed to capture the interest of both audiences and critics alike. The reboot also brought a lot of darkness to the series, as the Starfleet was more militaristic in nature and the film was filled with way more violence than is typical of a “Star Trek” story, leading to several follow-up movies.

The “Planet of the Apes” franchise has had quite a turbulent history. The original 1968 film is a science fiction classic while its sequels ranged from solid to deeply disappointing. Tim Burton’s B-movie-like remake also received middling reviews, and its twist ending inspired incredibly harsh backlash. The franchise seemed dead in the water until Fox rebooted the franchise in 2011 to great success. Gone was the cheesiness of past movies, replaced by convincing CGI, dark and personal storylines, and many heavy themes that provided a challenging viewing experience. It was arguably the best “Apes” movie since the 1968 original, and it kickstarted a trilogy for the ages.

The James Bond franchise started with a bang. The early Connery films like “Dr. No,” “From Russia with Love,” and “Goldfinger” were legitimate spy thrillers that nicely mixed dark drama with escapist entertainment. But then it got a little silly, even sillier during the Roger Moore era, and then we had Bond surfing a tidal wave while some kind of energy beam or something shot from the sky. “Casino Royale” was a shot that Bond desperately needed to make, and it hit the mark. The film returned the series to its dramatic roots, completely eliminated the camp, and portrayed Bond as the tough, rugged figure that Ian Fleming seemingly intended. Welcome back, Mr. Bond.

The “Batman” film series has followed the James Bond trajectory. It started as dark and serious with films like “Batman” and “Batman Returns” before falling into relative camp with “Batman Forever”, but without the charms of the ‘60s series and film. And then “Batman & Robin” happened… officially killing the franchise. The series desperately needed a reboot, and Christopher Nolan beautifully delivered with the dark, mature, and relentlessly bleak “Batman Begins.” He brought the “Batman” series back to basics and returned the character to his troubled, serious roots while also kickstarting arguably the greatest superhero trilogy in film history. Now that is no small accomplishment.