American Remakes of French Hits

The Paul Walker/RZA action flick 'Brick Mansions' is actually based on a French film: 2004's 'District 13.' Is this the first time such a thing has happened? Mais non! The following movies are all remakes of Gallic blockbusters.

Mike Nichols' comedy about a nightclub owner (Robin Williams) and his drag queen boyfriend (Nathan Lane) was based on 1978's 'La Cage aux Folles' – French for, you guessed it, "the birdcage."

Paul Rudd is invited to a party where each of his cruel colleagues brings the biggest loser he can find. Rudd's pick? Steve Carell. 'Dinner for Schmucks' was based on Francis Veber's 'The Dinner Game' (1998).

It sounds unlikely, but 1987's top moneymaker at the U.S. box office was 'Three Men and a Baby.' Even more unlikely: Leonard Nimoy directed it! The movie came right after the 1985 French original 'Three Men and a Cradle.'

This romcom, directed by and starring Chris Rock, wasn't quite as well-received by critics as was the film that inspired it, Éric Rohmer's morality tale 'Chloe in the Afternoon' (1972).

Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp find romance and intrigue in Venice. The Hollywood version of France's 2005 low-budget thriller 'Anthony Zimmer' made considerably more money, but reviews were mixed.

'Quick Change,' a heist comedy co-directed by its star Bill Murray, was actually based on the American novel of the same name. So it's not strictly a remake. But the first adaptation of the book was the 1985 French film 'Hold-Up.'

Disney's first-ever R-rated movie (under its Touchstone banner) was this raunchy satire starring Nick Nolte, Bette Midler and Richard Dreyfuss. The French original, 'Boudu Saved from Drowning,' came out way back in 1932!

'Les Diaboliques' was first released in 1955. It is considered a classic in the suspense/horror genre. The American version, 'Diabolique,' featured Sharon Stone and French superstar Isabelle Adjani. It flopped at the box office.

1953's 'The Wages of Fear,' about trucks shipping highly-explosive nitroglycerin over treacherous South American roads, still makes our palms sweat. But this remake, directed by William Friedkin of 'The Exorcist,' also has its fans.

Starring Richard Gere, Diane Lane, and France's own Olivier Martinez, the erotic drama 'Unfaithful' was a surprise hit in 2002. The legendary Claude Chabrol directed the original, 'The Unfaithful Wife,' in 1968.

This Richard Pryor-Jackie Gleason comedy is yet another American adaptation of a script by French hitmaker Francis Veber; others include 'My Father the Hero,' 'Three Fugitives,' and 'The Man with One Red Shoe.'

A title like 'True Lies' may lack the zippiness of its predecessor 'La Totale!' (1991), but James Cameron's and Arnold Schwarzenegger's spy-oriented action comedy was certainly the bigger commercial success.