Now
that is a novel, unique take on an existing, already-done property. Nobody asked for that lousy, completely unfunny thing a few years ago with McCarthy, Wiig, etc. because it was just a lazy remake of better-done movies everyone's already seen (are you listening, Disney/Lucasfilm?)
But this looks kinda neat. It's attention-getting, at the very least.
You can honor/acknowledge the past - the gear, clothing, vehicle - without a beat-by-beat "modernized" remake. It can be a "modernized" completely new take on something people love and remember. You branch off from that, but put it in such a different time and setting that it can't help but seem a little novel and fresh.
Had they done
this in 2016 instead of what they did, it might've made all the difference in the world. I don't know what they were going for in 2016 (actually I do, and it failed miserably, as such things - forced, unasked-for remakes with no charm/spark of the original - often do).
But this looks like a bit more "scares/thrills" than outright comedy, and that's
interesting.
You change up the location/setting, a new cast that seems halfway believable/interesting, you touch on the past, but you don't wallow in it, etc.
Again, are you
listening, Disney/Lucasfilm?
PS - That Finn Wolfhard dude is gunning to be the Goldblum of his generation, appearing in all the genre hits. He's already big from
Stranger Things and the
It movies, and now this. Maybe he'll wind up in a future Star Wars project?