Romance movies are timeless. After all, love is a universal emotion that can be felt by anyone across cultures or languages. Cinema is filled with great love stories, ones that stay with audiences for years and have become part of the daily rotation. Yet there are also plenty of romances that, while still great, could also benefit from a remake. While Hollywood is obsessed with remakes, romances are a genre that does not get the same level of big-budget reimaging the same way action, horror, or even musicals do.

Some movies deserve a remake to explore things that couldn’t be stated in the original, like Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the LGBTQ characters. Others have ideas that could have been better explored, like Sliding Doors. Some romance films simply should be remade because it would be fun to revisit the story with a modern point of view, technology, and current actors; like My Best Friend’s Wedding or You’ve Got Mail (or should we say, You’ve got a DM?). Let’s get creative and imagine a world where these movies and many more get remade, how they should be done, and who we would like to star in them:

Update December 30, 2023: This article has been updated with more romances that should get remade and where to watch each movie.

10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

Based on William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, the 1999 film was already an adaptation, as it told the story of Patrick (an incredibly charming Heath Ledger) getting paid to seduce Kat (Julia Stiles) and falling for her in the process. 10 Things I Hate About You was already a great teenage story, as it was adapting it to the new times, where the female character was independent, smart, and fierce.

Being a teenager has changed entirely since 1999 with the use of social media, and high school social cliques have become much more respectful and diverse. That would make the movie feel much different. It could also be a gay story, where both the “shrew” and the charmer are played by real teenagers. Stream on Disney+

Love & Basketball (2000)

Love and Basketball tells the love story between two basketball players, Quincy (Omar Epps) and Monica (Sanaa Lathan), from when they’re kids until they’re adults, and how their dream of playing professional ball gets in the way of how they feel for each other. Teenage basketball players have much more pressure as they’re already seen as meal tickets for many and have much more attention on them since they’re thirteen or fourteen years old. That would make the film feel different, as the two characters would be much more absorbed in basketball.

At the same time, every black athlete with a platform is now much more active in movements like #blacklivesmatter, so that would also be an interesting wrinkle. One of the lead characters could even be the character’s daughter from the first movie, with cameos by Epps and Lathan. What’s for sure is that they should cast two black actors who really know how to play the game, as that was what made the original film such a standout. There haven’t been that many basketball power couples that played in the NBA and WNBA so the material would feel fresh. Stream on Tubi

The Bodyguard (1992)

The Bodyguard told the love story between a bodyguard (Kevin Costner) and his client, singer-songwriter Rachel Marron (Whitney Houston), as she received threads from a deranged fan. What starts as an adversary relationship becomes a love story by the end, where Houston sings the incredible hit “I Will Always Love You”.

Being a pop star has become much more difficult in the era of Spotify, streaming, and social media, so that angle would be a pretty interesting one, as the deranged fan could know much more about the whereabouts and likes of the musician and her entourage. Nowadays, these artists are businesses themselves, so adjusting to the bodyguard's security ideas would be difficult. The film should cast a real pop star like Rihanna or Beyoncé to make it much more interesting and realistic, as they could use some of their real-life experiences as stars to make the film more interesting and nuanced.

As for the bodyguard, what about Michael B. Jordan (who has already done many military roles), or Crazy Rich Asians’ Henry Golding? The “I Will Always Love You” song should stay if maybe getting remixed in a new, more modern style. Stream on Amazon Prime Video

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

This movie is a love story between elegant socialite Holly Golightly (Aubrey Hepburn) and writer Paul Varjak (George Peppard), although both have troubled pasts, and don’t want to fall in love. The film is extremely different from the book it's based on. Many differences between them could be explored in a reboot, using some themes and ideas from the novel, that Hollywood found too forward back then.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s was released more than 60 years ago, so the new version should make Paul (in the book he goes unnamed) gay, and cast an actual Asian actor as Mr. Yunioshi.. It could also embrace Holly’s independence, love for traveling, and some of the uglier parts of her personality. Finding a new Aubrey Hepburn would be the toughest part, as even Capote himself admitted that “she did a terrific job”. The best idea would be to replace her with some unknown actress, with a non-classic natural beauty. Stream on Paramount+.

Related: Here Are 7 of the Most Romantic Movies From the ‘60s

My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)

Best friends Julianne (Julia Roberts) and Michael (Dermot Mulroney) make a pact that they will marry each other if they both are still single at 28. Four days before that day, he gets engaged to 20-year-old Kimmy (Cameron Diaz), and Julianne realize she’s in love with her best friend. From there, hijinks ensue.

My Best Friend’s Wedding is considered one of the best '90s romantic comedies, and with reason. How to remake it? For starters, we should change the age of everyone involved. Make the pact at thirty-five, Kimmy is in her late twenties, and we could transform Michael into Michelle to see a Queer rom-com for once. Other than that, the story can be pretty much the same. Especially the not-exactly happy ending for our heroine. Maybe we could change the song at the end that everyone sings, to one from this centuryt. The original movie had two of the biggest rom-com actresses of all time, and that is tough to beat, but let’s try: Julianne should be played by Emma Stone, Michelle by Zazie Beetz, and Kimmy by Florence Pugh. As far as remakes go, this one sounds like a fun one. Stream on Netflix

Love Actually (2003)

Love Actually tells many stories about love, sex, desire, heartbreak, and sadness that culminate in Christmas at the airport. Some are beautiful small stories like Colin Firth and Lucia Moniz character’s falling in love even if they don’t speak each other's language, others are bad like Andrew Lincoln’s character trying to steal his best friend’s wife through cue cards; and others are just weird, Colin Frissell’s going to America to have lots of sex and succeeding.

The film written by Richard Curts, hasn’t aged well, but the idea behind it still holds up, so a remake with less fat shaming, a diverse cast, and some queer stories in it would take that wonderful idea into the 21st Century. Maybe Curtis could get the help of Phoebe Waller-Bridge to update the different stories, and Thomas Brodie-Sangster could appear as adult Sam to show both stories are in the same universe. With all those ingredients, this could be a successful Christmas hit, even if they still use the Mariah Carey song. Stream on Netflix

Sliding Doors (1998)

Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) runs to the train to get home. In one scenario, she gets in and finds her boyfriend cheating at home; in the other, she misses the train and doesn’t find him cheating. From here, two different lives are born. In a world with many timelines and multiverses, Sliding Doors is the ultimate “What if?” movie.

Although this rom-com takes advantage of that idea of showing how a little detail can change everything, we believe a reboot could take it to riskier places as audiences are now more used to the concept. Let’s get Tessa Thompson losing a cable car in San Francisco (an underrated city that more movies need to take place in) and see how her life develops in both realities. Stream on Peacock.

An Affair to Remember (1957)

An Affair to Remember might be one of the most romantic films ever made, as its message about unconditional love still holds up. This is the story of Nickie (Carey Grant) and Terry (Deborah Kerr) who, after falling in love with each other on a cruise, decide to meet at the top of the Empire State Building once they have broken up with their respective partners. Destiny intervenes, and they never meet there, making Nicki think that she isn’t in love with him. The truth is much more unique, and sad, making the ending much more beautiful.

This is a beautiful love story, that can be made at any time period. So much so, that Sleepless in Seattle homages it, greatly. For the movie to work, Terry should delete all her social media after what happens to her character, but other than that, it would still be a lovely tale to tell. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence could play the roles as they haven't worked together in a while, and their chemistry is always great. Rent on Google Play Movies, Apple TV, and Amazon Video.

You’ve Got Mail (1998)

In You've Got Mail, Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan), a boutique bookstore owner, starts an online romance with Joe Fox (Tom Hanks), a corporate bookstore chain owner. Neither of them knows who the other is, as they have pseudonyms. When they finally meet in real life and understand they’re working competitors, things get complicated.

This is one of the best movies directed by Norah Ephron and, as such, should be revered, but a new version makes a ton of sense, starting with its title. Nowadays, nobody talks through email, so it should be "You’ve got a DM", as the two stars of the movie start messaging through Instagram at all hours of the day and night, then they realize they’re following many of the same accounts. Although they don’t know it, he works as an Amazon suit, and she has one of the last independent bookstores in all of Brooklyn. Since the original was already a remake of the 1940 film The Shop Around the Corner, it stands to reason it can be remade once more for a new generation. Stream on AMC+.

Related: Here Are the Most Romantic Classical Hollywood Movies

Casablanca (1942)

Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she (Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund) walked into his (Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine). That’s how the story of former lovers who reunite in the Moroccan city starts, as he has to decide if he’s going to help her and her fugitive husband escape. It’s been 80 years since the release of one of the best World War II movies ever made, and while the idea of remaking a classic sounds blasphemous, if legendary films like King Kong and West Side Story can be remade, nothing says Casablanca can't.

Unfortunately, we still have wars, and people still need to escape from some oppressive forces. This timeless story of love, loss, and redemption could be done in present-day Hong Kong, with actors of Asian heritage. We can see Sung Kang as a tortured Rick, living in an old bar, without tech in some dangerous suburb, when his lost love Isa (Gemma Chan) appears in his bar looking for help. Her husband Lao (played by Steven Yeun) is the leader of the resistance against China and must leave the city. Obviously, the title should change from Casablanca to “Hong Kong”, but most of the dramatic beats from the original movie could still be used as Rick and Isa would “Always have Tokyo”. That’s a movie we would like to see.

Stream on Max