I still have to see the original, tried it once but found too disturbing. And not in the right way.
The original
LHOTL (which is one of the few films I despise) is an important
and horrible movie; why would anyone want to remake it? The original was "good..." eh,
BAD enough (or should I say
NASTY enough?)
Money.
According to the IMDB today the movie has made $23.9 million so far. I can't imagne how it could have made so much.
Yes, money is always the answer to a question like this.
I'm a little surprised that Craven didn't direct the remake himself, actually. Controversy and "historical importance" aside, the directing was so awful that I would have thought he'd want to make amends and show how much he's improved over the years.