Studios have gone back to the future as they develop their upcoming slates, eyeing a slew of hits from the 1980s to remake, reboot or reimagine. The irony is that 'Back to the Future' isn't one of them. Everything else is essentially getting the 'Clash of the Titans' treatment: retooled with flashier f/x and a new cast of recognizable names to reintroduce the material to a new generation of moviegoers.

At least 30 films from the '80s are being revamped, including the comedies 'Police Academy,' 'Short Circuit' and 'Private Benjamin,' horror fare like 'Fright Night' and 'Poltergeist,' actioners 'Escape From New York,' 'RoboCop' and 'Red Dawn,' and everything in between from 'Near Dark' to 'Footloose' and 'The Karate Kid.' New sequels are in store for 'Beverly Hills Cop' and 'Ghostbusters.'

The projects are the latest sign of Hollywood's continued retrenchment into a safe zone where it only greenlights films with built-in awareness - pictures based on kids and young adult books, videogames, comicbooks and toys, for example.

Of course, Hollywood isn't just remaking movies from the '80s. Studios have dug into their vaults and are eyeing remakes of Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds,' comedy 'The Graduate,' sci-fi classics like 'Fantastic Voyage' and oater 'True Grit.'

Six actors have played James Bond on the bigscreen over the years; four have similarly donned Batman's cape and cowl. Russell Crowe is the latest Robin Hood, and Robert Downey Jr. is now suiting up as both Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes. "These are iconic characters," says one Warner Bros.-based producer behind a number of redos. "It almost doesn't matter who plays them. The actor isn't the star; the characters are much bigger than they will ever be."

That iconic status is why Universal keeps eyeing its classic monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein, the Bride of Frankenstein, the Wolfman, the Invisible Man and the Creature of the Black Lagoon as prime for bigscreen returns. Universal is moving forward with 'Dracula Year Zero' as an origin story of how Prince Vlad the Impaler becomes the bloodsucking vamp, with Sam Worthington set to star. It also has a 'Frankenstein' remake in the works with Guillermo del Toro set to helm.

It's also why studios aren't eager to give up the rights to make superhero fare featuring characters from Marvel's pantheon of crimefighters. Fox is planning to reboot 'The Fantastic Four' and 'Daredevil' as new franchises after the films struggled to live up to their potential as major moneymaking franchises. And Sony is also relaunching 'Spider-Man' as a new series of movies with a younger cast and director, after sequels proved too costly to make.

You can make changes, update the plots and add more weight to the characters," says a producer. The question now is, what happens if the new versions don't work? Or what if they do? Will Hollywood be remaking the remakes 30 years from now?