Zoe Saldaña’s ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ Remake Nobody Remembers Now Streaming Free

People often accuse Hollywood of running out of ideas, and that’s the reason we get so many reboots, reimaginings, and sequels to long-running franchises. This feels especially true when it comes to the world of horror, as it currently feels like every genre-defining masterpiece has been revived in some way, shape, or form. In some cases, we get an all-new take on an idea, while other revivals are much more devoted to the source material. Virtually no filmmaker or actor is safe from taking part in such projects, even if you’re the highest-grossing actor of all time.

Zoe Saldaña had a huge 2009, as she starred in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek and in James Cameron’s Avatar. These sci-fi experiences opened up a number of doors for her, as she would go on to star in Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014. That entire film starred a cast who were all relative unknowns, only for that adventure’s critical and financial success to launch their careers. Between her Avatar films and her multiple endeavors in the MCU as an Avenger, Saldaña’s movies have grossed more than $15 billion worldwide. Before that, though, she starred in the forgotten two-part Rosemary’s Baby, which is streaming free on Pluto and Tubi.

Ira Levin’s novel was previously adapted in 1968, with many fans considering the Mia Farrow-starring Rosemary’s Baby to be one of the best horror movies of all time. Saldaña’s NBC miniseries, on the other hand, feels entirely erased by time.

A Bloated Take on a Pulpy Experience

Other than John Carpenter’s The Thing or David Cronenberg’s The Fly, rarely do you get a horror remake that is better than the original. Masterpieces like The Exorcist, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Omen, and Halloween all earned their own revivals, which were met with varying degrees of success, but throughout the 2000s, countless remakes fell short of expectations. It’s hard to point out exactly what went wrong with every remake that disappoints, other than audiences wondering why the property was revived in the first place.

The earliest publications of Levin’s novel were barely over 200 pages, making for a relatively brisk and effectively unsettling thriller. Despite being a somewhat disposable thriller, the legacy of the story earned a major upgrade with the 1968 movie, thanks to the filmmaking and performances on display.

Saldaña’s adaptation took what was a pretty straightforward experience and, other than changing the setting, largely stuck to the events of the original story, unfolding as a two-part experience that runs for 170 minutes. Even with the talents of Saldaña and Jason Isaacs, the event failed to put a substantial twist on anything audiences were expecting, merely stretching out the requisite plot points to nearly three hours. Earning only 31% positive reviews from critics on aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, the two-night event felt like something no one asked for and clearly something no one cared for.

Not the First Forgotten Spin-off

In addition to the aforementioned horror masterpieces that have been revived over the decades, the nature of those premises allows for many more installments to be churned out. To many, Rosemary’s Baby feels like an entirely standalone experience, and many contemporary audiences don’t even know that the original movie is based on a book. Those fans are also largely oblivious to the fact that the original movie got the straight-to-TV sequel, Look What’s Happened to Rosemary’s Baby.

As implied by the title, the sequel follows Rosemary’s son Andy (Stephen McHattie) as he tries to navigate his adult life, despite sinister interference from those around him. Ruth Gordon is the only member of the original cast to return for the sequel, which aired in time for Halloween in 1976.

The streaming age ushered in yet another attempt to expand the lore of the novel with Apartment 7A in 2024 on Paramount+, which stars Julia Garner and Dianne Wiest. This time, we were given a prequel set at the Bramford building before Rosemary and husband Guy moved in. Garner starred as dancer Terry Gionoffrio, who had a brief encounter with Rosemary in the original story, only to then jump to her death. Apartment 7A chronicled the events leading up to that tragic incident.

If or when we’ll ever see a successful expansion of the iconic storyline is yet to be known.