What do you call a movie based on H.G. Wells's novel about aliens who declare war on Earth that has the same name as a 1953 movie about the same story? Call it science fiction, call it a potential blockbuster -- just don't call it a remake.

Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds," which hits theaters June 29, covers the same space-invader theme that inspired a 1938 radio show by Orson Welles and a late '80s television series. Instead of billing it as a copy of the original, co-producer Paramount Pictures says it is a "contemporary retelling of H.G. Wells's seminal classic."

It's the summer of the euphemism in Hollywood -- where some familiar titles are being described as anything but remakes. Warner Bros., the studio behind "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," says its new movie isn't a copy of the 1971 film, but "an adaptation of Roald Dahl's book." On July 22, get ready for "The Bad News Bears," which its studio describes as a "fresh look" at the 1976 Little League comedy that starred Walter Matthau. With new takes on "The Pink Panther" and "The Longest Yard" also on tap, big studios will release at least five of these movies this summer season -- up from two last summer.

"If you call them remakes, it opens up what is really true: There is a huge amount of derived material out there and not a lot of fresh ideas," says screenwriter Sheldon Turner, who wrote "The Longest Yard," based on the 1974 prison-football comedy starring Burt Reynolds. (Paramount calls the movie an "update of the classic 1974 comedy.")

So why are Hollywood's script gurus suddenly raiding the archives? Studios are motivated by everything from executives' nostalgia for favorite old movies to a desire to tempt parents to introduce their kids to the big-screen characters they grew up with. And some recent remakes have been big moneymakers: "Ocean's 11," the 2001 reworking of a 1960 movie, was made for $80 million -- and sold more than $451 million worth of tickets world-wide.

Remakes also may have an advantage over other films on their crucial opening weekends. As studios rely increasingly on attracting millions of viewers in a film's initial days, a familiar name can provide a running start. In 2003, a remake of "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" nearly covered its $28 million production and marketing costs during its first weekend. "These titles are embedded in the popular-culture DNA. That's why studios and filmmakers make them," says Marc Shmuger, vice chairman of Universal Pictures.

But remakes -- and studios' general unease with the term -- may be symptomatic of bigger problems in Hollywood. For starters, the movies are added proof that studios are afraid to take risks at a time when U.S. theater attendance is down for the second straight year. Studios have increasingly relied on the tried-and-true, including a flood of sequels and based-on-TV films (coming this summer: "Bewitched," "The Honeymooners" and "Dukes of Hazzard"). However, many remakes not only fail to improve on the originals -- witness Madonna in "Swept Away" -- but they also may not repeat the originals' commercial success. Last summer's big remakes, "The Manchurian Candidate" and "The Stepford Wives," took in less at the U.S. box office than they cost to produce.

This summer will be different, studios say. Paramount says "War of the Worlds" is a $128 million Spielberg extravaganza with loads of special effects and a star turn by Tom Cruise. The studio points to some new twists: Its alien enemies hail from outer space, instead of Mars. The filmmakers have updated the story by changing the hero's occupation from a journalist to a blue-collar worker and shifted much of its focus to his attempt to repair his relationship with his children.

Warner Bros., meanwhile, says it's striving for a more literal take on Mr. Dahl's book, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." The studio's 1971 movie, "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," directed by Mel Stuart, took liberties with the text, creating a musical score and making the Oompa-Loompa characters orange instead of chocolate-colored. ("You can't film a book," Mr. Stuart says. "You have to film a screenplay.")

Tim Burton, the director of this summer's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," wanted to do a "faithful adaptation of the source material," says Warner Bros. domestic-marketing president Dawn Taubin. The new, non-musical film will include book passages that didn't make it into the first movie, including a "nut room" scene and a character called Prince Pondicherry. The Oompa Loompas will be brown, and this time they'll be the only ones singing.

Hollywood, of course, has reworked popular stories since its earliest days, from "Hamlet" to "King Kong." Warner Bros. made "The Maltese Falcon" first in 1931 and again with Humphrey Bogart 10 years later, while "Oliver Twist" has been done about a dozen times since 1912. (The latest, Roman Polanski's "Oliver Twist," comes out Sept. 30.) Now the pace has quickened: Universal Pictures remade Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" nearly shot-by-shot in 1998, and now there are two Hitchcock titles in simultaneous development: Universal is developing a version of "The Birds," while Warner Bros. is working on a remake of "Strangers on a Train."

Nostalgia also is fueling the new spate of old titles. Studios are hoping to draw a generation of young parents to movies they saw in the '60s and '70s, which helps explain Disney's upcoming take on "The Shaggy Dog," not to mention another movie about Herbie, the sentient Volkswagen Beetle last sighted on big screens in the early 1980s. Industry heavyweights, too, are updating films they remember from their childhood. Clint Culpepper, president of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Screen Gems unit, says he is remaking the 1979 suspense-horror movie "When a Stranger Calls" because it was the "scariest movie I had seen as a kid."

Now, the screenplay recycling has moved well beyond Hollywood, with studios looking for ideas abroad, especially in Asia. Producer Roy Lee says he spent fruitless years trying to pitch original concepts to studios, before selling DreamWorks on the idea of remaking a Japanese supernatural horror film called "Ringu." The result was 2002's "The Ring," which generated $248.1 million in world-wide ticket sales. It inspired more remakes of Asian titles, including "Shall We Dance?" as well as Mr. Lee's "The Ring Two" and "The Grudge." In all, Mr. Lee says, he has sold Hollywood studios the rights to remake more than 30 Asian films -- including "Oldboy," a violent South Korean noir film that opened in U.S. theaters just last month. For Americans, he says, "these are fresh stories."

Some say remake fever is out of hand -- and leading to some indiscriminate movie pitches. Actor Morgan Freeman has been approached at least five times in the last year about starring in a remake, says Lori McCreary, who runs his production company. "There has to be a compelling reason to do one," she says. "It has to be more than, 'Just put Morgan in there.'"

The drumbeat of the familiar should only intensify. Jim Carrey will star Dec. 21 in "Fun With Dick and Jane," based on the 1977 satire, in which a married couple turns to armed robbery. "All the King's Men," the Southern-politics drama that won Best Picture for 1949, will return Dec. 16, with Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Sean Penn. "Yours, Mine and Ours," a version of a 1968 family comedy, is slated for release on Nov. 23.

At least some in Hollywood have decided to embrace the 'R' word. Producer Brad Fuller says the filmmakers of last month's "The Amityville Horror" initially did a "tap dance" to characterize their movie as a retelling. But because the movie included some of the same scenes as the original and is based on the same source material, they finally decided to call it what it was. What's next for Mr. Fuller? "The Hitcher," a 1986 horror thriller about a murderous hitchhiker who tries to frame the driver who picks him up. "We are remaking it," says Mr. Fuller.

The New Old Thing

Over the next year or so, Hollywood will be releasing many more new films based on old ones. Here is a sampling, ordered roughly by their expected release dates:

FILM/STUDIO: The Pink Panther, MGM
COMMENTS: Kevin Spacey, Mike Myers and Chris Tucker all expressed interest in filling Peter Sellers's shoes as bumbling Inspector Clouseau. But on Aug. 5, audiences will see Steve Martin starring in this remake of the 1963 film that began a 10-movie series.

FILM/STUDIO: The Departed, Warner Bros.
COMMENTS: Warner Bros. paid $1.5 million for the rights to adapt "Infernal Affairs," a 2002 Hong Kong police thriller, a record fee for such acquisitions from Asia, says deal-maker Roy Lee. Then it brought in big guns: The U.S. version will be directed by Martin Scorsese -- he also remade "Cape Fear" -- and is slated to star Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg and Jack Nicholson, for release late this year or early 2006.

FILM/STUDIO: My Friend Flicka, Fox
COMMENTS: First a 1941 novel, then 1943 and 1956 films, this boy-and-his-horse tale is now in production -- about a girl and her horse. Fox says the gender switch -- an idea it attributes to the studio vice chairman -- will make the movie more contemporary and family-friendly.

FILM/STUDIO: When a Stranger Calls, Sony
COMMENTS: It's two remakes of this terrorized-babysitter film from one: Sony's Screen Gems unit will start production in a few months on a full feature, for 2006 release, based on the first 20 minutes of 1979's "When a Stranger Calls." It is also currently working on a script for a second film, "When a Stranger Returns," based on the final one-third of the original.

FILM/STUDIO: The Hills Have Eyes, Fox Searchlight
COMMENTS: Horror specialist Wes Craven made the original "Hills" in 1977; his production company was inspired to redo it after watching 2003's remake of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" clean up at the box office. Production

starts this summer in Morocco with a little-known French director, and the film will be "pretty close to the original," says Craven partner Marianne Maddalena.

FILM/STUDIO: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Paramount
COMMENTS: In the 1947 original, based on a James Thurber story, mild comic-book writer Danny Kaye dreamed of heroic adventures. The bad guy has morphed from a Nazi to a U.S. Treasury agent, and the locale for this release planned for '06 shifts from New York to Chicago. The producer's still a Goldwyn -- John, grandson of MGM's Samuel Goldwyn.

FILM/STUDIO: The Birds, Universal
COMMENTS: Last time Universal revisited Hitchcock suspense (1998's "Psycho"), ticket sales were the real horror show. This time the producer will be Michael Bay, whose producing resume includes "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake. No director or writer has been hired yet.