Molly Ringwald Says John Hughes’ Classic Films Shouldn’t Be Remade

Molly Ringwald, who became a pop culture icon in the 1980s, says she does not support remakes of the classic teen films that made her famous — and believes their creator wouldn’t either.

Speaking to People at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, Molly Ringwald said movies like Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink should remain untouched out of respect for filmmaker John Hughes.

“They can’t be remade because they can’t be made without the permission of John Hughes, and he didn’t want the films to be remade,” Ringwald said. “And I don’t think that they should be really.”

Hughes, who wrote and directed many of the most influential coming-of-age films of the 1980s, died of a heart attack in 2009 at the age of 59. His movies are widely seen as defining works of that era.

While Ringwald is against direct remakes, she said she is open to fresh ideas inspired by Hughes’ work. She pointed to The Breakfast Club as the film that still feels most relevant today.

“If somebody does something, I would prefer that they take from The Breakfast Club and then build on it,” she said. “It should represent this generation’s issues rather than try to recreate something from a different time.”

Ringwald also shared that she still keeps in touch with some of her former co-stars. She said she sees Jon Cryer most often and occasionally runs into Andrew McCarthy, adding that it’s hard to believe Pretty in Pink is nearing its 40th anniversary.

The actor was at Sundance for the premiere of her new film Run Amok, which centers on a 13-year-old student who stages a musical reenactment of a school shooting that occurred a decade earlier.

In recent years, Ringwald has appeared in films such as The Kissing Booth and on television shows including Riverdale, Feud, and The Secret Life of the American Teenager.