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Most that I can think of have already been mentioned: 3:10 to Yuma, Dawn of the Dead, True Grit. One that I don't think has been mentioned already is the remake of Fright Night. Great score too!
Also, does The Fugitive count? I don't know if a movie version of a tv show is considered a remake or an adaptation. Perhaps I am splitting hairs? Regardless, a fantastic film.
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Cronenberg's 'The Fly' may be an improvement on the source material.
Carpenter's 'The Thing' is way more immediate and visceral, but the original has atmosphere to burn.
Minnelli's 'A Star Is Born' is the remake to beat all remakes, across all genres. But Garland as Brundle or MacReady may have made those remakes slam-dunks as well.
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I never understood why remakes are disliked so much on this forum. As with all films they should only be done if the filmmakers find something new or different in the subject. Otherwise you end up with something like The Omen remake which is essentially just an inferior copy of the original. But if doone right they can proudly stand bisides their predecessors. Here are some of the remakes which I enjoy a lot.
The Maltese Falcon (John Huston -1941): The second remake in 10 years. It was done well in 1931 and done badly in 1936. But this is the definite version and in my opinion the best detective film ever made.
His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks - 1940): A superior remake of the already very good Lewis Milestone original. Changing one of the male parts for Rosalind Russell proves to be a stroke of genius.
Scarlet Street (Fritz Lang - 1945): Admittedly I haven't seen the Renoir original. But this is a terrific film noir with Edward G. Robinson giving one of his finest performances. And it's remarkable that the cencors at the time allowed the ending to remain the way it is.
The 10 Commandments (Cecil B. De Mille - 1956): One of the great epics. The silent version was good but it can't hold a candle to the scope of the remake.
High Society (George Sidney - 1956): This musical reworking of The Philadelphia Story is just so damn enjoyable that it doesn't matter that it doesn't quite reach the heights oof the original.
Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder -- 1959): Wilder claimed that he only used the basic premise of the 1953 Kurt Hoffmann film Fanfaren der Liebe (Fanfares of Love). This is a rather blatant lie.. It's actually remarkable how many things were taken directly from the original eveen down to the way the remake was cast. The equivalent of the Daphne part was played by Georg Thomalla who was better known as someone who dubbed foreign actors for the German versions. At the time Thomalla was best known for dubbing - Jack Lemmon. But then Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond added their own spin to the story and what was a pleasant minor comedy in the original became one of the funniest films ever made. Sadly that can't be said for Wilder's other remakes. IMHO both The Front Page and Buddy, Buddy are his weakest films.
Ben-Hur (William Wyler - 1959): As good as the silent movie is this one is just a class in itself. It's just better scripted, directed and acted. Still the chariot race of the silent version (especially with its rousing Carl Davis score) is even better than the one in sound version (and that's one of the best action sequences ever filmed)
The Children's Hour (William Wyler - 1961): While not quite living up to the 1936 These Three this is still a wonderfully acted character piece thanks to Audrey Hepburn and especially Shirley MacLaine.
The Sound of Music (Robert Wise - 1965): This remake (by detour of the Rodgers & Hammerstein stage version) of the 1956 film Die Trapp-Famile (The Trapp Family) which was the biggest blockbuster of the 1950s in Germany may contain the same story and many of the same scenes. But where the original has dated rather badly (It's terribly schmaltzy and contains way too much singing oof German folksongs) the American version is just better in every way (It's wonderfully schmaltzy and has just the right amount of singing of the great R & H songs).
Victor/Victoria (Blake Edwards - 1982): At least the third remake of the 1933 original. The original was one of the best early sound comedies and just came out before Nazi censorship would make anything as frivolous and daring as this film impossible. But this proved to be the perfect vehicle for Blake Edwards sensibilities. With a perfect cast led by Julie Andrews and Robert Preston and a terrific score by Henry Mancini this remake is just a joy to behold.
Always (Steven Spielberg - 1989): While generally considered one of Spielberg's minor efforts it's a film a film I like a lot thanks to the performances of Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter and John Goodman. I just wished Spielberg had dialed down the ending a little bit which suffered from emotional overkill. But otherwise it's just as good if not better than Victor Fleming's orginal.
There are lots of other terrific remakes some of which were mentioned by others before me (like The Magnificent Seven, A Fistful of Dollars or The Departed). That's why I will not trash any remake beforehand. You just don't know whether the remake will turn out to be Dirty Rotten Scoundrels or The Hustle.
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Lots of good (or better than prior attempts) remakes already listed.
I'd add HEAT, which improved on the prior L.A. TAKEDOWN and set the bar much higher for the same story. Both even done by the same director.
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