Disney has given many classic films. Be it their live-action set of IPs such as Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Tron or their animated offerings, Disney has shaped the childhood of generations. Animated films such as The Lion King, Cinderella, Aladdin, and Sleeping Beauty had resounding successes upon release and have been quite influential on pop culture.
Lately, Disney is on the trend of producing live-action remakes of their classic animated films. Films such as The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Dumbo, The Lion King, and more have already got the live-action treatment and more films are in the making. Recently, reports suggested that the studio was in the process of adapting the 2010 film Tangled. Judging by its track record, audiences are not too happy with this news.
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Disney’s Divisive Live-Action Plans
Since 2015’s Cinderella, Disney has been continuously adapting their legacy films into live-action, with a total of 18 films being released to date. While some use photo-realistic animation to bring their magical stories to life, others go for the real deal. Films like The Jungle Book, The Lion King, and Maleficent have fared well with critics and audiences alike. However, the trend of Disney continuously making remakes have not gone down well with fans.
Disney has released fewer original films in the past few years, with the last noteworthy film being the Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt starrer Jungle Cruise. Every other film has been an adaptation or a remake of an existing IP. While this is a trend that every studio is going after, Disney seems to be notorious for doing the same as they have commissioned multiple remakes of films that were released as recently as 2017. When news came out that Disney was considering a remake of Moana, which was released in 2017, fans were tired.
The fandom was also disappointed with the last few remakes that the studio had released. From Tim Burton’s Dumbo, which earned a disappointing $350 million over a $170 million budget, to the lackluster performance of Mulan and Robert Zemeckis’ Pinocchio which were pushed to Disney+ due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the remakes have been deemed to be underwhelming. While its latest release, the live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid has fared relatively well at the box office, earning over $560 million, fans are still skeptical about the studio’s legacy.
Fresh Remakes Of New Disney Films
For the past two years, The Walt Disney Company has been going through a personnel change. After the retirement of CEO Bob Iger in 2020, the company placed Bob Chapek in the position. However, Chapek’s tenure as CEO was marred with controversy and he was heavily criticized for alleged funding to political parties who were anti-LGBTQ. BobIger was requested by the board of directors to return as CEO, to which he obliged in 2022.
Bob Iger has also been under heavy scrutiny, especially for his controversial statements regarding the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Fans have also criticized his decision to commission remakes of recent Disney films. His decision to commission a remake of the 2017 hit Dwanye Johnson starrer Moana was met with strong opposition from fans. Recent reports have suggested that 2010’s Tangled is also getting a remake.
Tangled was a re-telling of the classic fairy tale of Rapunzel, starring the voice talents of Mandy Moore, Shazam star Zachary Levi and Donna Murphy. The film follows the journey of Rapunzel as she escapes from her high-tower prison and explores the outside world with Flynn Rider, a thief who is on the run. The musical was lauded upon release and was even nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song.
While the rumor is not as shocking as the Moana remake, fans were still annoyed with the decision since the film was released in 2010. The news received intense reactions from the Internet.
While Disney is too big to stop plans for a remake due to intense reactions, it does seem to be losing its footing with a severe lack of original content.
Source: Inside The Magic
