Disney hasn’t exactly tasted a rousing victory when it comes to the live-action remakes of its animated classics. Yes, the majority of them have done well at the box office, but they failed to woo the critics and didn’t manage to get unanimous approval from the audience. But evidently, the dollars they still churn is enough for Disney to hope that one of its divisive live-action remakes has all the potential of becoming their next Star Wars franchise.
In a chat with The New York Times, Disney production chief Sean Bailey, who has been leading the Mouse House’s “reimagining” of its past animated movies, spoke at length about the studio’s strategy concerning live-action remakes — though The Little Mermaid re–confirmed that Disney is no hurry to relive the success of its lone winning remake. While I do expect Disney to continue inducing realism into its classics — Moana is already getting a remake even though it is not old enough to be called a classic – so far, the company has steered clear of expanding on the repackaged stories. But plans to transcend this thin line are apparently being considered.
Of all the Disney live-action remakes to date, perhaps it has been The Lion King that has attracted the most flak for not having any originality as it is almost a scene-by-scene copy of the original and for lacking heart as the film strives for a realistic effect first. Critics have labeled the film “heartless,” “soulless,” and called out Disney for not bestowing any expressions on its characters. But evidently, what the studio is focusing on is the fact that it is one of the highest-grossing films of all time as Bailey shared that The Lion King could turn into “a big, epic saga” just like Star Wars.
“There’s a lot of room to run if we can find the stories.”
Seeing that the remake barely manages to sneak in any uniqueness that would set it apart from the original, expecting Disney to come up with a whole new plot to continue the story might seem too far-fetched. But, a prequel to the film, titled Mufasa: The Lion King, is on its way and will perhaps be the evidence to confirm whether or not Simba and his allies will get to go on more adventures or not.
