It’s a fact of life that Disney will never stop remaking its back catalogue of animated classics as long as they consistently keep making money, and even at that, the occasional bomb is almost immediately offset by a massive box office success. Bambi is next in line, but at least the Mouse House’s choice of director has managed to pique interest.
Sarah Polley – the actress and filmmaker who recently won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for her most recent directorial effort and Best Picture nominee Women Talking – is on course to take the reins on the latest unnecessary do-over. On the plus side, her work behind the camera has proven to consistently pack a devastating emotional punch, which is either good or bad news depending on how you feel about Bambi having one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in cinematic history.
However, in a turn of events that would have sounded ludicrous not more than a few months ago, Disney’s blockbuster reimagining will be beaten to the punch by a gore-soaked horror flick. It was revealed late last year that the damage done by the horrendous Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey had ignited a craze, with Bambi: The Reckoning putting a blood-soaked spin on the legendary fable.
The Reckoning has described its protagonist as “a vicious killing machine that lives in the woods,” something we’re pretty certain won’t apply to whatever Polley is cooking up behind the scenes at Disney. All we know so far about the latter is that it’ll be a musical, so unless the creative team are planning to tear down any and all expectations, we can expect the two competing projects to be markedly different from each other in ever conceivable way.