Whether or not you approve of Disney’s practice of remaking all their most fondly remembered animations in live-action form, it’s clear that there’s a huge audience out there for these pictures, from younger folk who’ve yet to see the originals, to older filmgoers looking for the nostalgia buzz. And now that the box office figures for the likes of Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book have spoken loud and clear, the studio is doubling down on the approach, with Tim Burton’s Dumbo set to be the first of three such films to come our way in 2019.
To ring in what’s sure to be a huge year for Disney even by their standards, the official Walt Disney Studios Twitter account has shared a quick teaser for the upcoming Dumbo remake, which instructs us to “soar into 2019” while offering further glimpses at the titular elephant and the spectacle unfolding around him.
The story of this little misfit circus performer seems so well-suited to Burton’s favorite themes and sensibilities that you almost have to wonder how Alice in Wonderland was the Disney property he got to first. Whether or not this is a good thing, however, may depend on how you’ve responded to the filmmaker’s output in recent years, with many a fan starting to feel that this all-too-distinctive director would do well to step out of his comfort zone a little more.
Nonetheless, the promotion for Dumbo suggests enough cuteness and whimsy to bring in a sizable audience when it hits theaters on March 29th. After that, Aladdin will be following on its heels with a May 24th release, before The Lion King comes out on July 19th.
