It’s only August and Disney has already released three – count ‘em, three – live-action remakes in theaters this year, and that’s not even counting the Maleficent sequel or The Lady and the Tramp Disney Plus movie heading our way in the latter half of 2019. Love them or hate them, it sounds like the live-action re-imaginings are here to stay, and the House of Mouse seems to be mining every possible IP to bring back to the big screen.
Not only that, but now we’re hearing that they’re hoping to bring a popular A-list star along for the ride. According to our source – the same one who told us an Aladdin sequel was happening last month before it was confirmed this week – Disney is in the process of developing a live-action remake of their 1999 animated classic Tarzan, and Ryan Reynolds is said to be one of several big names on their wishlist to play the lead role.
Of course, the project is still in the early stages of development and given that Reynolds is said to just be on a wishlist at this point, it’s unclear if the studio has even reached out to the Deadpool actor yet or if he even knows about this. As such, it’s likely that reps for both Disney and Reynolds will deny this until there’s an actual confirmation sometime in the near future, but again, this is the same source who told us about the Aladdin sequel, so we’re inclined to believe them.
In any case, since 2010’s Alice in Wonderland, the Disney live-action remakes have collectively grossed over $7 billion globally, so why on earth would they want to stop? While The Legend of Tarzan, the last big screen adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic character, was somewhat of a flop both critically and financially, there’s a pretty solid chance that having the Disney brand backing this one – alongside the possibility of once more hearing Phil Collins’ iconic Oscar-winning soundtrack – is enough to fill theaters. Throw Ryan Reynolds into the mix, and they may even have another billion-dollar grossing mega-hit on their hands.