Regarding the never-ending parade of live-action Disney remakes, once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, and 17 is a disturbing trend that cannot continue. December 20, 2024, marked the arrival of Mufasa: The Lion King, the 17th live-action Disney remake released in the past 10 years, beginning with Maleficent in 2014. Enough is enough.
In what has become a cynically venal cash grab meant to milk Disney’s original stories for all they’re worth, the diminishing returns with each new remake have become too much to bear. As such, it’s high time for Disney to halt the necessary spate of live-action remakes. Yet, since money talks the loudest, there’s no surprise that the Mouse House has an additional eight live-action redos in the works heading into 2025.
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December 20, 2024
An Exhausting Decade of Disney Remakes
From 2014 to 2024, Disney has produced a staggering 17 live-action remakes, including such all-time beloved classics as Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, Dumbo, Aladdin, The Lion King, Mulan, Pinocchio, The Little Mermaid, and more. While backed by expensive production values, the remakes are completely unnecessary, add almost nothing to their inspirational sources, and only seem to exist to capitalize on Disney’s proven IP to make as much money as humanly possible.
Simply translating a compelling children’s story from cartoon form to live-action is not justifiable enough to continue the trend. Had the remakes significantly expounded on the story or pushed the dramatic themes forward, they would have genuine value. Yet, as Gus Van Sant learned the hard way after making a colored, shot-for-shot remake of Psycho in 1999, retelling the story beat-for-beat is wastefully unneeded, painfully tedious, and loaded with cringe-worthy moments.
Worse yet, Disney has begun making prequels and sequels to the live-action rehashes. After remaking The Lion King in 2019, Disney has returned to the iconic 1994 animated version to serve as the blueprint for Mufasa, which will be a sequel and a prequel. Like remaking Alice in Wonderland, Disney is so far through its own looking glass that audiences can no longer keep track and tell what’s what anymore. Alas, there’s no end in sight.
Disney’s Upcoming Slate of Live-Action Remakes
As of December 2024, Disney has eight live-action remakes scheduled after Mufasa. They include major and minor classics like Snow White, Lilo & Stitch, Moana, Hercules, Robin Hood, The Aristocats, Bambi, and Tangled. For the studio that once inspired childhood awe and wonderment with its enchanting original storytelling for decades, the recent increase in retelling the same old stories has grown tiresome at best and infuriating at worst.
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Wait, do we finally have a truly great Disney live-action remake?
Before the disturbing trend was launched in 2014, Disney produced six live-action remakes in the previous decade. The staggering jump from six to 17 in the same timespan proves that Disney has run out of original stories to tell and is happy to continue returning to the well, so long as it proves lucrative for the studio. With streaming fostering quantity over quality to accommodate binge-watching, Disney must return to unique storytelling, regardless of animation or live-action.
Enough Is Enough… Disney Needs to Make Original Stories
Beyond Pixar’s niche, adult-oriented audience, Disney must return to inspiring, thought-provoking original movies rather than continue to dole out factory-line remakes. Yet, Disney’s production slate for the next five years is littered with remakes, sequels, and story continuations banking on built-in fanbases. Beyond Elio, a Pixar original sure to sweep awards, Disney is happy to shove more Frozen, Tron, and Moana movies down audiences’ throats rather than work on something new and exciting.
Although the relentless horde of Disney remakes has its audience and will not stop anytime soon, if the studio wants to restore its reputational luster held for generations, it needs to stop with trampled, derivative live-action remakes and beat-for-beat redos and go back to the drawing board. If not, audiences everywhere will gravitate elsewhere to find original children’s tales. Mufasa: The Lion King is now playing in theaters.