Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Disney is in the process of doing another remake of one of their classic animated musicals. This time, it’s Robin Hood.
The remake is scheduled to be directed by Blindspotting director Carlos López Estrada. Kari Grandlund, the screenwriter who worked on the Lady and the Tramp remake, will be adapting the script.
The movie is planning to use a combination of both live-action and CGI. And this is where the chili meets the cheese.
Looking at Disney remakes of their classic films, like Lion King, there appears to be a lot to be desired. The Lion King remake, while not hurting at the box office (being the 42nd film to ever clear the $1 billion mark at the box office), didn’t appeal to fans the way the animated film had.
Holding a 53% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, reviews revealed,
“While it can take pride in its visual achievements, The Lion King is a by-the-numbers retelling that lacks the energy and heart that made the original so beloved – though for some fans that may just be enough.”
Similarly, the remake of Aladdin scores lower than the animated original (all respect to Will Smith, no one can overshadow Robin Williams). Same with Lady and the Tramp, both scoring significantly below their animated predecessor. Respectively, a score of (animated/live-action) 92%/57%, and 93%/67%.
A few suggestions to Disney:
- Maybe don’t?
- The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies of the nineties are, objectively, better than the remakes (though Out of the Shadows holds a special place in my heart for including Casey Jones, Bebop, Rocksteady, and Krang). They had animatronic masks produced by the Jim Henson company.
- Disney, you have the Imagineers running lifelike Avatar and Star Wars characters in your theme parks. The cost of CGI, as per a study released in April of last year, is $33.7 million per movie. While the cost of animatronics is no doubt significantly higher, Disney has more money than God. Given the history of Disney, like the creation of “It’s a Small World” for the World Fair in 1964, they could then repurpose the animatronics for a (new) section of the theme park once they’ve served their purpose for the movie. Given the technology available, they could reuse the recordings and preserve some semblance of the original animated film’s integrity.
I guess a dream is a wish your heart makes.
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