Disney's Movie Remakes

By: Callie Ball

Even if you’re not an avid Disney fan you have probably still noticed that a majority of their new releases have been remakes. Remakes of some of the most iconic films that became instant classics and still have us humming their tunes.

Tunes like “The Bare Necessities” which was re-featured in Disney’s The Jungle Book live-action-remake, which debuted last month. And according to Forbes, had a domestic weekend opening of $103 million. Last year Disney gave us a Cinderella movie that had fans ecstatic months before it was to be released. They accomplished this by showing a sixty-six second trailer that showed nothing but the glass slipper. And this August the remake of Pete’s Dragon will hit theaters.

So far, every Disney remake has been considerably different from its original version, but what do these remakes have the originals don’t? Take 2014’s Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie, which took the classic fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty and told it from the perspective of the character Maleficent. The 2015 Cinderella version is much darker than the original 1950's version, with no singing mice or animals helping her get dressed, the step sisters end up cutting of their feet and having their eyes pecked out.

Have you figured it out yet? What the remakes have that the originals do not?

Better plots, and stronger characters.

The prince is no longer the one to always jump in, kiss the girl and save the day. Characters don’t put their lives in the hands (or paws) of others all the time.

Disney has given us the old stories and made them new. With The Jungle Book they told us how it is better to be yourself and not always follow the pack. In Alice in Wonderland they proved a girl can be the hero. In Maleficent we saw that there is more than one kind of true love. And Cinderella showed us that having courage and being kind is always the best policy.

I doubt Disney will stop remaking the beloved classics since there is little risk for them. There is already a fan base and not a single of the recent live action remakes has flopped at the box office. Disney has already confirmed several more live action remakes and most aren’t expecting them to be anything less than phenomenal. Bryan Cogman from the Game of Thrones is said to have been signed on for the remake of The Sword in The Stone. This makes me wonder, how dark is Disney willing to go? Tim Burton is set to direct a live action Dumbo and Peter Hedges is signed to write the script for Pinocchio, and Alex Ross Perry is slated to direct the live action version of Winnie the Pooh. I hope they can continue on the high they have been riding, as well as not butchering any of our beloved childhood movies.