Disney continues to produce live-action remakes of many of its animated classics, but it should focus its live-action efforts on those animated movies that weren’t well-made or received. Although it continues to bring animated movies, such as Frozen, Disney has gone for live-action movies in the last years – problem is, they haven’t been original stories, but adaptations of its most popular and beloved animated movies (except the Maleficent movies, which have given a proper story to the villain from Sleeping Beauty).
Although some of them have been well-received by critics and audiences, such as Bill Condon’s Beauty and the Beast and Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book, others haven’t had the same luck, either due to their story, performances, and/or visual style – or, simply, the audience has grown tired of seeing the same stories retold with humans or CGI animals with weird facial expressions (as was the case with Favreau’s The Lion King and Charlie Bean’s Lady and the Tramp). Disney shows no signs of stopping with the live-action remakes of its best-animated movies, with Mulan waiting to be released and other projects in development, but it should change its strategy and focus on its less popular animated movies.
Walt Disney Pictures is now known for the quality of its animated movies, both in terms of narrative and visuals, but it took a couple of failures to get there. Instead of spending big amounts of money on retelling stories that are close to the hearts of the audience, the studio should focus its efforts on bringing those past failed animated movies to life, giving them a second chance by making things right this time. One of the movies that could benefit from a live-action remake is The Black Cauldron, the 1985 movie that almost killed Disney. The movie is loosely based on the first two books in The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. The Black Cauldron was the most expensive animated movie ever made at the time and the first Disney animated movie to get a PG rating due to its darker content (compared to other Disney works). Because of its commercial failure, it wasn’t released on home video until 1998, which helped it build a cult following, and it also prompted the studio to make big changes in how they were making movies.
The Black Cauldron is one of those dark, hidden, misunderstood gems in Disney’s history, which many fans believe should be given a second chance. Other movies that Disney could do justice to through a live-action remake are Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Treasure Planet. Atlantis is set in 1914 and tells the story of Milo, a young man who finds a sacred book he believes will guide him to the lost city of Atlantis. The movie didn’t meet Disney’s box office expectations and got mixed reviews from critics, which prompted the studio to cancel a spin-off TV series and a theme park, but it has become a cult favorite.
Treasure Planet is an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel of the same name, and while it was mostly well-received by critics and audiences, it didn’t do well at the box office, becoming one of the most underrated and forgotten animated Disney movies. By choosing to remake all those failed animated movies, Disney would be giving these stories a second chance to reach their full potential, as many of them didn’t do well because it wasn’t the right time (surely, a story like The Black Cauldron would be better received now). Disney would also stop trying to live up to the very high expectations that come with remaking animated classics like Aladdin and The Little Mermaid, so it would be less pressure for the filmmakers and different (and more interesting) content for the audience.
