With Disney’s endless search for a new franchise with their recent live-action remakes, the studio need look no further than Treasure Planet. Rather than rework the already beloved classics of films such as The Lion King or Mulan, it may serve Disney better to look at their lesser known animated features of the early 2000s. Not only could this create a brand new sci-fi franchise through Treasure Planet, but it could also allow Disney to flex their creative muscles without the constraints, and often controversial reception, of Disney live-action remakes thus far.
Treasure Planet could open the door to a world of opportunities for Disney. A live-action remake wouldn't be hard for Disney to conjure either. With a large portion of Treasure Planet already featuring heavy CGI for its environments and models, the film is almost tailor-made to be told in a live-action setting. However, the main reason why Treasure Planet could lead to the studio's next big sci-fi franchise is due to the vast world-building of the original animated movie.
Treasure Planet features a fairly straightforward story, given that the movie is simply a sci-fi reskin of Robert Louis Stevenson's famous novel, Treasure Island. However, the reimagining opens up the original story to a potential starting point for a brand-new sci-fi interconnected universe. In setting the film amongst the stars rather than the sea, Disney greatly increased the potential for a new sci-fi franchise. But with the original movie being considered a flop, a live-action remake could take said potential, and expand it in a way Disney's live-action remakes have failed to do thus far. Not only could a remake, be it a feature film or a new Disney+ series, take an already underrated story with a cult following and translate it to a modern live-action sci-fi epic, but it could also create a whole new universe of spacefaring stories, completely different to franchises such as Star Wars or Star Trek. Be it the pirate-infused characters, environments, and spaceships of the original, or the brand-new galaxy Disney created, a live-action Treasure Planet could introduce a franchise featuring the endless potential of a brand-new fictional galaxy.
The original Treasure Planet failing at the box office also gives credence to the possibility that Disney's live action films could spawn new movie series of their own, distinct from their animated counterparts. As Treasure Island is a story that has been faithfully retold many times across countless different mediums, this led to a not-so-great reaction from filmgoing audiences expecting a more familiar version of events. With a live-action upgrade, Disney could tap into the aforementioned potential of a new sci-fi universe and retell the original film with the added view of starting a new franchise. The studio could explore new story threads, characters, and action set-pieces in a way that the animated version was not able. Considering the cult following which the original Treasure Planet has garnered over the years since its release, a remake could lead to an entirely new fanbase.
Disney's Treasure Planet was a film that, despite being fairly well-received by critics, was simply not seen by enough people. The new age of Disney live-action remakes, alongside innovations such as Disney+, could breathe new life back into the franchise. Considering the original film's larger-than-life environments and vehicle designs, along with the overabundance of CGI, could allow Treasure Planet to be the next big sci-fi franchise to originate out of Disney's line of live-action remakes.