The world doesn't need more live-action remakes
The originals are always better, and they always will be.
The other day I watched the new How To Train Your Dragon movie. Except it wasn’t new at all. It was the exact same movie I watched 15 years ago, just in a different medium. Being a fan of the original, animated How To Train Your Dragon movies, there were some parts that I thought were cool to see in live-action. However, there was little special about this movie experience. I already knew what the movie was before going into it, and relatively nothing about it was changed. Typically, a new movie lingers in my thoughts, whether it was good or bad. This time, I hardly remembered I had seen it the next day.
The concept of adapting animated movies into live-action ones isn’t exactly new. In 1994, for example, Disney did make a live-action The Jungle Book, however, it didn’t become the smash hit the studio likely wanted it to be. Because of this, Disney continued focusing more on making original animated movies, and the decade became known as, “The Disney Renaissance”. Movies like Pocahontas (1995), Mulan (1998), and Tarzan (1999) were all released in the years that followed.
The Live-Action Remake Era
It wasn’t until the Tim Burton directed Alice in Wonderland movie in 2010 came out when these live-action adaptations proved to be especially lucrative. The movie generated $1.025 billion in ticket sales, and is the second-highest-grossing movie of 2010. To give credit where credit’s due, this movie isn’t a remake. It’s actually a continuation of the original film’s story, with a bold, gothic tone that feels far different from the fairytale and whimsy of the original. However, it still leveraged its IP, and proved to Disney there was more money to be made here. Enter, the era of unoriginal, nostalgia bait movies.
I won’t say they’re all bad. In fact, I rather enjoy the 2015 Cinderella movie. It seems like when they started making these movies, they tried to make it worthwhile, adding new elements, and honoring the originals. However, the quality eventually decreased. That isn’t to say they didn’t still make money. Unfortunately, that’s the problem.
Beauty and the Beast (2017) was the first of the faithful live-action remakes to make over $1 billion. Followed by Aladdin (2019) and The Lion King (2019) , all three became $1 billion hits, The Lion King making the most of the three, coming in at $1.6 billion, a truly staggering number. I personally am not a fan of these three movies, however I wouldn’t say they’re the worst. However, I attribute the success of these movies to the lack of effort put into the next batch of live-action remakes.
At this point, Disney thinks they cracked the code. Coming off that kind of major success, they assume that as long as they make it live-action, adhere closely to the original, and add some extra scenes, then they would practically be printing money from thereon out. Creativity was optional.
Dumbo (2019) was the first to release after The Lion King, and it only had limited success. It made back double its production budget, however, this likely wasn’t enough to cover the cost of marketing, and therefore, it’s unlikely that the movie broke even. It was the third Disney live-action remake of the year, and at that point, audiences were getting tired of these movies, despite the success of the previous ones.
Then came the pandemic. This certainly stifled any remaining excitement for these films. In September of 2020, Mulan was released on Disney+ as a Premier Access title, meaning users had to pay $29.99 on top of what they already pay for their subscription to the streaming service in order to watch it. The movie underperformed, both financially and culturally.
Other remakes such as Pinocchio (2022) and Peter Pan & Wendy (2023) also went straight to streaming and were relatively unsuccessful, and mostly unmemorable. It wasn’t until 2023 that the next live-action remake was released in theaters, that being, The Little Mermaid. This movie was controversial even before it’s release, namely because Disney cast a Black actress, the lovely Halle Bailey, as Ariel. Why this was controversial, I couldn’t tell you, but it became a major debate leading up to the film’s release. When it comes to legitimate complaints, however, this movie had quite a few. Many couldn’t get past the underwater visual effects and the overly realistic, yet uncanny valley CGI of characters like Sebastian and Flounder. This movie also failed financially and with audiences.
Now, in 2025, we’ve seen the next two live-action remakes from Disney, as well as the first DreamWorks live-action remake, in How To Train Your Dragon, talked about at the start of the article. The long-predicted failure of Snow White has passed, followed by the first major success in a long time for these movies with Lilo and Stitch nearing the $1 billion mark. The success of How To Train Your Dragon is yet to be seen, however, a sequel has already been greenlit by the studio. A live-action Moana is set to release in 2026, only ten years after the original film was released. Unfortunately, there’s no end in sight for these remakes.
Why It’s Problematic
I’m exhausted by these remakes of classic animated movies that we all know and love. There’s always some sort of controversy, sparking political discourse about the movie, that the original animated film didn’t ask for and rarely deserves. Some things should just be left alone.
I can’t help but feel that remaking these movies into live-action is disrespectful to animation as an art form. Animation can achieve things that can’t be done in real life, and that’s what makes it special. Trying to replace all the hard work of the animators with a lousy attempt at a remake that looks dull and lifeless feels deeply disrespectful. It also reinforces the unfortunately popular idea that animation is only for kids, which couldn’t be further from the truth.
Not only that, but all these live-action remakes result in a lack of original films. Disney, and now DreamWorks, are really showing their cards. They’re only in it for money. Taking risks isn’t worth it for them anymore. They’d rather milk their existing films for all they’ve got and rake in however many billions of dollars they make from it.
Live-action remakes are not necessary. They have zero rewatch value because the originals are always better, and they always will be.
I’d love to say that I will never watch a live-action remake again, but I can’t, because if my friends are going to go see it, then I’ll see it with them and I’ll knock myself out with concessions because I love going to the movies. However, I cannot wait for this era to be done, and I cannot wait for animation to get the respect it deserves.