Over the past few years, Disney has begun to roll out live-action remakes of its classic animated films, with 2015’s Cinderella remake and 2016’s The Jungle Book and Pete’s Dragon all overwhelmingly well-received, along with a buzz of excitement surrounding the Beauty and the Beast remake starring Emma Watson (slated for 2017 and I am so excited), it’s only natural that Disney would want to create an enticing lineup of live-action remakes. And sure enough, Jon Favreau announced in a tweet later confirmed by Disney that he would be heading the remake of…
The Lion King.
Wait, what?
The Lion King seems like a bizarre choice-- is it still considered “live action” if all the characters are probably going to be animated anyway? Sure, The Jungle Book (also directed by Favreau) consisted of mostly animated animals, but, like, at least MowgliI was human. Furthermore, The Jungle Book had a different ending than its 1967 predecessor. While I agree it’s for the better, The Lion King is a much more highly coveted film than the original Jungle Book; would they even bother changing anything, really? Couldn’t they just rip the voices from The Lion King and reuse them for the remake?
Okay, obviously that last bit won’t happen. But it begs the question-- will we be getting Matthew Broderick and James Earl Jones back as Simba and Mufasa? After all, James Earl Jones is reprising his role as Darth Vader for Rogue One (also technically a Disney film now)-- what’s to say he doesn’t return on board for this? Will there be new songs written for it? Will they bring in some of the Broadway-exclusive songs for it? Will Matthew Broderick still be able to belt out “IT MEANS NO WORRIES!” without sounding like Idina Menzel during the New Year’s Eve show?
Sadly, all we know so far is that the film “will include songs from the original movie” and that Jon Favreau will be directing.
In the meantime, here is a list of all the live-action remakes currently slated for production.
- Beauty and the Beast (releasing on March 17th, 2017)
- Dumbo (Directed by Tim Burton-- it’s gonna be weird)
- The Sword in the Stone
- Unnamed Prince Charming Solo Movie
- Genies (a live-action prequel to Aladdin telling the story of how Genie ended up in the lamp)
- Cruella (played by Emma Stone, an origin film)
- Mulan
- Winnie the Pooh (featuring an adult Christopher Robin returning to the Hundred Acre Wood)
- Peter Pan (for God knows what number-th time)
- Tinker Bell solo movie (with Tink played by Reese Witherspoon!)
- Pinocchio (with a Warners Brother version also in the works under Robert Downey Jr.)
- The Jungle Book 2
- Untitled Maleficent Sequel
- Rose Red (a Snow White film focused on the Grimm Brothers’ character of the same name, Snow White’s sister)
- The Little Mermaid
- Chip ‘n Dale (I have no answers. I’m sorry.)
- The “Night on Bald Mountain” sequence from Fantasia (which is gonna be INCREDIBLE-- watch it here)
- Untitled Mary Poppins sequel (starring Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins as well as the great Lin Manuel-Miranda-- buckle up.)
It’s safe to say all Disney fans will be satisfied with the slew of movies approaching in the years to come.
