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Credit: DisneyThe last few years have been bleak for Disney’s live-action films (shoutout to Peter Pan & Wendy) — and now the future of their existence may finally be under threat if the comments from the new man in charge of producing them are anything to go by.
Disney officially has a new head for its live-action division, and his attitude will likely impress plenty of fans with a passionately negative opinion on the studio’s live-action remakes.
David Greenbaum was unveiled as the new President of Disney Studios earlier this week. As part of his role, he’ll lead Disney Live Action and 20th Century Studios, Walt Disney Pictures announced on Monday.
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Ultimately, that will cover Disney’s live-action remakes (of which we’ve had a seemingly endless amount in recent years). The Disney fandom — plus audiences in general — have increasingly shared sentiments that Disney has got into a pattern of remaking an animated film for profit, not purpose. But that could all be about to change.
According to Puck, David Greenbaum said in meetings with Disney CEO Bob Iger and Alan Bergman, Co-Chairman of Disney Entertainment, that his thinking when making a movie was: “Does this movie need to exist?”
If this logic is applied to remakes going forward, odds are we’ll be seeing far less Disney remakes hit our screens. In the past few years, the likes of Peter Pan & Wendy (2023) and The Little Mermaid (2023) starring Halle Bailey have irked fans who felt like there was nothing to improve upon or nothing different to say or remedy from the original animations.
Arguably the most relevant example is Moana (2016), which is already getting a live-action remake less than a decade after its debut. Set to yet again star Dwayne Johnson as Maui (albeit a different, younger actress as Moana), the film is recent enough — and more than popular enough — to stick in cultural memory, confusing fans when it was announced for the animation-to-live-action pipeline last year.
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While Greenbaum’s comments don’t necessarily mean major change is coming (plus we already have remakes of both Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Lilo and Stitch (2002) to come in the next few years), it’s definitely a sign that things are heading in the right direction. Fingers crossed!
What’s your favorite (or least favorite) Disney live-action remake? Let us know in the comments!