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Credit: DisneyFans aren’t happy with some of the early changes made to Disney’s live-action remake of Tangled (2010).
Disney has spent the past decade revisiting its animated classics through live-action remakes, from Cinderella (2015) and The Jungle Book (2016) to Beauty and the Beast (2017), Aladdin (2019), The Lion King (2019), Mulan (2020), The Little Mermaid (2023), Snow White (2025), and Lilo & Stitch (2025). While some have become billion-dollar hits, others have sparked fierce debate.
The biggest criticisms usually fall into two camps. Either Disney changes so much that fans argue the original story’s charm has been stripped away, as with Snow White (2025) and Mulan (2020), or it changes so little that the remake feels like a copy-and-paste exercise, a criticism frequently aimed at The Lion King (2019) and Beauty and the Beast (2017).
Disney’s latest remake falls firmly into the latter camp. Moana (2026) pairs Dwayne Johnson’s returning demigod Maui with newcomer Catherine Laga’aia as Moana. Although Laga’aia has earned praise, the film has been criticized for sticking too closely to the original – released just nine years earlier in 2016.
However, fans fear that the studio’s next live-action project will veer in the opposite direction and make too many changes.
Fans Share Concerns Over ‘Tangled’ Live-Action Remake
Released in 2010, Tangled follows Rapunzel, a princess with magical hair who has spent her entire life locked away in a secluded tower by the manipulative Mother Gothel. Her world changes when charming thief Flynn Rider stumbles into her hiding place, setting the pair off on an adventure across the kingdom that uncovers Rapunzel’s true identity.
Disney has officially cast the remake, with Titans star Teagan Croft set to play Rapunzel and Zombies actor Milo Manheim taking on Flynn Rider. The Greatest Showman filmmaker Michael Gracey is directing from a screenplay by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, with filming now underway in Spain.
Kathryn Hahn has also joined the cast as Mother Gothel, with the remake expected to retain the original’s musical format. Disney has yet to announce a release date, but production is progressing after the project was briefly paused following Snow White‘s disappointing box office performance.
But one early design choice has already become a surprisingly contentious talking point.
The royal banners seen in Corona now feature blue and yellow rather than the purple and gold closely associated with the animated film. Some fans have treated the switch as a red flag, with one X user declaring, “Cancel the whole movie omg tangled is purple.”
🚨| NEW LOOK inside of the castle set of the live-action ‘TANGLED’ in Spain!
The sun tapestries in the kingdom have seemingly been changed from purple to blue.
Filming started late last month and is ongoing.
🚨| NEW LOOK inside of the castle set of the live-action 'TANGLED' in Spain!
The sun tapestries in the kingdom have seemingly been changed from purple to blue.
Filming started late last month and is ongoing. pic.twitter.com/Q4rGxaxtMl
— Tangled Updates (@TangledUpdates) July 7, 2026
On its own, the change means very little. But with Disney remakes scrutinized long before release, even a new color palette can fuel fears that bigger elements have also been reworked. It is, admittedly, an impossible balance for Disney: repetition is criticized, but deviation rarely fares much better.
Fans have noted that the best approach would be to tackle the remake like Cinderella.
“What I want to see in the Tangled Live Action is the same formula in the Cinderella Live Action,” one fan wrote on Reddit. “A mix between the OG storyline, the OG animated, and adding new elements to the story without straying away of what makes ‘Cinderella’ special.”
Is This Disney’s Last Remake?
For those who are anti-live-action remakes, the good news is that Tangled could realistically be the last.
Moana isn’t exactly heading for a stellar box office performance. According to Deadline, the film is projected to earn between $40 million and $45 million in its three-day opening weekend. That puts it on par with Snow White, which took home $43 million during its opening weekend and ended its run with just over $205 million.
For now, Tangled is the only live-action project actively in production. While its Hercules project is still apparently in early development, updates are far and few on the ground. Other previously announced remakes – including The Sword in the Stone, The Aristocats, Robin Hood, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame – have been scrapped.
While Lilo & Stitch 2 is in production, it’s said to be an original story rather than an adaptation of the animated direct-to-video sequel Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch.
If Moana continues on its current trajectory, Disney will have little evidence that audiences still want live-action versions of relatively recent animated hits. A weak performance would follow Snow White‘s disappointing box office run, giving the studio two consecutive Disney Princess remakes that failed to justify their enormous budgets.
That would pile even more pressure onto Tangled. If it also underperforms, Disney may have to accept that the remake formula has reached its limit. After all, many of its biggest animated classics have already been adapted, leaving far fewer household-name titles capable of generating the same level of excitement.
Do you think Disney should put an end to its live-action remakes?
