Throughout the history of film, no studio has had quite the same effect as that of the Walt Disney Company. Theorganization’s legacyhas expanded beyond its humble beginnings, reaching nearly every corner of the entertainment andamusement industry. However, the heart of Disney has always been animation. Not only did itrevolutionize the art formwithSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but animated films, likeBeauty and the BeastandFrozenaffected the filmmaking industry as a whole.
But with success comes failure, and not every Disney movie has been a success.The company has gone through several periods of low box office performance consisting of forgotten films. Likewise, Disney’s live-action remakes of their animated classics have yielded plenty of mixed results. However, this subgenre could actually work far better by revisiting some of the company’s flops, as opposed to their masterpieces.
Disney Has Plenty of Options for Better Live-Action Remakes
Disney’sseries of live-action remakescame from humble beginnings. The trend started with 2015’sCinderella,a film that workedthanks to its effortless balance of traditionalism and new ideas. However, later entries such asBeauty and the Beastand (perhaps most jarring of all)The Lion Kingfelt like shot-for-shot remakes that sloppily crammed in new story elements for the sole purpose of padding the runtime and rarely amounting to any proper payoff. Now, withMufasa: The Lion Kingin theaters,Snow Whiteon the way, and a remake ofMoanawell into production,it doesn’t seem like this trend will be going away anytime soon. However, this doesn’t have to be something to be dreaded!
Rachel Zegler’s ‘Snow White’ Meets Gal Gadot’s Evil Queen in New Image For the Upcoming Disney Remake
The live-action remake is based on Disney’s first feature-length animated classic.
For everyFrozen, there’s anAtlantis: The Lost Empireor aTreasure Planet; films that are looked down upon for their box office performances but have plenty of merit in their own right. In fact,many of these pictures flopped due to their level of maturity.Atlantisis actually a vast film with fantastic mythology, visuals and characters. The film’s villain being a political mercenary, however, likely goes over the heads of many younger audiences. But, it would make a fantastic live-action epic, one that would have plenty of appeal for its key demographic, and would be more largely accessible to that audience when translated out of animation. If the Mouse House insists on continuing the practice, readapting failed films would also allow them the opportunity to correct stories and sequences that were missteps or hurt the film in some way. Out of all their potential flops that deserve to be remade, though, there’s one that towers among the rest.
‘The Black Cauldron’ Deserves to Be Remade
When it comes to Disney’s box office failures, there is no film more infamous thanThe Black Cauldron. The picture, which was meant to revitalize Disney’s then-struggling animation department,nearly brought about the studio’s end. Because of this, the film is often looked down upon. But, outside of its box office performance,the movie is actually a fantastic fantasy. For a Disney animated film, its heroes are wonderfully complex, with Taran (Grant Bardsley) and Eilonwy (Susan Sheridan) not motivated by romance, rather ambition, and determination — a rarity for the Mouse House.
Additionally, their adolescence helps raise the film’s stakes, as they set out to face the Horned King (John Hurt), by farDisney’s most hellish and bloodthirsty villain. The universe of the movie is filled with complex mythology and fascinating locations that could rival most big-budget fantasy epics. Though often deemed too dark for animation, the movie practically screams live-action epic. Additionally, the film is based on a series of books calledThe Chronicles of Prydain. Like most studios,Disney is always on the hunt for a franchise, thusa remake ofThe Black Cauldroncould not only help redeem the film’s reputation, but set up a whole new slew of adventures.
For now, Disney will likely continue down the path they’re on. Most of their live-action remakes have been huge box office hits, but we certainly hope that they will revisit some of their long-forgotten films. Movies likeTreasure PlanetandThe Black Cauldronnever reached their full potential, but they deserve the chance!Translating the themes that hurt their box office performance to live-actionwould be key to turning these films from forgotten to iconic.
The Black Cauldronis available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.
