The discussion around Disney live-action remakes is often a contentious and divisive one. Some people enjoy seeing the do-overs of a favorite cartoon of their childhood, but there are many who see these latest Disney ventures as nothing more than cheap money grabs, made simply to play upon people’s nostalgia and generate more money for the company. Disney still has a slate of upcoming remakes of their classic animated films, including Cruella (a retelling of 101 Dalmatians from the perspective of Cruella De Vil), a Hercules remake, and a Little Mermaid remake set to star Halle Bailey in the lead role.
Because these movies do so well, it seems like Disney won’t stop making them any time soon. However, they always choose to remake properties that didn’t need any improvement to begin with and do nothing new or interesting with the story, so the films always end up feeling worse and more hollow than the originals. They obviously want to only remake their most popular films, so they can guarantee a profit, but it would be much more interesting to see them remake a lesser-known film or one that could be significantly tweaked in an interesting way in a live-action movie. All of these films obviously work the best in animation, but these are the properties that Disney could possibly change slightly and make into a live-action film without too much of a problem.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
It’s interesting that in all of their attempts to remake their most classic stories, Disney has yet to touch one of their most iconic: the first feature film made at the company. Though it was revolutionary for its time, and still holds up in a stylistic, aesthetic sense, Snow White is often criticized by modern fans for not having as much depth (especially for the titular character) as a lot of Disney’s modern entries do. Remaking this movie now in a live-action format might be a great chance for Disney to explore a Snow White with more complexity to her character, or to look at such a well-known story from a new lens.
Of course, the TV show Once Upon A Time (which was produced by ABC and is therefore technically a Disney property) has already done this, and has actually done a pretty good job at giving depth to the characters from Snow White, as Snow White, her prince, and the Evil Queen are all main characters in that series. However, it might be interesting for Disney to take the story in a different direction than the show did, or to explore another element of it. Perhaps they haven’t touched it because they didn’t want it to get lost amongst other recent Snow White adaptations (such as Snow White and the Huntsman or Mirror Mirror), but it would be a nice nod to the classic tale and to the beginnings of the company to create a new version of it, perhaps in 2023 as a tribute to the Disney company turning 100 years old.
The Sword in the Stone
Arthurian legend is one of the most-adapted works in culture, and yet it feels like it's been a while since there has been an adaptation of the King Arthur story, or at least, a good adaptation. Adapting The Sword in the Stone in a live-action format would be a perfect opportunity for Disney to do just that.
The original animated feature is somewhat old, and may not be familiar to a lot of the current younger Disney audience. This gives them a chance to adapt this classic story for a modern audience, and to play on the nostalgia of older Disney fans who watched this movie as a child. It would also be one of their films that they could possibly take in a darker direction if that's something they wanted to do, as the medieval aesthetic would lend itself to that. However, it would also be good just as a straight adaptation that keeps the fun and whimsy of the original, but simply refurbishes it to appeal to the current day.
Treasure Planet
It's hard to see how this film wouldn't appeal to a modern audience, with its steampunk aesthetic and the fact that it centers around sailors and pirates in space. With the Star Wars sequels reminding everyone how much they love space stories, it might be the perfect time to bring this lesser-known Disney classic back.
With the advancements made in CGI over the years, they wouldn't have a problem creating the vast worlds and aliens that are needed for this story, as well as all of the cyborg body parts of John Silver. Treasure Planet also explores really complex themes around family that could appeal to an older audience, and the relationship between Silver and Jim Hawkins is such an interesting dynamic to look further into.
This movie very notoriously bombed upon its initial theatrical release, so it may not be a high priority for Disney to remake if they want to make a profit, but it may have built up enough of the nostalgia factor among Disney fans that a remake would be successful for them.
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Much like Treasure Planet, this is a film that is not one of Disney's most popular but is beloved by a certain group of fans that harbor a lot of nostalgia for it. Disney has actually been rumored to be remaking this film in live-action, but there hasn't been a lot of official news on it, so it's hard to say for certain whether or not it will actually be happening.
If they're not seriously considering it, though, they absolutely should. A story like this, while it looks beautiful in an animated format, would also work well in live-action, because of the nature of it being a more adult-leaning story than one about, say, talking lions. Of course, there are still fun and magical elements in Atlantis, as well as the classic brand of Disney humor, but it feels more grounded and is more of an adventure story that would work well in live-action.
Big Hero 6
This is a fairly recent entrance into the Disney canon, and so it might be a strange choice to remake it anytime soon. However, this is something that Disney could definitely consider remaking in the future. The tone of the film worked perfectly as an animated film, and made it so that the story could be light and whimsical while also having some epic fight scenes that might require a lot of CGI in a live-action movie.
The MCU has shown that people have an interest in superheroes, though, and this movie was really well-received when it was released, so it's a feasible option for Disney to remake it eventually. It would be really fun to see this done with real teenagers and to get to see that kind of dynamic on screen. Perhaps they could even do a remake that's less of a straight remake of the film we already have, but that takes those characters and puts them in a new situation against a new villain, just to shake things up.