Why live action remakes are not going anywhere
As Disney’s Snow White bombs at the box office, and the forthcoming Lilo & Stitch and How To Train Your Dragon ramp up their marketing, we’re looking this week at the ongoing trend of ‘Live Action’ remakes.
I consider this trend to have begun with Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland, which took over $1 billion at the worldwide box office in 2010. There are live action remakes that pre-date this movie (101 Dalmations with Glen Close was released in 1996), but it was Alice in Wonderland that kick-started Disney’s corporate strategy to mine their back catalogue of classics for heavily CGI-assisted remakes. Of course, some titles such as The Lion King are entirely CGI, so it’s a misnomer to refer to these as Live Action remakes, but such is their photorealism that the term seems to have stuck.
I’m not here to address the quality of these movies (there are plenty of corners of the Internet that will tell you how creatively moribund they are). In my view, like most movies, they can be done well and they can be done badly. I’m more interested in whether they make sense strategically and commercially.
Live Action Remakes are more popular than their vocal online critics might have you believe. Yes, their critical and audience reception has declined slightly over time, as the chart below shows, but many are still well-received, particularly by audiences. Critical reception to the last big three releases as summarised on Rotten Tomatoes were: The Little Mermaid 67%, Mufasa 56%, Snow White 41%. But with audiences, the scores are 94%, 89%, 74% respectively. That’s right: while Snow White melts the internet, audiences currently rate it 74% on Rotten Tomatoes.
In terms of Box Office, there is certainly a decline - the heady days of $1billion+ grosses for Alice in Wonderland, The Jungle Book (almost), Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King are behind us. But these titles can still generate big numbers - The Little Mermaid nearly reached $600m, and Mufasa has shown good legs, after an underwhelming opening, to reach $720m.
At that kind of Box Office, if these films were made for sensible budgets, they would make a lot of sense.
The problem is that the budgets have been trending upwards.
Indeed, the issue of inflating budgets is not unique to live action remakes: it is across the industry. As Warner Bros’ Jeff Goldstein told Cinemacon this week: “We have to figure out how we can right the ship.”
The combination of weakening Box Office and increasing budgets means that this genre of movie is nowhere near as profitable as it once was. If we take the ratio of Box Office to Budget as a proxy indicator of profitability, we can see that the trendline over time has a steep decline.
When a movie like Snow White suffers the combination of an inflated budget and an underwhelming Box Office, its profitability is hugely impacted. Deadline forecasts an ultimate loss of $115m to the studio for this title, based on the following P&L breakdown:
Revenue $295m comprising: $101m global film rentals (based on $225m box office) + $62m home entertainment revenues + $130m streaming revenues + $2m in merchandise
Costs of $410m comprising: $270m production budget + $111m global P&A (prints & Advertising) + $29m in residuals and other expenses
= a loss of $115m
So why do these movies keep getting made?
Firstly, there is always the hope of an outperformance: when the Moana live-action remake is released next Summer, I think few would bet against it.
Secondly, the built-in awareness of the IP mitigates risk from a marketing spend point of view.
Thirdly, beyond studio execs’ ongoing hope of a return to the Box Office bonanza of previous years, these films still have a significant strategic value for the studio: keeping IP current and fresh with new content is a pre-requisite of successful franchise management (it’s my Golden Rule No. 4). These remakes introduce proven, beloved characters to new audiences, and remind existing audiences why they loved them in the first place. The attention, marketing, and engagement that they receive drive the entire franchise flywheel. They lead to new licenses, products, and partnerships, and they elevate broader Disney businesses such as their streaming service Disney+ and their theme parks and cruises.
This is why they will likely continue, even as their standalone profitability is squeezed.
Coming Soon
Lilo & Stitch - May 23rd
How To Train Your Dragon - June 13th (Dreamworks’ first live action remake)
Moana - July 10 2026
Tangled - Michael Gracey (Greatest Showman) is reportedly in talks to direct
Hercules - reportedly titled Hades and undergoing something of an overhaul
Aristocats - Questlove is making his directorial debut and overseeing the music (this I would pay to see!)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame - previously announced in 2019 but now reportedly “challenged”
Screen Rant has the following status summary on the various Disney remakes:
Finally, having said I’m not here to comment on the quality, I can confirm that the best of all these live action remakes is: 2016’s Pete’s Dragon. Obviously.
ICYMI - this week’s franchise management news for the entertainment industry
Warner Bros. Disovery CEO David Zaslav is reportedly meeting with candidates to replace film heads Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy. He obviously read my newsletter!
WME is shopping the rights to the Bourne franchise and the rest of the Robert Ludlum library on behalf of the late author’s estate
Netflix, having acquired the Roald Dahl Company in 2021, is making a Willy Wonka-inspired competition series, The Golden Ticket, produced by Fremantle’s Eureka Productions
Warner Bros. Games, as part of its restructuring, has reportedly cancelled plans to expand Hogwarts Legacy content
As the Stage 🔄 Screen merry-go-round continues, Stranger Things: The First Shadow opens on Broadway April 22, and is launching a making-of-documentary on Netflix April 15
🎧 Dude Perfect CEO Andrew Yaffe appeared on The Town podcast to discuss why YouTubers are having a Hollywood moment
LEGO Pokémon sets are coming in 2026
The Potions Cauldron Group is assembling a range of Marvel Super Hero inspired soft drinks. Shaking the bottle will activate the hero glow of Iron Man Reactor Red Fruits, Captain America Super-Soldier Blue Grape and Hulk Gamma Sour Lime.