The current trend for “reimagining” and remaking classic movies through a modern political and cultural lens seems like a particularly idiotic idea. As you say, it ends up bearing virtually no relation to the original, which (if it was particularly well done) still exists in harsh comparison.
There is always room for making a point but if you have a valid political, social or cultural case to make then I suggest it is better done by coming up with original content rather than trying to shoehorn it into an inferior version of a classic movie. It certainly doesn’t seem to be a winning formula for Disney at the moment.
Well actually I am sort of, as a family we look out for family friendly movies that we all fancy watching and no reason why Snow White wouldn’t be. Top Gun Maverick was, Mission Impossible will be, Super Mario movie and Puss in Boots 2 were as well. However, the slew of recent Disney remakes just haven’t been attractive enough to make any of us think that we’d like to watch them.
Well, i enjoyed “Frozen” enough that i watched the sequel (in parallel with friends, during the pandemic lockdown). So it’s not as if i avoid “family friendly” movies. But i feel like “remake of ancient Disney princess movie” isn’t really aimed at the broader market, but at little girls and their parents.
Not sure I’d agree. The remakes don’t seem to have any less mass-market potential than a Frozen 2 or a Toy Story 4.
And if they are truly aimed at a very limited market it seems bizarre to spend upwards of $250 million on such as the recent “The Little Mermaid”. (which is more than Maverick, Puss in boots 2, Toy Story 4, The Super Mario Movie…and many more)
Not sure how you are going to turn a profit on such an expensive movie with a purposefully limited audience.
“Little girls and their parents” means at least 100 million people in the United States alone. Not what I’d call a limited audience, especially with repeat viewings.
Clearly that would be a more limited audience than “everyone and anyone” but I’m not actually convinced that it is aiming purely at that audience. (That was puzzlegal’s suggestion)
The “live action version of an aimated original” seems to me to be an attempt to broaden the appeal and the massive budget would suggest that is what Disney are hoping for.
Are they good enough and compelling enough to do that for a mass audience? Doesn’t feel like it. Seeing the trailers for the remakes leaves me and the family with an overwhelming meh! They ain’t clamouring to see them in the same way as they did for Mario, Puss in Boots 2 or Mission Impossible.
If they are for a more limited market then sure, maybe that limited market is still big enough to turn a profit but if it is sub-standard and very expensive to make then your basic problem is still there.
I don’t think that kind of mass audience exists any more - there are no types of movies that can appeal to the entire population, if there ever were. One third of everyone is the best any movie can hope for.
Yes, I specifically disagreed with puzzlegal who suggested that such films were not aimed at the broader market.
So I don’t think Disney is aiming them at niche markets. They are spending huge amounts on them in the hope of making a profit from a very broad audience.
Those first remakes from a few years ago turned a profit, the more recent ones seem to be struggling to do so.
Sure, few movies are going to appeal to everyone and as long as you don’t overspend and can continue to appeal to enough of the potential audience then you’re golden.
My point is that the recent output doesn’t seem to be doing that and that’s a problem for Disney.
I should have been clearer, I was agreeing with you. These films are clearly aimed at a mass audience, and their biggest earners are the “reimagining” of films from Disney’s 90s animation renaissance which pull in nostalgic Gen Xers. That’s a reason why I’m not sold on Snow White – there almost no one left who was around for the original release for whom this could be a trip down memory lane.
yep - I know a bunch of people who went to see the live action Little Mermaid without bringing kids .Even some who had kids the right age. But Snow White - sure it was re-released in the late 80s/early 90s but I don’t remember it being the sort of popular that the 90s Disney movies were - my kids had everything from pajamas to sheets to dinnerware to lunchboxes with Little Mermaid, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast , Aladdin and Pocohantas themes. Nothing with Snow White , in fact I don’t think my kids ever saw it, even on home video.
No I haven’t. But I object to the generalization that the dwarves in Snow White are somehow demeaning and degrading to all of dwarfdom by their very existence, That’s what Dinklage seemed to be saying. Anybody can be poorly represented in a movie, that doesn’t mean the role itself should be considered taboo. Look at Dinklage in GoT, he was routinely mocked, called ‘HalfMan’, was not a virtuous character at all, but through the story shown to be loyal, courageous, and heroic in nature and spirit. From the sound of Dinklage on this subject he would have eliminated his character in that show altogether. That’s my only point.
Team, we have this vast library of past property to exploit, leverage if you want. Easy to play on redos of ones current new parents grew up with. Just enough twist to make it fun and give the public something to debate (Omigod Flounder is different!) What about the OLD stuff? The name will pull attention from the old farts who control the news feeds but team, they aren’t the market. Troll them. Get publicity. And then make me something fresh. Edgy dark? Funny? Winks and nods to the old stuff? This is not a faithful remake, it’s “leveraging.” Surprise me. Go.
No idea if that’s Disney’s perspective but it would be mine.
As to the photograph? Two look like individuals with achondroplasia to me. The caption says several are stand ins and not the actual actors. Lots of ways to play it for not insulting humor in the movie. Again just me, but I’d work a not subtle jibe at Dinklage in there …
(What a terrible movie!) And i think it would have done okay anyway.