Kayla Jones | Writer & Trevor Ponsen | Writer
August 31, 2023
Disney, an icon for success in cinema, is losing its spark and audience in the theater as the production of remake specials continues to toll on its success and creativity. Disney started its debut in live-action remakes in 2014 with its hit Malifacient, a new perspective of 1959’s Sleeping Beauty. The movie was a sensation in theaters and launched Disney into its new source of revenue of rehashing films from our childhood and profiting off nostalgia. Every year after Maleficent’s release Disney has released a new remake from Aladdin (2019), to Mulan (2020), its most recent being The Little Mermaid (2023).
The Little Mermaid sparked conservatories with many fans, but the real discussion should be the lack of creativity from Disney. The Little Mermaid scored a box office of $561,254,911. According to the other successes of Disney’s animated remakes, The Little Mermaid barely made it. The live-action remakes are enjoyable to many fans, yet recently they have fallen short of the high expectations. “I have loved Disney all my life,” said senior Lea Davis, giving her take on The Little Mermaid. “The Little Mermaid was my favorite as a kid, but [The Little Mermaid live-action movie] didn’t give me the same feeling.” The remake was only a moderated success, scoring 64% on Rotten Tomatoes, an American cinema review system released in 1998. Compared to the classics scoring 92% on average, Disney isn’t able to replicate the exact nostalgia and magical feelings it once did in the new generation.
Disney’s quality of movies and profit has greatly decreased in recent years. Their issue ultimately stems from the fact that they’ve become predictable, repetitive, and worst of all, unimaginative. Elemental (2023), one of the only original films created by Disney this year, did better than some of their remakes and scored 74% on Rotten Tomatoes. This isn’t terrible but also not up to par with what Disney used to produce. So what has changed?
Many would argue that they’re simply too afraid to take any type of risk with their new movies. Take Elementals: without having watched the movie, consumers know it’s just another cliche love story that they’ve seen hundreds of times with different forms of delivery, in this case between water and fire. That plot doesn’t pique any new interest nor does it stand out from anything else. What made Disney so good in the past was their ability to create fun, imaginative, and magical movies that everyone could enjoy while today, they give us watered-down remakes or bland and predictable movies. Disney is a successful and resourceful company, but with the SAG-AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) and the writer strike, cinema is calling for new changes in its industry.
Will Disney be able to keep up? Hopefully. Disney will release yet another action remake, Snow White. This was the first animated feature film produced by Walt Disney, so maybe there is still hope for it to be a rocketing success. Who doesn’t love a good fairytale of magic? Look out on March 22, 2024, and grab your seat in the nearest theater to watch Snow White. You’ve seen the story before, but this time it’s not a 2D animation.
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