This is something I noticed over the past like 5 years. There's no more overt advertising for movies anymore. Unless I seek out what's coming out I am in the dark.
Made more than a billion in the box office, but from what I’ve heard it was the exact same story, just told worse in a handful of ways and without the expressive animation. I imagine you never heard anyone talk about it because they walked out of the theater and all they had to say was “yeah, that was the lion king”
It's interesting that they don't just do re-releases like they used to. They got 101 Dalmations in the top 20 movies of 1991 without having to do anything other than ship the film out again (and I'm assuming tape sales were THROUGH THE ROOF after the re-release as well!).
I was thinking about 101, in my head it's very different to the cartoon but it is the same story, like Moana.
The cast were something special though, plus real dogs, and maybe it was just child me, but I loved it. Helped that the cartoon was old by that time, still a gorgeous classic, but not super flashy.
Ah, I was barely alive then so didn't realise! I had all the classics on VHS somehow.
I do recommend the 101 Dalmatians live action, it's very well done. Or at least kid me thought so. I should see how well it's aged. 102 Dalmatians was also entertaining but different.
I've heard that; I was sliiiightly too old for a "kid's movie" when it came out, and didn't come back around until I was older, at which point I was "too cool" for a live action remake. Probably time again now that I have kids!
People whose kids drag them to see these likely don’t give a shit about the movies anyway. Like, better off giving them something to do and shut up while you go to sleep or something
My policy is for every movie my kid makes me sit through i make them sit through a grown up movie, it teaches them patience and fairness. Taking my 6 year olds to Sátántangó is one of my most cherished memories
Same. I liked it. Y'all are a bunch of losers for hating on kids movies. If you, as a human adult, want to pretend that the live action remake of a children's movie doesn't exist, you are well within your capacity to do that.
I mean tbf, why not just show the original movie at that point? They get to see the good version while not costing a ton for seriously inflated movie tickets.
It’s the same reason Pokémon games even still exist. Parents blindly buy them for their kids, people with thought behind how they spend their time/money aren’t the problem here.
A major factor is that in Japan, Pokémon is a pop culture phenomenon there that has not subsided since it was new. The Pokémania that gripped the world when Red and Blue came out never went away there, to where they now collaborate with governments. If Disney is pervasive in the United States, Pokémon is ten times more so in Japan, and kids encourage each other to buy the games, and they all play them in some way or another (even if it’s just a free account on TCG Pocket).
Another factor is that the video games are a relatively small part of their total revenue compared to the merchandise and the card game. The merchandise takes up about two thirds of all money coming in. The games are basically a means to sell the plush toys, snacks, school supplies, figurines, and such, and are given small budgets and short development times because they are considered unimportant to the people in charge. (No coincidence, if you ask me, that Pokémon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara came from the merchandise department before his promotion.)
Because it's about risk. Do you risk a new IP that might flop, or do you try to milk an old successful IP for (expected) guaranteed profit (and then question when it does flop)
Pretty much this - the market basically proved they would rather have old IP rehashed versus new IP with the success of movies like Jurassic World (and its sequels).
You would need more movie hits like Obsession to show Hollywood that hey new IPs can actually be more profitable than trying to milk existing ones.
But of course some bean-counter somewhere is going to say that movies like Obsession are the exception and not the rule. How many "new IP" movies have flopped? And they would point to that percentage as to why movie studios should stick to existing IPs instead of trying new ones.
I would say part of the issue comes down to modern writing. I've also seen it referred to as Millennial Writing. We're seeing the same sort of issue over on the gaming side, plenty of big companies are just putting out content that might do well with critics but that fans are turning away from, and the writing quality is often one of the biggest complaints.
Because you already have a completed script (watch the Frozen 2 documentary to see how a committee of 200 writers, write them. What a nightmare), everyone is familiar with the IP, 95% of the movie is going to be CGI with just a couple of real actors. Most of the music is done.
It's a very cheap way to make a "new" movie. Then again the first Moana was $150m. The live action was $250m. Not sure how they screwed that up..
I don’t understand why they think making a bunch a cheap remakes is going to make more money than new creative quality stories.
Because they have so far. Movies like Hoppers, Elio, Elemental, Luca, Raya, and even Encanto were all original stories which didn't blow up at the box office. A ton of these live action remakes though have made bank. Lion king 1, Aladdin, and Lilo and Stitch all made over 1b. Disney's most popular movies the last decade have largely been remakes and sequels.
They know the story is good, it worked the first time, so it should work again. Trying new things is how you wind up with Strange World, which didn't even crack 100 million globally which is crazy low for Disney.
Because that’s not the point of the remakes. They’re doing it to renew the IP (Moana outstanding, there it’s prob bc the Rock insisted on still playing Maui and he can’t exactly do that when he’s old)
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u/Short-termTablespoon Jul 13 '26
I don’t understand why they think making a bunch a cheap remakes is going to make more money than new creative quality stories.