The 2016 live-action adaptation of The Jungle Book was recently released in theaters and - unsurprisingly - it was successful. Ever since the announcement of Cinderella following the huge success of Alice in Wonderland, it has become apparent to me that these live-action adaptations of fan favorite films will not go away any time soon.
In late 2009 and early 2010 when I saw a lot of advertisements for the upcoming Alice in Wonderland, my expectations were that the film would do well. However, I did not expect it to become the 22nd highest grossing film of all time; with a worldwide gross of $1,025,467,110. Upon its prosperous release, it is no wonder why more live-action adaptations were thrown into the drafting stage right away; such as Maleficent and Cinderella.
Arriving in theaters 2014 and 2015 respectively, both movies were also rather profitable. Maleficent earning $758,539,785 worldwide against a budget of $180 million with Cinderella earning $543,514,353 worldwide against its budget of $95 million. The Jungle Book is already proving to follow its three precursors down the path of success; earning $528,427,426 worldwide - and counting - against a budget of $175 million. The prosperity of these movies has led to the thing that I am most concerned by; the amount of live-adaptations that have begun to get confirmed.
Beauty and the Beast, Dumbo, Mulan, and even Winnie the Pooh are among many classics that have been confirmed for a live adaptation. Based on the sheer amount of these, there will be a live-action adaptation from released Disney yearly. This is an understandable move in terms of business; as every live-action adaptation mentioned prior was success. Artistically, however, this is a terrifying sign. This process of pumping out these adaptations breeds out creativity in people.
We are already a society that is obsessed with the past. Think of all the reboots and remakes of franchises, and not just Disney this time. Smurfs, Transformers, Powerpuff Girls, a vast number of Marvel and D.C. characters, and just so many more. And what hurts even more is that so many of these adaptations are made by people with dollar signs in their eyes and not by those that have their heart and passion towards the source material. As a society that lives in the past, we constantly push away newer ideas in favor of more familiar ideas from the past; ultimately the “safer” choice. Yet, we should not immediately cry out at the sudden appearance of unfamiliarity. We should be willing to actually take a look at the newer material.
At the end of the day, I know that all adaptations are not bad. Some even find ways to greatly improve upon the original material, and that is a great thing. But I cannot help but feel like new ideas are being shoved away from the spotlight in favor of all of these remakes. Again, I can't stress this enough, it’s the frequency of them that makes me concerned for the day we’ll hear about a casting call for a Finding Nemo live-action adaptation; which is something we really, really don’t need. Although at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened to be announced.
Image Courtesy of movies.disney.com