Disney, Another Remake!?

Today is a very good example of why I love the internet. The internet is the quickest way of finding out the latest news, about anything and anyone. Today, like most of you, I read the exciting news announced by Jon Favreau himself, that his next project with Disney is going to be making a live-action remake of… wait for it…

THE LION KING!!!!

I KNOW!

Some people saw this coming when it was getting closer to Jon Favreau’s remake of The Jungle Book’s cinema release, so this news was no surprise to them, other than why did it take him so long to announce it?!
Some people have taken the news really well, and because they enjoyed Jon Favreau’s remake of The Jungle Book, they don’t believe he will ruin this fan favourite Disney Renaissance classic. I am one of these people. I am so excited, especially when I heard the original songs were going to be involved.
I was so impressed with The Jungle Book, especially by the amazing performance from the small, but talented, new comer Neel Sethi, who played Mowgli. And from what I was watching, Jon Favreau clearly loved the original animated classic, and did not tarnish it in any way.

Then there are some people, who are screaming at their twitter or Facebook feeds…

“SERIOUSLY DISNEY! SERIOUSLY! ANOTHER REMAKE? WHERE IS YOUR ORIGINALITY? WHERE IS YOUR IMAGINATION?”

I completely understand why some people would be shouting this, and it does worry me slightly about the brand I’ve grown up with and love so very very dearly. Do they seriously plan on remaking EVERY classic they ever created as an animated feature?

However, as I have explored once before, Disney’s “originality” has failed them, miserably! They have lost MILLIONS on making “original” movies, such as Tomorrowland (ugh that film was so boring). If you didn’t get a chance to read my “Top 5 Disney Flops” then click here.

On the other hand, the people who are disappointed in hearing that yet another Disney animated classic is being remade into a live-action film, cannot deny, that they are a tiny bit curious, and excited about it as well. If you are a Disney fan, you know that the idea of seeing Simba, performing “I’m gona be a mighty King” as a “live-action” (probably CGI) lion cub could be AMAZING! On the other hand, Jon Favreau could destroy the movie and ruin the original score, and scar as for life with such a horrible remake of one of Disney’s best-loved animated films.
But we won’t know this until we’ve seen it. And you want to see it. You know you do, you can’t help it. And you will go and see it along with ALL of the other remakes that are in the pipeline, like Tim Burton’s Dumbo!

But seriously, don’t panic, I honestly believe Jon Favreau is going to make a beautiful, fantastic, and hopefully colourful live-action remake of The Lion King. And if he doesn’t… well… we’ll all make him aware of our feelings in a 140 character tweet(s) (unless by then we get unlimited characters?!).

“Life’s not fair is it?” – Scar

Jamie