I’m starting to think Disney really likes money.
You see, recently the studio realized that remaking their animated classics into live-action films would work like gangbusters. People loved the original so why wouldn’t they love a new version with real actors? Sure enough, it’s been making them bank. Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Maleficent – everyone’s getting in on the remake train.
And it’s not stopping now. According to THR, Disney now have their sights set on turning the Fantasia segment Night on Bald Mountain into a feature-length live-action film. To help them, they tasked scribes Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (Dracula Untold, The Last Witch Hunter) to write something up. Salaam and Sharpless have their work cut out for them because, as you remember, the Night segment in Fantasia didn’t have a whole lot of plot. A big demon rises up one night, summons some spooky friends and they all play around and have fun before the sun rises. Obviously it was more of a display of the gorgeous visuals and music, which are still quite spellbinding all these years later. Expect Sazama and Sharpless to add some nefarious scheme, a villain and a sympathetic anti-hero in the lead.
As you know, Night on Bald Mountain won’t be the last animation-to-live-action conversion happening with Disney. We’ve got The Jungle Book, Mulan, another Alice in Wonderland, Dumbo and Beauty and the Beast on the way. The more money these things make, the more of them you’ll see. You can’t fault Disney for taking this route (remember: $$$). In fact, one can be kind of excited for this approach to material. Sure, I might not be jazzed about seeing Mulan or Beauty and the Beast brought to life but what happens when Disney starts remaking some of my favorite classics? You have to admit, it’s kind of fun to see some of these characters brought to life. Plus, it doesn’t tarnish the original so why not?
Just try to go easy on the CG, Disney. I think Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland was more animated than the original.