8 Disney Classics That Could Be Great In Live-Action
No Disney property is safe from the live-action treatment, but these titles might actually make brilliant remakes if given the chance.
The bare necessities of Hollywood demand that all legendary IP must one day be rebooted, in whole, for a new world. It’s a tale as old as time, not least for Disney animation studios — a company that earned its reputation as the world’s greatest provider of family entertainment long before becoming the media behemoth we know today.
That expansion has led to various things, including the profitable idea to rejig their most beloved classics into live action movies — all the better to see the follicles of Bagheera’s fur, for example, or to answer that age-old question of whether Will Smith has more rizz than Robin Williams. Spoiler: he does not.
These movies have so far given us the astonishingly photorealistic imagery of The Jungle Book and The Lion King as well as more human-centric remakes of Aladdin, Cruella, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast. The most recent movie to get the live action treatment is the Hawaii-set musical Moana — in which Catherine Laga'aia has taken over the title role alongside the returning Dwayne Johnson as the demigod Maui.
All of which has gotten us thinking about what other characters and movies from the Disney back catalogue would benefit from the live action treatment. Read on to find out what we came up with, along with some ideas about who could potentially take on these iconic roles.
We’ll start with one that’s already in the works. No movie from Disney’s 3D animations is as underrated as Tangled — a movie that had the unenviable task of being released during Pixar’s Golden Age. It was also perhaps a little too close to Shrek for comfort, but as Frozen‘s success showed a few years later, nobody does princess stories and hummable tunes quite like Disney, and Tangled is a delight on both counts.
With all that, it’s easy to see the upcoming live-action version working out — both as an introduction for new viewers and a reminder of the previous version’s qualities. Michael Gracey (who directed The Greatest Showman and the excellent Better Man) is at the helm with Titans star Teagan Croft in the lead role and Katheryn Hahn and Diego Luna rounding out the cast. Sounds like a blast.
Raya and the Last Dragon is one of the best movies to emerge from Disney’s 3D animated work and while it’s probably still a little too fresh for the live-action treatment, it’s easy to imagine it being a huge success.
The story is a classic hero’s tale of a warrior princess who must find the last remaining dragon in order to defeat the evil Druun plague. Casting wise, Raya will probably need a newcomer in the lead, but luckily this one is recent enough that almost everyone else could easily reprise their roles — including Lost icon Daniel Dae Kim as Chief Benja, Awkwafina as Sisu, and Gemma Chan as Namaari.
Like a suspicious amount of Disney movies, the best character in Hercules is not the titular god himself but the villain who lurks below (although Susan Egan’s Megara comes pretty damn close to stealing the show). Voiced with divine levels of sarcasm by James Woods, Hades (who is animated in a way that makes him look one part-funeral candle, two parts-oil spill) is probably in my top three Disney characters who I’d want to go for a beer with. He’s aloof, he’s funny, and he’s probably a good friend to have in a life-threatening situation.
All of which makes the idea of a Hercules live-action movie, and specifically a Hades movie, sound quite enticing. The only problem is that you might have to recast the now 79-year-old James Woods — and that’s not going to be easy. If anyone can do it, however, I get the feeling that Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One) would be up to the challenge.
When you think about it, it’s kind of shocking that a live-action Frozen hasn’t happened yet. The most successful Disney animation in history at time of release might only be 13 years old, but surely the executives at Disney are licking their lips at all the dollars they could make with this one?
Casting wise, I could see Nicholas Galitzine popping up as Kristoff and Josh Gad coming back to play Olaf (in a motion-captured role, of course). With all the singing, Anna and Elsa will be trickier, but is it outside the realms of possibility that Disney could lure the likes of Taylor Swift (who looks set to win an Oscar for Toy Story 5) and Olivia Rodrigo for the iconic roles? I don’t see why not.
Ok, so there’s already a live-action Aladdin movie, but what about a prequel for one of Disney’s most villainous villains? Think about it: before attempting to hypnotize his niece into marrying him so that he could take over the Sultan’s palace, not to mention all that “most powerful being in the universe” stuff, Jafar was probably just a regular guy.
If Disney can make movies that explain the backgrounds of characters like Maleficent and Cruella, why not Agrabah’s resident creepy emo? Casting wise, as this is an origin story we’ll probably need an assured actor (preferably of North African extraction) who can play a little younger for earlier scenes. Is Rami Malek available?
Whenever Disney decides that a new generation of young people are ready to get their hearts ripped out, Bambi is still very much there for the live-action taking. In fact, given that Pocahontas and Hunchback probably both come with a little too much baggage, it’s kind of the last remaining 2D classic that the House of Mouse is yet to reboot. Granted, there was an attempt a few years ago to bring this one to life, but the proposed Sarah Polley-directed musical fell through and the project has since been shelved.
Naturally, if they were to do it, they would have to take the route of The Jungle Book and Lion King and go for the full motion-capture approach — but there would still be some interesting voice roles to fill. Bambi and Thumper would likely go to newcomers, but the pivotal role of Bambi’s mother has Streep written all over it.
Like Bambi, a live-action version of Lady and the Tramp would mostly have to be done using CGI, but there are a few human characters we can cast—including Aunt Sarah, who you just know will go to Olivia Colman.
Another thing in the “pro” column for this one is that Disney’s classic story of canine romance, meatballs, and class divides was released so long ago that younger viewers will be able to approach it as a brand new movie. It will take a little finessing to navigate the many stereotypes of the original, but with someone like James McAvoy as Jock and Michael Peña as Pedro, it could be doable. The question is, what tuneful pair would be willing to play Am and Si?
Let’s finish things off with one that’ll probably not be with us for some time — if it ever happens. Released during the Covid days of 2021, Disney’s Encanto never quite got the chance to be the theatrical hit it deserved to be, but its early release on Disney+ definitely helped its soundtrack album and single “We Need to Talk About Bruno” both reach number one on the Billboard charts.
If Disney wanted to go ahead with an Encanto live-action movie, they could definitely go the route of showing Uncle Bruno’s backstory in full. For this, John Leguizamo could easily be brought back on board along with a younger actor playing him in flashback — why not Babylon’s dreamy Diego Calva? — as we learn how Bruno first discovered his not-always-welcome gift for seeing the future.
