Disney’s Culture of Remakes 

(Courtesy/Disney) 

“Snow White’s” box office failure might indicate a more significant problem. That audiences are tired of remakes. 

Disney’s latest film, “Snow White,” a live-action remake of the 1937 animated film, debuted this past weekend. The film reportedly made 130 million dollars with an estimated budget of around 370 million dollars, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Typically, theatrical release films are not considered commercially successful until they make twice their budget, and by those standards, “Snow White” is a box office flop. 

“I didn’t see Snow White. I have no interest in the original Snow White, and I have minimal interest in films that use CGI especially if they are coming from animation” said Aaliyah Plummer Howard University, TV and film major.

This begs the question, why does the studio return to adaptations time and time again? The film marks the studio’s 13th live-action adaptation of a previously animated movie in the past 10 years.

“It’s getting tired. After the ‘Jungle Book’ live-action did well, I think they took it too far and started thinking that all we want is remakes. Live-action doesn’t change the story, so it’s just boring now,” said Kennedy Meadors, a senior biology major. 

“Snow White” comes on the heels of Disney’s earlier release, a live-action origin story of Mufasa from The Lion King. The film, “Mufasa: The Lion King,” did well, making a whopping 719.4 million dollars from its estimated 200 million dollar budget. 

“I can get excited when I think a remake is gonna be a true re-imagining of the original film. Otherwise, they feel pretty redundant and can smear the original legacy of the film,” said Aaliyah. 

While audiences are clamoring for new and distinct stories,,  studios is gearing up to release more live-action remakes of films such as “Moana,” “Tangled,” and “Lilo & Stitch”. 

“Disney’s continuously making reboots after their period of only making sequels show they focused more on cash grabs rather than creativity and storytelling”, said Kelis Caesar, a freshman TV/film major. “As a viewer, it’s really disappointing, especially because the remakes tend to lack the same magic.” 

If “Snow White”’s box office results are proof of anything, it’s that their remakes are leading to reboot fatigue, while audiences are hungry for original stories.