Michael Gracey (“The Greatest Showman on Earth”) is set to direct Disney’s live-action remake of “Tangled,” which was originally rumored to star Florence Pugh (not sure if she’s still attached).
Of course, it’s a terrible idea. All of these Disney live action remakes are terrible ideas. Gracey, who is coming off the well-reviewed “Better Man,” is looking for a big fat paycheck with this one.
A modern retelling of the classic Rapunzel, “Tangled” is will be a revival of Disney’s Oscar-nominated 2010 animated feature of the same name, which was the 50th of the studio. Here’s the synopsis:
A spirited young princess with magical, golden hair escapes from her isolated tower for the first time to experience the world, embarking on an adventure with a charming thief, only to discover her true identity and face the dangerous truth about the woman who kept her captive.
You’d expect that, based on their last few failures, Disney would slow down their greenlighting of live-action remakes. It turns out that, despite Pinocchio (2022), “The Little Mermaid” (2023), and their upcoming “Snow White,” they just can’t stop. They’ll never stop.
It’s not just “Tangled.” The mouse house is already working on live-action remakes for “Lilo & Stitch,” “Moana,” “The Princess and The Frog” and “Hercules”. (via The DisInsider). That’s not even counting the stuff they have in early development, such as “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “Aristocats,” “The Sword in the Stone,” “Bambi” and “Robin Hood.”
In a since deleted tweet, actress Zoe Kazan had criticized the recent onslaught of Disney live-action remakes, and how this has gone way too far.
Woke up in the middle of the night thinking “D*sney has no reason to make ‘good’ live action remakes because that would render their earlier ‘product’ obsolete. It’s smarter for them to make new movies that are different but not better than the old ones.
A lot of truth serum in that rant. Why did Kazan decide to delete it? Maybe her publicist begged her to do so. You can’t criticize the mouse house.
Regardless, she’s right. There is absolutely no conceivable way that these live-action remakes can artistically surpass the original animated classics. Why? Because Disney wouldn't take the risk of messing with the original formula — audiences want what they already know, and that's the sad truth.
Edward Berger seems to have settled on what comes next. His Lance Armstrong biopic, starring Austin Butler, is now holding casting calls, with production eyed for January.