海角大神

In the remake of 鈥淭he Lion King,鈥� a baboon walks to the prow of a rock jutting above an African savanna. Herds of animals look up. The baboon triumphantly holds a lion cub aloft. It鈥檚 an iconic shot familiar to anyone who鈥檚 seen the classic 1994 animated film. The difference this time is that the animals look as real as those in a nature documentary narrated by Sir David Attenborough. That is, until the warthog and meerkat start to sing.

Like 鈥淏eauty and the Beast,鈥� 鈥淒umbo,鈥� and this month鈥檚 鈥淎laddin,鈥� 鈥淭he Lion King鈥� has been remade as a photo-real animation movie. Call it the circle of franchise life. Disney鈥檚 slate of upcoming releases announced this week includes live-action remakes of 鈥淟ady and the Tramp鈥� and 鈥淐ruella鈥� (as in de Vil, the kidnapper of 鈥�101 Dalmatians鈥�). But there鈥檚 a thin line between repurposing beloved properties and diluting their value through overexposure. Can the company thrive on a business model increasingly geared toward recycling rather than creating new stories?

鈥淚f you don鈥檛 keep these older intellectual properties alive, then no one will know what they are,鈥� says Jerry Beck, a historian of animated movies and a former studio executive with Disney TV. 鈥淒isney, on a business level, is looking at 鈥楬ow do we freshen 鈥淒umbo鈥� for today鈥檚 audience? When people come to Disneyland they see the 鈥淒umbo鈥� ride. They don鈥檛 know what 鈥淒umbo鈥� is. We鈥檙e now reintroducing it to them.鈥欌��

Some stories hardly require reintroduction. 鈥淏eauty and the Beast,鈥� 鈥淎laddin,鈥� and most notably Julie Taymor鈥檚 puppet version of 鈥淭he Lion King鈥� have been translated into long-running stage musicals. Numerous animated movies have also been adapted for Disney on Ice (which was rather apt for 鈥淔rozen鈥�).

鈥淭hey鈥檙e able to take these stories and put them through all kinds of distribution channels,鈥� says David Bossert, an artist and author who previously worked at The Walt Disney Company for 32 years, 鈥渨hether it鈥檚 doing a television show, doing the live-action version, doing stage productions, doing books, doing games, doing attractions at the parks.鈥�

Millennial driven聽

As computer effects technology has improved, the company has channeled its properties into a new iteration: re-creating hand-drawn classics in a photorealistic style, which combines animation techniques and live-action methods. First came 鈥淭he Jungle Book,鈥� 鈥淎lice in Wonderland,鈥� 鈥淐inderella,鈥� and 鈥淢aleficent鈥� (a retelling of 鈥淪leeping Beauty鈥� starring Angelina Jolie as Disney鈥檚 most high-cheeked villain).

鈥淏eauty and the Beast鈥� (2017) kicked off a new phase of adapting movies originally released when millennials were still children. That generation will now be taking its own kids to see touchstones such as the Will Smith vehicle 鈥淎laddin鈥� and 鈥淭he Lion King.鈥� Remakes of 鈥淢ulan鈥� and 鈥淭he Little Mermaid鈥� are also in reportedly in production.

鈥淢illennials were the first generation that had children鈥檚 media that was of a certain quality that you can revisit it as an adult and be like 鈥極h wow, this is still really good,鈥欌�� says film critic Lindsay Ellis, who dissects pop culture on her popular YouTube channel.聽鈥淢illennials are like 鈥榊eah, I want to see this movie from my childhood remade with photorealistic lions.鈥欌��

Ty Burr, film critic for The Boston Globe, worries that this summer鈥檚 鈥淭he Lion King鈥� will be a shot-for-shot replica of the original movie. James Earl Jones even reprises the role of Mufasa that he first voiced in the 1994 movie. Offering audiences 鈥渢he same thing, but 鈥榖etter,鈥欌�� is the enemy of creativity, Mr. Burr says.

鈥淎ny cultural artifact you watched when you are young enough to be in footie pajamas, you will never ever have any critical distance on, and you want it to remain the same forever,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t certainly includes 鈥楾he Lion King.鈥� I have talked with people, with men in their 30s, who think that is the greatest movie ever made, seriously, because it rocked their world when they were 5, and it can鈥檛 change.鈥�

But as many parents can attest, there are limits to how many times one can hear 鈥淗akuna Matata鈥� 鈥� the 鈥淟et It Go鈥� of its day. It became the theme song to the spinoff 鈥淭imon & Pumbaa鈥� TV show. Disney also released two cheaply animated sequels to 鈥淭he Lion King鈥� that came closer to killing off Simba than Scar ever did. At the time, Disney was cashing in on the home-video craze of the 1990s by releasing low-quality follow-ups to movies such as 鈥淎laddin,鈥� 鈥淐inderella,鈥� 鈥淏eauty and the Beast,鈥� and 鈥淭he Little Mermaid.鈥� So much for happily ever after. But by 2005鈥檚 鈥淟ilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch鈥� 鈥� whose title is a case of truth in advertising 鈥� the poor quality sequels had tarnished the brand of precious Disney assets.

鈥淭hat was just their way of squeezing the orange for a little more juice,鈥� says Mr. Beck, who teaches animation history at the California Institute for the Arts in Valencia. 鈥淲hen John Lasseter took over Disney Animation, he was quite adamant about 鈥榥o more of that.鈥� It was one of the first things they stopped doing. Is that better than these live-action remakes? You know, in a way this is the same thing. It鈥檚 just done on a much bigger budget and a greater scale.鈥�

Do-over for outdated elements

Mr. Beck sees the potential for both risks and rewards in live-action remakes. You get聽only one shot doing a live-action remake, he says. If a remake underperforms at the box office, as 鈥淒umbo鈥� has, it risks undermining the value of that property. Then again, he says that live-action remakes could offer an opportunity to improve upon lesser-known box-office failures. For instance, fresh versions of 鈥淭he Black Cauldron鈥� and 鈥淭he Sword in the Stone鈥� might be a good fit for today鈥檚 fantasy-movie craze.聽(The latter is reportedly in the works for the Disney+ streaming service with a script by 鈥淕ame of Thrones鈥� writer Bryan Cogman.)聽

The remakes also offer Disney an opportunity for a do-over of outdated or offensive elements from the originals. The princess in 鈥淎laddin鈥� no longer resembles a belly dancer with midriff-baring outfits. 鈥淟ady and the Tramp,鈥� which will debut on Disney+, ditched 鈥淭he Siamese Cat Song鈥� with its Asian stereotypes. 鈥淒umbo鈥� omits the bird with stereotypical African American features who was named Jim Crow. Plus, the baby elephant doesn鈥檛 get drunk on champagne as in the earlier iteration.

For now, the Walt Disney Company is focusing on upgrading its best-known properties. Disney may be able to bank on being too big to fail because its generation-spanning characters and library of movies are so deeply embedded in global culture. But analysts say it would be prudent to continue to develop new tales in the hope of discovering the next 鈥淔rozen.鈥�

鈥淚 do still think that there is room for original stories to be told and new properties to be developed,鈥� says Mr. Bossert, whose visual effects work encompassed films such as 鈥淎laddin,鈥� 鈥淭he Lion King,鈥� and 鈥淔antasia 2000.鈥� 鈥淭he success of Disney is all about the fact that they tell great stories with endearing characters. There鈥檚 a level of quality that goes into that. And you look at the films over the years, and they鈥檙e films that will stand the test of time.鈥�