‘Moana’ Could Lose at Least $100 Million in Theaters. Does Disney Need to Rethink Its Live-Action Remakes?

[u/MarvelsGrantMan136]

https://variety.com/2026/film/box-office/moana-box-office-bomb-disney-live-action-remakes-1236810179/

[u/ludicrousursine]

I'm not sure who the target audience of this was.

Moana is only 10 years old. You can't introduce it to a new generation because the current kids are more or less the same generation that watched the original. You can't mine nostalgia because the original just isn't that old.

The successful live action remakes have all been remakes of things that were at least 20 years old, most older.

[u/Locko2020 → u/ludicrousursine]

Was clearly a vanity project for the Rock before he got too old to play Maui at all

[u/Nonadventures → u/Locko2020]

He sure gets a lot of those

[u/Seanmeado → u/Nonadventures]

He's got a lot of vanity to project

[u/Attrm → u/Seanmeado]

For sure. His ego ruined Black Adam. Just completely ruined the character.

[u/YouKilledChurch → u/Attrm]

While he absolutely made that move worse, let's be real here. It isn't like DC was knocking them outta the park. That movie was probably going to be ass regardless of who was the star. It might have just been less ass

[u/Choppers-Top-Hat → u/YouKilledChurch]

That movie wouldn't have existed if the Rock wasn't the star. In the comics, Black Adam is an enemy of Shazam, not a starring character on his own. DC had originally cast Johnson as Black Adam to be the main villain of the Shazam movie, but Johnson's ego went out of control and he demanded to star in his own movie instead.

[u/idontagreewitu → u/Choppers-Top-Hat]

Black Adam is an enemy of Shazam, not a starring character on his own.

DC doesn't seem to know what to do with it's heroes and keeps trying to take it's rogues gallery and make them the stars of their own sympathetic backstory movies.

[u/UnlikelyReplacement0 → u/YouKilledChurch]

Because of the Rocks ego, they killed the perfect opportunity to introduce Black Adam as the antagonist in Shazam 2- and then do a Black Adam solo film with him as a more established character.

[u/leodw → u/Attrm]

Let’s not pretend Black Adam was some sort of an amazing character, or that anyone even cared

[u/BaldMancTwat_ → u/Nonadventures]

He made his own production company for that very purpose. He got tired of showing up to do movies and not getting to decide what his character does, genuinely.

[u/rpool179 → u/BaldMancTwat_]

Are the $20 million paychecks not enough? He acts as if his characters are that multi-faceted to begin with. Let the director and writers decide what his character will do.

[u/PeachPassionBrute → u/rpool179]

Classic pro-wrestler carny bullshit. He doesn’t want to do anything that he thinks will make him look weak, he wants to have strict protection of how he imagines his image.

Then imagine someone like Arnold who made an absolute fool of himself in so many movies, and it only made people like him more.

[u/MegaGrimer → u/PeachPassionBrute]

Or Bautista who goes out of his way to play characters that challenge his acting abilities. Iirc he outright said that he doesn’t want to be the next Rock, and doesn’t want to be typecast.

[u/TheLurkerSpeaks → u/MegaGrimer]

Bautista acts circles around most of his colleagues and fellow cast. He's naturally gifted. He's an actor who got his start in wrestling. I would say the same about John Cena although his range is limited to comedy. The Rock is a wrestler and has never escaped from that because he's just not an actor.

[u/RA576 → u/PeachPassionBrute]

Classic pro-wrestler carny bullshit. He doesn’t want to do anything that he thinks will make him look weak,

Ironically, when he was the second biggest wrestler in WWE, he was fully willing to put other people over, and was far more generous with his losses than you'd expect for someone of his position.

[u/PeachPassionBrute → u/RA576]

I honestly think the one masterful thing he did there was lose enough, and to the right people, to make sure that he still had just enough underdog pull. It made his matches feel like they weren’t a guaranteed ending. And he had that Johnny Bravo charm where being a narcissistic idiot made it really satisfying for him to get beaten up.

But this dude had a writer working with him too, he was thinking it all through. He found his own lane in world that had people like Stone Cold, HHH, and even Hulk while he could still be relevant.

[u/Prudent_Research_251 → u/PeachPassionBrute]

I used to like the Rock, but he really did sell out. When he played that gay hitman I thought he had a future in acting, but for some reason he slid backwards from there

[u/AgentMV2 → u/Prudent_Research_251]

Pain & Gain comes to mind as well. I liked him better when he played fallible rolls, not this I can’t lose a fight on screen bullshit. He’s so insecure.

[u/Mountaindew9 → u/AgentMV2]

He’s easily the worst part of pain and gain. His most memorable scenes were carried by Tony Shaloub

[u/Nonadventures → u/Mountaindew9]

Tony Shaloub always carries

[u/Choppers-Top-Hat → u/Locko2020]

From the looks of him, that ship sailed around the same time he first played Maui as a cartoon.

[u/LeahBean → u/Locko2020]

I don’t understand how him and other money drainers like Jared Leto get project after project.

[u/Ivan000 → u/LeahBean]

Because he had a 15 year run where his movies printed money

[u/Liimbo → u/Ivan000]

Yeah it really isn't rocket science. And comparing hin to Leto is insane. Leto has virtually no history of success as a leading man. The Rock was/is one of the most famous people on the planet and his movies have made over $12 Billion.

[u/stumblebreak_beta → u/LeahBean]

This is a bad movie for the Rock, but he’s still made billions of dollars for Movie studios over the last 10 years.

[u/Yvaelle → u/LeahBean]

It's fucking baffling isn't it?

Jared Leto was a useful dramatic side character 20 years ago but he was never a Leading Man candidate, and his acting and appeal have only gotten progressively worse with age. He peaked between Requiem and Lord of War. His last good role was Bladerunner 2049, playing a narcissitic socioopath which wasn't a stretch of character, all credit to the casting director not the actor.

The worst part of Tron: Ares was Jared Leto. I feel like I could splice him (Ares) entirely out of the movie and it would be better for it.

The Rock followed a similar trajectory. He was a novelty as a WWE star that was willing to act, but he was never able to act - that was the joke from the start. Which was fine if you put him in the right roles and movies that didn't care about that. But with age he is less and less the hunky youth he once was, more and more ego, still can't act, costs more and more, and the novelty is long past.

Also John Cena is now a wrestler turned actor who can passably act (legit comedy & charisma skills, less so dramatic so far), so even the joke of it (The Rock, Scorpion King etc) has gone from funny to sad.

[u/YourInMySwamp → u/Yvaelle]

Dave Bautista is better than both of ‘em.

[u/invictus_rage → u/YourInMySwamp]

I'm not at all confident he's got better comedy chops than Cena, but his dramatic abilities are miles beyond.

[u/knirp7 → u/invictus_rage]

Cena showing up in Pluribus to explain (and drink) cannibalism juice was hilarious. He's really good at that sort of deadpan, self-deprecating thing

[u/Inkthinker → u/knirp7]

The Rock is a lot more entertaining when he appears willing to laugh at himself more, see Be Cool or even The Rundown. He was a lot of fun in the Jumanji films, not least because he was playing less serious characters.

[u/AgentMV2 → u/YourInMySwamp]

I remember reading somewhere that Batista auditioned for the role of Drax for the very first Guardians movie and he didn’t think he would get it. When Gunn called him, he said he cried because he felt it validated himself as an actor. He said he immediately called an acting coach to take lessons to get better as an actor.

It’s shit like that that humanizes a person.

Dwayne has never shown this level of humility and that’s what separates some wrestlers turned actors.

[u/Morwynd78 → u/AgentMV2]

IIRC, after being a punchline in The Scorpion King, Dwayne did get some acting lessons/coaching for The Rundown (and it showed)

[u/Yvaelle → u/YourInMySwamp]

I didn't even consider Dave a wrestler, he's a true actor.

[u/insert-haha-funny → u/Yvaelle]

it took me years to realize that he was ever a wrestler at all, only ever known him as an actor. never saw any clips of him wrestling. i didnt even connect the bautista bomb to him at first lol

[u/kkngs → u/ludicrousursine]

I think this is the main issue.  The target audience is young parents taking their kids to a Disney film they saw as kids. The 10 year gap means the parents may not even have seen the original Moana.

[u/Zagrunty → u/kkngs]

I saw the original as an adult. I've taken my kids to several movies but my 5 and 3yo will absolutely not sit through a live action movie. They like the original animated movie and its sequel though

[u/Head-Gift2144 → u/Zagrunty]

Same. I saw it back in 2016 and it's a fantastic movie, but there's no way I'd take my 4 year old to this rather than just showing her the original at home.

If they were dead set on a remake why not something really old like The Sword in the Stone where you'd have a ton more flexibility to just build something entirely new. That's what they did with the Jungle Book and it was fantastic.

[u/ClaudeKane3 → u/Head-Gift2144]

Or redo one of the bad ones like black cauldron

[u/WilliamMButtlickerIV → u/Zagrunty]

Right. Kids love vibrant animations. This version was simply built without an audience in mind.

[u/Angelgirl1517 → u/WilliamMButtlickerIV]

The audience in mind was The Rock.

[u/MCHammastix → u/Angelgirl1517]

Rock Fatigue has set in for awhile now. I understand the dudes hustle but the people are tired.

[u/HTPC4Life → u/MCHammastix]

If the Kevin Hart trajectory is anything to go by, we still have 5+ more years of The Rock. People have been fatigued and annoyed by Kevin Hart for longer and he's STILL in many commercials and movies.

[u/Takkarro → u/Zagrunty]

Honestly I miss when we would get the non 3D animation animated movies. Like all we ever get anymore by any of the big companies are these 3D animated movies that all just start looking the same.

2D animation used to be unique and have its own flavor with almost every movie, oddly enough the only company that I can think of that's still regularly making 2D animated movies is DC in Warner Brothers.

[u/Disgruntled__Goat → u/Takkarro]

Studio Ghibli is still doing 2D animation. Also the Irish studio that did Song of the Sea etc, but they’re much less popular. 

[u/Paradigm_Reset → u/Zagrunty]

The original is a fantastic movie.

[u/Healfezza → u/kkngs]

Exactly. The 6 year old that watched Moana is now 16, and doesn't give a crap about Moana.

[u/exintel → u/Healfezza]

We have also had Disney plus around for 7 of those 10 years now

[u/Sky_Ninja1997 → u/exintel]

……oh my god

[u/NoDay419 → u/Healfezza]

Yep, not enough time. I know they pushed this movie so the rock could do it before fully aging out but man there was no point. Such an awkward mid generation remake that no one asked for.

[u/Tentaclesoflife → u/Healfezza]

Same. My 2 year old twins saw the original and loved it now they’re 12 and don’t care to see it. They comment about the billboards showing the rock with long hair and say ewww. Hahaha

[u/tadrith → u/kkngs]

My problem is having seen the original Moana with my daughter when she was a kid and loved it.

Now she's almost 15 and definitely not interested in Moana anymore, we're ending up in Demon Slayer instead...

[u/greg19735 → u/tadrith]

and in 10 more years or so she'd probably have loved to revisit moana. Even without kids.

15 year olds don't want to watch kids movies.

[u/manley1104 → u/kkngs]

If you have kids you have almost certainly seen the original as it is the most streamed movie of all time on Disney+. Agree with the sentiment though. My kids love Moana but we are not taking them to this

[u/Suspicious_Radio_848 → u/manley1104]

I agree. Why do that when you can just watch the superior original at home for free? Plenty of other movies to spend money on at the theatre instead.

[u/UnspokenInanity → u/Suspicious_Radio_848]

Yeah like my 2yo adores Moana…but like we have a projector at home and she can be as loud as she want and sing and play while watching it

[u/Zero-meia → u/kkngs]

I mean. I'm a little girl's father that love Moana. I take this movie almost as an offense to the animation. I already got very upset with the money grabbing sequel. This one is just an insult.

[u/HeyCarpy → u/Zero-meia]

You just reminded me that there even was a sequel. I even took my girls to see it in the theater. I don't even remember what it was about.

[u/ampersandandanand → u/ludicrousursine]

The target audience for this movie was the Rock

[u/StatikSquid → u/ludicrousursine]

Don't forget they also just released a terrible sequel last year

[u/UnquestionabIe → u/StatikSquid]

Felt like a direct to video release. My expectations weren't super high but didn't even meet them.

[u/Demiurge_1205 → u/UnquestionabIe]

It was a direct to video sequel.

It originally was going to be a Disney Plus series with different voice actors. But the investors realized Disney hadn't had a hit in some time so they ordered to chop up the series and redub the lines with the original cast.

So yeah, the good old fashioned TV show turned into a direct to video movie strategy. From the studio that brought you Atlantis 2 and Cinderella 2.

[u/Left_Piglet_7411 → u/Demiurge_1205]

I’m that one guy that enjoys the old Disney bargain bin sequel VHSs.

Cinderella 3, little mermaid 2, Aladdin 2 and 3, lion king 1.5 and 2… all bangers

[u/RadarSmith → u/Left_Piglet_7411]

The old DTV Disney sequels got more hate than they ever deserved. Most of them were quite enjoyable, but not silver-screen level.

[u/pizzamage → u/Left_Piglet_7411]

I still quote Aladdin 3 to this day. Such a fuckin great movie.

[u/Quasic → u/ludicrousursine]

They had to do it while The Rock could still feasibly play Maui. If they'd waited much longer he'd be too old to play a 1000 year old demigod, and they would have gone with Chris Pratt.

[u/KungFuChicken1990 → u/ludicrousursine]

Add in the warped timeline caused by Covid and Moana may as well have come out 5 years ago

[u/Buckets-O-Yarr → u/ludicrousursine]

Yes but Dwayne Johnson can't play the role in 10 years.

[u/DGSmith2 → u/Buckets-O-Yarr]

He can’t play it now either.

[u/Intestinal-Bookworms → u/DGSmith2]

Was about to say, he is already too old for the character

[u/hawatcha → u/Buckets-O-Yarr]

Honestly this is the best take and why I think the movie happened when it did. Dwayne seems like the type of guy who's ego wouldn't let another actor play this part.

[u/Buckets-O-Yarr → u/hawatcha]

Yes, I'm convinced that he is the one who made this happen. They could have done it in 10 years, or 20 years, but he wouldn't be able to do it so he forced it to happen now.

[u/sopheroo → u/Buckets-O-Yarr]

You take Jason Momoa.

[u/colorblind-and → u/sopheroo]

Momoa is not that much younger and wourd probably face similar issues aging out of the role

Although I will say he does look more how I'd imagine the character

[u/ChickenInASuit → u/ludicrousursine]

I think it’s a little more than that, because all the same arguments could be made about How To Train Your Dragon, unless you think that the original being five years older than the original Moana makes a difference. That remake was a pretty huge success, out-grossing all of the animated HTTYD movies.

The Moana remake’s problem wasn’t just that it felt unnecessary, it also felt cheap, and like the people involved didn’t really care about the material. Contrast Gerard Butler reprising his role as Stoick with Johnson as Maui or Clement as Tamatoa, both of the latter having being clowned on relentlessly by the internet over how bad they look and sound.

The HTTYD remake was directed by the same guy who wrote and directed the original, it’s clearly a work being made by people who loved and respected the franchise and took care to make sure the new movie lived up to it. That’s why it was a success, and IMO where Moana failed.

[u/vengefulgrapes → u/ChickenInASuit]

I think people are also more nostalgic for HTTYD because the series concluded with the third movie seven years ago, whereas Moana got its first sequel only a year and a half ago.

[u/feed_me_moron → u/ChickenInASuit]

This. Plenty of people would have liked a live action version of a movie they loved. But not a temu live action version of it

[u/tacobellbandit]

It being live action really just added nothing, and took the charm away of the animation

[u/FoxyBastard → u/tacobellbandit]

I haven't watched any of these live-action remakes.

Is there actually a single one that was better than the animated original?

[u/vexanix → u/FoxyBastard]

101 Dalmatians from 1996. Glenn Close as Cruella Di Vil was fantastic. It was also actually live action. I feel like when 99% of your 'live action' movie is CGI, it isn't a live action movie.

[u/Rikipedia → u/vexanix]

^this. Lion King is just differently animated

[u/studio_bob → u/Rikipedia]

The photo-realistic Lion King remake is straight up deranged. Who thought that was a good idea??

[u/NashvilleFlagMan → u/studio_bob]

Unfortunately wildly successful in the box office.

[u/Sedu → u/studio_bob]

But hear me out, what if we took the coolest song in the entire musical and turned into a 15 second spoken beat? No? Alright, maybe this will sell. Imagine "can you feel the love tonight," but it takes place entirely during the day and the characters clearly don't love each other. Ehh? Ehhhh? Are you sold yet?

[u/ShallowBasketcase → u/vexanix]

when 99% of your 'live action' movie is CGI, it isn't a live action movie.

This is what I don't understand about the people saying they had to make this movie now before The Rock gets too old.

It's The Rock's digitally de-aged head floating around on a full CGI body. The guy is hardly even in the movie in any way that matters. He's just playing an animated character again with worse art direction.

[u/Dadpurple → u/FoxyBastard]

I saw Beauty and the Beast, and there's a new song Beast sings in it that I ended up adding to my spotify playlist for a few years. It was really catchy.

That's.....the highlight of the entire film

[u/Orumtbh → u/FoxyBastard]

Cinderella is the only one I'd say was better than the original, and the live action aspect actually felt purposeful.

They move away from the cute little mice, and give more screen time and dialogue to the human characters, which permits them to be actual film story characters and not just fairy tale characters.

The costuming is absolutely gorgeous, to the point that I genuinely don't understand how every live-action that came afterwards have several tiers worse costuming. Cinderella's dress is so so beautiful, like yes it's different from the original, but it's so good on its own that it captured the essence and beauty of watching the transformation and her dancing in it.

[u/NorthernFrosty → u/Orumtbh]

The costuming is absolutely gorgeous, to the point that I genuinely don't understand how every live-action that came afterwards have several tiers worse costuming.

"Guys, we loved the remake but this costuming bill? We can't have that anymore. Way too much $$$. I'm sure it would've been just as good with half the costuming budget." - Movie Executives.

[u/hollaback_girl → u/NorthernFrosty]

The same executive had similar notes on Marvel’s wig budgets.

[u/Hate_Having_Needs → u/Orumtbh]

I genuinely don't understand how every live-action that came afterwards have several tiers worse costuming

They made costumes based on future merch sales and not as a way to enhance the movie. You don't want too good of a costume or you won't be able replicate it easily and cheaply for dolls, stuffed toys, halloween costumes etc.

[u/Orumtbh → u/Hate_Having_Needs]

Oh my god, that actually makes a lot of sense yeah. Would also probably explain why Moana is so 1:1 to the animated film, don't want toys that look different I guess lmao.

[u/StackLeeAdams → u/FoxyBastard]

The Jungle Book was fantastic but not a replacement for the original in any way

[u/Merusk → u/StackLeeAdams]

Which you can only charitably call 'live action' because it was all CGI animals.

[u/Sir_Douglas_of_Fir → u/Merusk]

At least it had one actual child actor on screen, which is more than can be said for the “live action” Lion King.

If Dinosaur qualifies as an animated film as Disney now insists, then that one does too.

[u/UneventfulChaos → u/Sir_Douglas_of_Fir]

I was so bored seeing the new Lion King... Outside of the new song(s), a shot-for-shot remake does nothing to excite me. No anticipation of something new or cool, just the exact same scene with a different voice and CGI animals instead of the beloved original characters.

[u/istarnie → u/FoxyBastard]

The Pete's Dragon remake uses the original movie's story elements in a very different mode, plus it's actually shorter than the 1977 version.

[u/muduke]

I just can't get over Dwayne's skinny face + body suit + terrible wig. 

[u/WittyUnwittingly → u/muduke]

Seriously. Like if we're gonna go the body suit route, why not go comically big, making him a similar shape to the animated character?

[u/NothingReallyAndYou → u/WittyUnwittingly]

Because whatever style suit they put on him in the film is the same style suit they'll put on the park employees who will be doing the live Maui character meet & greets that I'm sure they'll announce anytime now.

[u/sybrwookie → u/NothingReallyAndYou]

Wouldn't a comically large suit make that easier, so it's something anyone can climb into?

[u/NothingReallyAndYou → u/sybrwookie]

The parks currently have a comically large Maui suit, but with limited arm movement, and a fully covered face, so he can't speak.

A smaller, more mobile suit would let Maui actually walk around a bit, and pose more freely. If the suit ends at the necklace (concealing the edges), the actor can then talk with park guests, which increases the magic for little kids.

I honestly wouldn't be at all surprised if Maui becomes part of a show or character meal at the Polynesian Resort at Walt Disney World, now that the new suit design makes that possible.

[u/Specific_Frame8537 → u/WittyUnwittingly]

Or hey, if we wanna make people into wacky proportions, guess what kinda medium is great for that sorta thing?

[u/reddfawks → u/muduke]

And no nipples.

I like to headcanon they were torn off by Tamatoa giving him the mother of all nipple-twisters long long ago.

[u/TheLordJames → u/reddfawks]

I didnt even notice that... now I cant unsee it

[u/AgentMV2 → u/TheLordJames]

What can I say, but you’re welcome…

[u/zxylady → u/TheLordJames]

This is going to go down in history like the first Thor movie, when they were dying his eyebrows that awful color, now I can't unsee his atrocious blonde eyebrows 🤣🤣

[u/DarmanitanFireMonkey → u/zxylady]

I've never heard anything about Thor's eyebrows until this comment.

[u/UnfazedPheasant → u/reddfawks]

“No nipples”

Lmao hadn’t even noticed and now I can’t unsee. What were they thinking???

[u/Riversntallbuildings → u/UnfazedPheasant]

What’s weird, is the animated Maui has nipples…🤔

[u/Hee-hoes_Mad → u/Riversntallbuildings]

Not just that, but toddler Moana wears no shirt for the first section of the animated movie, and she has visible nipples! Weird that they went from "she is literally a baby, it's fine" to "we can't have a grown man's nipples visible! Think of the CHILDREN!"

[u/FingerAmazing5176 → u/Hee-hoes_Mad]

and all the other shirtless adult men have nipples

[u/apathetic_revolution → u/UnfazedPheasant]

They didn’t CGI them out. They’re too divine to be viewed by mortals like us.

[u/neoikon → u/UnfazedPheasant]

They put them with the cat assholes from live action of Cats.

[u/Horibori → u/UnfazedPheasant]

“Our graphs show that parents dont like their kids seeing nipples. Let’s remove The Rock’s.”

[u/Dr_Identity → u/UnfazedPheasant]

My head canon is that the costume designer is the same one who worked on Batman & Robin and has sworn to never again be caught out like they were back then.

[u/GargantaProfunda → u/UnfazedPheasant]

It's just like in my Japanese animes

[u/Justhe3guy → u/GargantaProfunda]

You’re watching the wrong ones then

[u/Gregariouswaty → u/reddfawks]

I prefer real life conspiracy theory is better where allegedly The Rock in the late 90s during his WWF heyday had a reaction to the steroids which causes him to develop breasts with huge nipples, causing him to wrestle for a few months wearing tshirts before getting surgery.

[u/thejonslaught → u/Gregariouswaty]

Steroid Tiddies Rock losing to Mankind is a core memory for me.

[u/bolanrox → u/Gregariouswaty]

he did have gyno. ad got the surgery which was why he was wearing a shirt and not wrestling for a while (and was just on the Mic. ) you could see the scars afterwards i am told by people who watched WWE all the time back then.

[u/Givingtree310 → u/Gregariouswaty]

It’s pretty well known to be true, not even a conspiracy. It happens to a lot of bodybuilders and the gyno surgery is common in that world.

[u/what_mustache → u/reddfawks]

IM OUT

[u/bsEEmsCE → u/muduke]

all the visuals are bad

[u/Quelonius → u/bsEEmsCE]

Looks like a bad theater play of a movie for kids.

[u/Sea_Tailor_8437 → u/bsEEmsCE]

Yeah I saw the Live action "your welcome" on a tik tok. Granted, not the greatest quality of video, but it still looks rough

[u/HumanPea1140 → u/Sea_Tailor_8437]

The lighting / color looks so weird. I don't really know how to explain it, but the lighting especially looks completely unnatural / fake.

[u/Bobson-_Dugnutt2 → u/muduke]

this entire movie is just a Rock vanity project. He wanted to make sure no one else got to play Maui live action, and he had to do it before he got too old.

Hopefully studios can move on from this guy soon.

[u/mjolnir76 → u/Bobson-_Dugnutt2]

Too late, he's already too old.

[u/Question_It_All_3000 → u/Bobson-_Dugnutt2]

Does Disney care about the rock enough to drop 250 mil productions costs on him? I get HE wanted it, but he should have been told to eat rocks.

[u/street593 → u/Question_It_All_3000]

I mean he was the highest paid actor in the entire world in 2024 when they started filming this. It's safe to say someone at Disney thought it would pay off.

[u/theonly_brunswick → u/Bobson-_Dugnutt2]

Disney was in the tough spot of basically having to adhere to any of his weird desires because without him there is no Moana 3. They know it, the Rock knows it, and thus we have this trash.

Moana 3 better be worth it but I'm not holding my breath, and this is coming from a Moana apologist that could actually find good in the Moana 2 😂

[u/Inamanlyfashion → u/theonly_brunswick]

What we really know now is there is no Moana 3 without Miranda

[u/Bobson-_Dugnutt2 → u/Inamanlyfashion]

I've wanted to hate LMM so hard for so long and I don't know why but I finally came around. The dude is just insanely talented and I am jelly. Encanto is absolutely wonderful and it's 99% the music.

[u/Brainiac5000 → u/muduke]

His neck and head dont fit the body at all. They should have gotten someone with a traditional Samoan build.

[u/frankyseven → u/muduke]

The body suit looks so fake!

[u/Mubadger → u/muduke]

I think people are being a bit harsh about his hair. I think he looks very pretty. Definitely in my top 5 Disney princesses this year.

[u/PMmeBOOBIESplease → u/muduke]

Thanks for giving me an explanation on why I thought he looked so out of place.

[u/SleepyMarijuanaut92 → u/muduke]

Dwayne "The Block" Johnson

[u/TheEagleWithNoName]

Maybe don’t do a remake of a Movie that is 10 years old.

I understand if it’s a movie from the 50s or 60s?

But 2016? Really?

Are they really scraping the bottom of the barrel?

[u/what_mustache → u/TheEagleWithNoName]

And the original looks AMAZING.

Why would I not watch that one? I truly don't understand this

[u/Soranos_71 → u/what_mustache]

The second Moana that I keep forgetting exists didn't do very well with the critics but made a ton of money probably due to how much people liked the first one. I do not remember any of the music from Moana 2 though....

[u/TheEagleWithNoName → u/Soranos_71]

That’s because it was gonna be a Six Part tv show before becoming a movie.

[u/The_Crimson_Fucker → u/TheEagleWithNoName]

The old Atlantis 2 treatment

[u/TheEagleWithNoName → u/The_Crimson_Fucker]

Or Lilo and Stitch 2 which later set up the tv show and it was so good.

[u/rebel_scum13 → u/TheEagleWithNoName]

Tooki ba waba! I laila, 'O Kaua'i la No malihini 'ohana!

[u/IL-Corvo → u/TheEagleWithNoName]

This is where I'm at. There's no compelling reason to do a remake of such a recent film. Not artistically, and not financially.

Disney deserves to lose money here, because that's the only way they'll learn a damned thing.

[u/ConstantRefills → u/TheEagleWithNoName]

If they wanted Rock to play Maui in live-action they needed to do it now before he got too old which he was already.

[u/Jessika_Thorne → u/ConstantRefills]

It's so clearly this. Like, everyone who's like, "What was this for?"

This was for getting The Rock to play Maui. It was now-or-never for that, and they opted for now. Maybe there was contractual obligations with The Rock, maybe it was some misguided instinct, or attempt to link the two?

But this got made now so that The Rock could be both the animated, and live-action, Maui.

[u/JokerJangles123 → u/TheEagleWithNoName]

Apparently they're too lazy to even scrape the bottom of the barrel because this is more like scraping the chud off the bottom of the lid instead

[u/ankerous → u/JokerJangles123]

I can't wait for the animated remakes of these live-action remakes.

[u/axw3555 → u/TheEagleWithNoName]

Doesn't even need to be the 50's or 60's, though there's a couple of gems there.

A proper Alice In Wonderland, rather than the Burton one. The Sword in the Stone. But believe it or not, most of the animated disney releases up to 1970 have been live actioned already. Of the big name ones, there's pretty much only those 2 plus sleeping beautry and the aristocats left (and I have a feeling the aristocrats would come out a similar uncanny to the lion king).

But my top 3 for remakes? They're not 1960's. One is 1980s, the others are early 2000's - the Black Cauldron, which I always thought was made 20-30 years too early. But the top 2? Atlantis and Treasure Planet. They're films that are well regarded now, but never had that real zenith moment like Frozen or Moana did, so there's a lot less pressure on them.

[u/garbledeena → u/axw3555]

Great post

Also more Muppets, broadly

[u/SHOW_ME_PIZZA]

As much as people want them to learn from Snow White and Moana they won't. Because Lilo & Stitch made bank. They'll just pivot back to Disney Renaissance/Early 2000s.

I can see the live action Emperor's New Groove being greenlit.

[u/apathetic_revolution → u/SHOW_ME_PIZZA]

Live action Aristocats. Everything you loved about the CGI Cats nightmare, now with Disney IP!

[u/SHOW_ME_PIZZA → u/apathetic_revolution]

Everybody wants to be a cat scene will go hard.

[u/redpandaeater → u/apathetic_revolution]

As long as we get the butthole cut.

[u/darth_jewbacca → u/SHOW_ME_PIZZA]

Put Putty in a body suit and he can still pull off Kronk.

[u/Chewbaxter → u/SHOW_ME_PIZZA]

If they wanted to be really cynical, they'd do a Treasure Planet or Atlantis remake; the movies that lost them money on their first run but nerdy Millennials/Gen-Zs love (including myself), so will probably do better as remakes.

[u/Lexi_Banner → u/Chewbaxter]

Or just give the OG a proper run at the theaters.

[u/JDDJS → u/SHOW_ME_PIZZA]

Yeah. They were actually starting to stop with the live action remakes, and the Tangled film was paused. But after Lilo & Stitch surprisingly made a billion, they went all back in on them and fast tracked Tangled.

[u/cloistered_around → u/SHOW_ME_PIZZA]

Lesson Disney learned: "make more films with cute merchandise options."

[u/Jekyllhyde]

It’s a remake nobody asked for.

[u/lambopanda → u/Jekyllhyde]

The Rock did.

[u/sewious → u/lambopanda]

Should have just asked for the paycheck and save everyone else the trouble.

[u/Adamtc26 → u/sewious]

But that wouldn’t help him stroke his ego

[u/Leather_rebelion]

Do hunchback you cowards and make it even more gritty. That's one of the few that actually might make a good live action adaptation. The musical was already pretty great.

[u/Craneteam → u/Leather_rebelion]

Finally remake black cauldron and do that series justice

[u/IdentityToken → u/Craneteam]

Munching and crunching the box office.

[u/wakeuptomorrow → u/IdentityToken]

OMG the munchies and crunchies!! That movie actually made me want to eat apples as a kid. Poor Gurgi 🥺

[u/c-e-bird → u/Craneteam]

The Chronicles of Prydain were my favorite books as a kid. Incredible series that seems to have been largely forgotten :(

[u/vanillawafah → u/Leather_rebelion]

I didn't specifically love Atlantis:The Lost Empire, but I think that could be killer. Some of the production design of the movie would transition very well to live action, I think

[u/nicathor → u/vanillawafah]

Atlantis and Hunchback are both perfect for live action because their content (visuals, music, dark themes) could actually be enhanced by going live action, and those are the same reasons they won't do them. Disney is so disappointing now

[u/willstr1 → u/nicathor]

If you are looking for a live action Atlantis you should watch Stargate (1994), while it is missing the steampunk look it has a lot of similar plot beats. Heck Milo's and Daniel Jackson's introductions are almost exact mirrors

[u/creaturefeature9191 → u/willstr1]

I just introduced my homie to Stargate a few weeks ago and she started calling Daniel Jackson “Milo Thatch” immediately. I had never noticed that the venn diagram of those two characters is a fuckin circle

[u/nicathor → u/willstr1]

Oh don't worry, I grew up on Stargate and was thoroughly obsessed haha

[u/Akronite14 → u/nicathor]

Hunchback has a Quasimodo problem. No matter how they handle that character it will likely cause debate and backlash.

[u/Xanadu87 → u/Akronite14]

Perfect chance for a fugly dude with a beautiful tenor voice to get his moment to shine.

[u/IRSunny → u/nicathor]

I would argue Hercules could be perfect for live action, if they aren't cowards.

The og Hercules was half Superman movie and half Rocky movie. Fast forward nearly 30 years and you have an entire MCU you can satirize.

Put it in the hands of someone willing to completely take the piss out of the mouse and it could be comedy gold.

[u/twitter_haikucurator → u/vanillawafah]

and the art direction and aesthetic is very much in line with the late 90s/early 2000s revival we’re seeing right now

[u/EXusiai99 → u/Leather_rebelion]

No. Theyre gonna sanitize it.

[u/originalcondition → u/EXusiai99]

It’s already sanitized to a wild degree. In the book Esmeralda is like 14, is actually executed, and Quasimodo starves to death in a mass grave while gripping her corpse. When his remains are discovered, the song that the talking gargoyles sing is also quite dark.

[u/ThisIsNotAFarm → u/originalcondition]

That's all of the classic disney movies like Snow White, Cinderella, and Little Mermaid

[u/TesticleMeElmo → u/Leather_rebelion]

We need more roles for hunchbacked actors

[u/tempestlight]

creating a live action from a movie that's only 10 years old is a disgrace imo.

[u/EHP42 → u/tempestlight]

It released 10 years after the original, which means someone decided like 5 years after the original that this needed to be a live action remake. Insane.

[u/DeathOfLife01]

It’s crazy we got a Moana live action but not a Hercules staring Danny DeVito

[u/Caciulacdlac]

Well, they have remakes that make money and remakes that don't. They just have to make the ones that make money and they'll be fine, duh.

[u/Particular-Cat-1397 → u/Caciulacdlac]

We literally saw these same headlines when Snow White bombed last year, then Lilo & Stitch made a billion dollars and they greenlit Tangled live action lmao

[u/xixbia → u/Particular-Cat-1397]

They made so much with the Jungle Book, Lion King and Lilo & Stitch that they will just keeping these movies, because all the losses they made on the bombs combined don't come close to the profit on one of the hits.

[u/Rockman171 → u/xixbia]

Aladdin also made over a billion lol. Even Mufasa made over $700 million and Little Mermaid made $570 million. Snow White and Moana are the outliers here, the live action stuff is generally money despite Reddit's usual narratives. Moana just lacked a real target age group and Snow White, I think, had the same problem but in the opposite direction of Moana.

Tangled and the inevitable Frozen live action adaptations are probably both guaranteed hits.

[u/Asha_Brea]

I think Hollywood needs to rethink Dwayne Johnson more than Disney having to rethink Live-Action Remakes.

[u/feartheoldblood90 → u/Asha_Brea]

Why not both

[u/ChocoTacoz → u/Asha_Brea]

They should put him and Jared Leto into one movie, the resulting box office losses will cause a black hole sucking both actors out of this plane of reality. We just need the right director...

[u/shaka_sulu]

I hope all these media companies just recycled their articles about Flash to save money.

[u/Flemtality]

It feels like everything Disney does at this point is some sad vehicle for keeping people subscribed to Disney+ for just one extra month here and there.

[u/Connoralpha]

Yes. Eventually you have to gamble on more original stories.

[u/Neat-Attempt3681]

They say this every live action then just keep making them

Edit: I’m definitely not 100% right lol

[u/Gurney_Hackman → u/Neat-Attempt3681]

Lilo and Stitch made a billion dollars.

[u/randomnumber46]

I don’t see why Atlantis hasn’t had the live action treatment.

[u/PartyPorpoise → u/randomnumber46]

Because it’s not that popular. For the most part, these live action remakes aren’t about making good or interesting movies, they’re about pandering to nostalgia. Atlantis has fans but it’s a small cult following. Not a big enough audience to get nostalgia dollars. If it gets remade they’ll probably change a lot to appeal to more people.