They’re Remaking The Lion King, Because Who Even Gives A Damn Anymore

~ jdubbam

You ever had one of those moments where you feel so utterly perplexed and frustrated by something that you flat-out go “What’s the point”? As of today, I’ve had one of those moments.

hakuna-matata4

In a recent turn of events, Disney has announced that not only would they be adding one of their most cherished animated gems, The Lion King, to their growing collection of unnecessary remakes/reboots, but that Jon Favareu would also be at the helm of it in response to the positive reception of his take on The Jungle Book (which to be honest, I actually really liked). There is a myriad of reasons as to why the basic idea behind remaking a film as perfect as The Lion King is such a godawful idea, but no matter what we say or do, Disney is still going to go full-steam ahead with this for one measly, contemptible little reason; brand recognition. It’s the same reason as to why remakes and reboots of established properties such as Transformers, The Powerpuff Girls, and A Nightmare on Elm Street lack the heart and soul of their source material so badly, because the only thing that the people in suits see are the piles of dough they could be rolling in. And while I will say that there could be a chance of this being anything else than a disaster due to Favareu’s involvement, it still won’t change the fact that by the end of the day, trying to top what is already perfection ultimately equates to being entirely unnecessary. But then again, it’s not like anyone at Disney could be reading this. I’m just a guy running a semi-popular blog about obscure, old video games, after all.

What are your thoughts on Simba and the gang potentially getting real? Be sure to leave your thoughts and opinions in the comment section below.  

Published by jdubbam

17 thoughts on “They’re Remaking The Lion King, Because Who Even Gives A Damn Anymore”

  1. Why? Like what is the point? You’re absolutely right; they just want to rake in the dollars, because there’s nothing NOT perfect about the original movie. There was even a show on Broadway (which I’d love to see at some point), but yeah, regardless of how good it is, I don’t see the point. I can sort of see them remaking Jungle Book or even Pete’s Dragon since those are quite a bit older, but Lion King was a crowning achievement of that animation style. *sigh* They’re remaking Beauty and the Beast, too. Ugh, I could go off on a rant about remakes ,but your blog is very nice, and it’s quite bit late for such negativity.

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    1. To be honest, if Disney focused only on doing live-action remakes of some of their weaker films, I wouldn’t really mind. I mean, I would actually kind of like to see them try to do an Aristocats or Rescuers reboot. I share your sentiments about remakes.

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      1. I agree with that. Some of the older and/or less known ones would make more sense (haha, I was just talking about The Rescuers today, too since I found the book it was based on), but Lion King isn’t one I’d think would need a refresh.

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  4. I’m shocked, but I guess this is the next logical step after The Jungle Book. If it’s like the Broadway version, maybe I’ll bite, but I’m not so sure I want just live-action animals performing the whole movie? I’m very confused by this.

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  7. “Semi-popular”? Don’t sell yourself short. And I had the same exact response to the news of the Lion King remake. There’s no need for it. But the world seems to think that just because something is old it’s bad. So they make bad remakes. I did not enjoy the new Jungle Book, for the record.

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  8. I despise most movies, personally – there are already too many horrible sequels out there, of movies that should never have been made to begin with.

    With that being said, there are a few movies that I do enjoy, The Lion King being one of them. There is absolutely no need to remake / reboot a movie that was, in my estimation, quite stunning visually and musically.

    I hate remakes…but it just shows how little imagination there is in the movie industry. I think that it’s been lacking since the mid-80s.

    Just my $0.02 – excellent post.
    😎

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  9. Despite my undying love an animated films and of Disney, I often surprise people by stating that I’m not too big of a fan of The Lion King. I think it’s a good movie, and the animation is great, but I think it falls short of a lot of other Disney films (and I just can’t stand Hakuna Matata, though that might be due to its placement. It’s hard for a film to go from a kid crying over his father’s lifeless body to a warthog singing about farting within a ten minute timespan and not feel a bit conflicted). In fact, people are really surprised to hear that I think Disney films are better now than they’ve ever been (as much as I miss traditional animation, I think Disney’s films have reached a far more sophisticated level of storytelling and themes in recent years, not to mention way better character development). But it seems whenever someone my age claims anything new is better than the 90s, people flip their wigs over it.

    With that said, I’m a bit skeptical on The Lion King remake, and a good deal of the other Disney remakes as well. I thought The Jungle Book was excellent (better than their animated original, actually), and I’m looking forward to Beauty and the Beast (the original was my favorite Disney film until their recent streak, which is still going strong). But Lion King just doesn’t seem like it can make the transition very well. Dumbo is the one I fear most for though (how? just how do you make Dumbo live-action?).

    A lot of people claim it’s just Disney being greedy, and while they are a business that needs to make money (something I have no problem with), I think this generation’s obsession with nostalgia is playing a key part in it. When there are still so many people out there who dismiss recent movies (including Disney’s excellent recent animated output), and claim everything is inferior to the 90s, why wouldn’t Disney try to win this crowd over by bringing the 90s back? Disney is an entertainment company, and a damn good one. If people insist on the past being the glory days, why wouldn’t Disney try to reach out to this market?

    Another thing to note is that Disney is currently in an almost unheard of situation where they’re juggling so many guaranteed successes, that they almost can’t risk anything else. They have Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, and their own animated films are performing better than ever at the box office. They almost have no breathing room in between. Tron 3 was even cancelled after the divisive reception and poor box office performance of (the highly underrated) Tomorrowland, because they didn’t want to put more money in another franchise that wasn’t guaranteed critical and commercial returns. You are right in saying that Disney doesn’t know what to do with their live-action films outside of Star Wars and Marvel (admittedly, live-action was rarely ever a strong suit for Disney), and that’s exactly why they’ve needed to resort to remaking their animated features. Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar and Disney Animation are guaranteed to bring in dough (and, for the most part, have been churning out critical darlings and fan favorites), so basically retelling the stories they know their audience loves has more or less become the studio’s way of giving their live-action division legs to stand on. It doesn’t always work (Maleficent was a real bore), but The Jungle Book was an example of this paying off big time, seeing as it was one of the highest-grossing and best-reviewed films of the year.

    Sorry for the novel.

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