The Business of Disney Movies

Disney, we all know it, we’ve all seen it, but do we all agree with Disney’s newest era? Lately, Disney has been converting their most famous tales into their live action form. Along with their newest phase of live action, Disney has also been creating sequels to many loved stories.

Disney’s ‘live action career really kicked off with the live action of Maleficent on March 30, 2014. Following 2014, Disney began to produce live action after live action. Year after year, more fairytales were being transformed into their real live selves. Our most recent live action from Disney was The Lion King, but it is most definitely not the last

When asked about the live action version of The Lion King, sophomore Leah Goulet said the movie was fine, however, in her opinion, Goulet claims it “was nothing special” and “it’s literally the exact same thing as the cartoon”.

Goulet’s statement brings up a really controversial topic. Some people would rather the remake directly follow the original story, while some people would prefer the makers to put a small but creative change in the remake. Sophomore Johanna Hollis states she would like to see “a twist!” in the live action of The Lion King, but others may disagree.

Along with the live action of The Lion King, the live action Mulan is also planning to be released by March 27, 2020. The live action Mulan is a movie many were excited to see, but when information came out that Disney was planning on making the movie focus solely on Mulan. Disney plans on deleting Han and Mushu, two characters extremely important to the plot of the original movie.

“If they don’t have Han, I’m not going,” says Hollis. “Han and Mushu make it much better”

Along with the disappearance of two characters, it is said that Disney would also not include any of the music in the live action Mulan. 

“I’ve heard that for Mulan, the live action, there’s not going to be any music in it. So I am kind of curious as to how they’re going to make that just as exciting, because a lot of people really like the music in Mulan, like that’s a big hit with that,” says Mrs. Smith, a math teacher and Disney fan.

Being a big fan of the music in Mulan, Smith is a little disappointed that the live action will not have it. But when asked what she would change, Smith says she is “curious to see how they [would] do it.”  She offers another solution of making a second live action version with the music and characters the first didn’t include.

Another movie Disney has produced this year that has people wondering if they should like it or not, is Toy Story 4.  Nine years ago people believed the Toy Story saga has come to an end. With the release of Toy Story 3, Disney made a happy yet promising ending to a series many loved. We all thought it was the end, and most were content with that thought. So how come nine years later Disney decided to tack on another movie to an ended series?

“Toy Story 4 needs to not exist. The third one ended so good,” said Goulet. She along with Hollis agree that Toy Story 4 was an unnecessary production.

Disney has come victim to over-extending sagas that ended perfectly fine. Toy Story 4 may be the most recent example, but the extensions of the Star Wars series are another example that has been happening for years. It has been said that Disney is FINALLY coming to an end with their last Star Wars movie.

“I’m done with Star Wars man, Star wars ended. It was cut off the second they ended all the good movies. And then they started the crappy Disney movies,” says Hollis when discussing her distaste of the last Star Wars movie.

While Disney is busy with producing more movies, they’re also on the verge of an extremely profitable streaming service. Disney Plus; a streaming service with all your favorites Disney movies in one place. However, you will no longer see a Disney movie on any other platform out there. But will that matter?

Will any of what Disney does truly matter? As long as they produce fun and loving movies that appeal to any age, they will forever make a profit. Whether it’s their newest craze of live action movies, or silly extensions, or Disney Plus, Disney will never fail to make their business grow because of the dedicated fans they seem to never run out of.

“I think it’s actually really ingenious. But I think those people that are really, like they really love it, are going to do it,” says Smith.