When the trailer for Disney’s upcoming film Jungle Cruise first landed online after being shown at D23 (Disney’s annual expo), it made waves for a number of reasons. Its story and aesthetic brought to mind other adventure films like The Mummy and The African Queen, and well-liked lead actors Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt also heightened interest.
However, the film is also unique for another major reason – it’s the first live-action adaptation of a Disney Parks attraction since 2017’s Dead Men Tell No Tales, the seemingly final installment of the wildly successful Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. To many fans, this was a surprising move – while Jungle Cruise is one of Disney World’s most well-loved attractions, the last time an attraction was directly adapted into a film was the original Pirates of the Caribbean, which hit theatres just over 17 years ago.
When looking at Disney’s upcoming live-action slate as well as their recent endeavors, Jungle Cruise stands out from the crowd. Outside of pre-existing franchises like Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the majority of Disney’s live-action projects have been remakes of classic animated films. But why? Instead of relying so heavily on remaking classic movies, should Disney be making use of the wealth of stories in their Parks?
Disney Seems To Only Be Focused On Live-Action Remakes
Other than acquired franchises, almost every film to come out of Walt Disney Studios in the past few years have been remakes of classics. Beginning with 2010’s Alice in Wonderland, more than a dozen animated films have been adapted into live-action (or, in the case of The Lion King, photorealistic animation) remakes. Disney also seems to have no plans of slowing down; there are over a dozen more films either in pre-production or in early development, and a few already with set release dates, like Mulan and Cruella.
But why has Disney been focusing so heavily on remaking animated films? The easy answer: money. When it comes to box office revenue, there’s no competition. The most recent non-remake live-action Disney films, like Pete’s Dragon, A Wrinkle in Time, and The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, all had solid but unremarkable showings in terms of total box office – they each earned around $150 million, which isn’t spectacular given that their budgets were all more than $100 million.
In contrast, live-action remakes have a built-in audience that guarantees the films will perform at the box office. Although The Lion King and Aladdin received lackluster reviews and were widely criticized for being cash grabs, they both netted more than a billion dollars worldwide – more than all three of the non-remakes put together. Even the lowest-grossing remake, Dumbo, made over $300 million.
Disney’s Theme Parks Have Rides That Would Make Great Movies
But what if there was a way for Disney to produce high-grossing films, based on properties with pre-existing fanbases, that won’t draw criticism for being soulless remakes? For an example of such a franchise, one need only look to Pirates of the Caribbean. When it was first announced it seemed destined to fail; the pirate genre was all but dead in the water, and because previous ride-based films were given low budgets and released on television as opposed to in theaters, there was little faith in the format.
However, with a strong lead, a budget that allowed for spectacular effects, and well-loved source material with decades of fans, the Pirates franchise was an unquestionable success. The lowest-grossing film of the franchise, Curse of the Black Pearl, still netted a cool $650 million at the box office, more than both Dumbo and Cinderella.
So, why haven’t we seen more ride-based films? While in the past smaller budgeted films like Country Bears have flopped, Pirates of the Caribbean proved that if Disney is willing to put in the time and the money and take a leap of faith, it can more than pay off. As the upcoming Jungle Cruise movie has proven, Pirates of the Caribbean is hardly the only attraction that could adapt well into a movie. Rides with massive cult followings and detailed stories like Space Mountain and Expedition Everest all are not only well-loved, but also have a significant amount of lore that would lend well to a big-screen adaptation in the vein of Pirates.
Why Disney Is Ignoring Its Rides For Remakes
Another major element in the corner of adapting Disney attractions into films is increased attendance in the parks. With increased park admission prices and major sections of construction, the Disney parks have been recently subjected to claims of flagging attendance. One surefire way to increased traffic in the parks would be to base movies on attractions – if a movie about Test Track came out, it’s only logical that fans would want to make the trip to Orlando to ride it for themselves.
Despite the possibility of increased attendance and less criticism about Disney’s lack of originality when it comes to live-action films, the mouse is still hesitant towards making live-action adaptations of rides. It’s understandable – the films that were adapted in the 90s (albeit with drastically smaller budgets) were poorly received, and 2015’s Tomorrowland (although not based on a specific ride) flopped. From Disney’s perspective, even though there’s a possibility for another smash hit like Pirates of the Caribbean, adapting rides is just too risky when rehashing animated classics has already been proven successful.
Nonetheless, there’s still hope that fans of Disney attractions could see more of them on the big screen in the future. If Jungle Cruise is a hit this July, it may be the vote of confidence Disney needs to prove that ride-based films can be just as successful as animated remakes, not to mention much more original and less likely to face criticism of being cash grabs. However, until Jungle Cruise hits theatres, the Disney live-action slate will be remakes as far as the eye can see.
Key Release Dates
Jungle Cruise
Release Date:2021-07-30
