Over the years, Disney has produced 22 live-action remakes of their previously animated films, with more already set to be released. Although most have done well at the box office, each one has proven unnecessary and hardly lives up to the potential of the original. They often don’t add anything to the storyline and only cause controversy from people who feel passionately about the originals.
One of the upcoming remakes that often comes to mind with this argument is the “Snow White” live-action remake starring actress Rachel Zegler. Videos of Zegler were circulating TikTok for-you pages over a year ago solely because of the controversy around her being the chosen star. Most of the videos showed Zegler admitting that she had hardly watched the original “Snow White” when she was younger and shaming the original storyline with co-star Gal Gadot because it followed a woman who largely took care of others and was saved by a man. While this has been an argument surrounding “Snow White” before, Disney lovers began turning on Zegler because they cherished the original storyline and the nostalgia that comes with these original Disney princess movies. These passionate fans also resented that Zegler had no connection to the original story, insinuating that the person to play Snow White should be someone who has long loved her. “Snow White” is now nearing its release date of March 21 and these videos have seemed to fade from the TikTok spotlight, but this controversy will still follow the movie and may cloud viewers’ experiences. Often, the point of live-action remakes is to bring back the nostalgia of these stories and give them life again, but when the people who truly love those stories are already resenting the way they’re being remade, what’s the point? “Snow White” isn’t the only Disney live-action that has been criticized in this way — queue TikTokers calling Emma Watson “not pretty enough to play Belle” — which plainly shows that these movies often have more negativity surrounding them than positivity.
Even if these movies had no issues or backlash, they’re still unnecessary in the first place. Viewers are often quick to call out when a sequel is made only because of the original’s success, so why isn’t the same argument made for direct recreations of movies? In 2025, Disney is set to release two live-action remakes, seven sequels or additions to movie series and only two new ideas. It’s been made increasingly clear that in the last few years, they have been desperately trying to hold on to old ideas and spending money to run those storylines into the ground. Personally, most of my love for Disney movies comes from memories of watching them on VHS tapes at my grandparents’ house and cherishing that old Disney animation style. The live-action versions of these movies are full of modern faces and CGI to fill in the magical elements of the storylines, removing any of the old charms. I would much rather be able to fall in love with a new storyline and new characters than sit and watch a recreation of my favorite movie without my favorite aspects of it. Resources and writers are constantly wasted on duplicating stories that have long passed when all their audience truly wants is a new movie that makes them feel that Disney magic again.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like Disney will stop these remakes because they continue to be successful and make the studio a lot of money — seemingly the main reason for them in the first place. Thankfully, the original movie magic still exists, so I will continue rewatching my favorites until writers discover a new idea that lives up to the Disney legacy.
