Disney’s live-action remake strategy is divisive, with critics and box office results often differing, which leaves questions around whether the remake strategy is actually working. Disney has made plenty of live-action stories based on their animated originals, including both direct remakes and origin stories such as Maleficent and Cruella. The Little Mermaid is the most recent live-action remake, and it has performed poorly at the box office despite anticipation and social media . Over the last 13 years, Disney has made 18 movies either remaking or based on its animated classics and show no sign of stopping anytime soon.

unfair backlash to casting Halle Bailey as Ariel has led to boycotts of the movie. Audiences may be tired of remakes, but the box office results and ease of creation they provide Disney has meant they keep coming. The remake strategy is one Disney has no plan of ditching any time soon, so here’s a breakdown of if it’s actually working.

How Disney's Live-Action Remakes Have Performed At The Box Office

Disney’s remake box office results have varied massively with their live-action remakes and a few have managed to break into the $1 billion club. The Lion King is easily their most successful, earning $1.663 billion at the worldwide box office, and is followed by Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Alice In Wonderland (which started the modern trend in 2010). Mulan is Disney’s worst-performing live-action remake earning just under $70 million against a $200 million budget. The difference between the best and worst Disney live-action remake is staggering and could represent a waning of interest in Disney’s remake strategy.

The other is The Little Mermaid which has just broken the $500 million mark at the box office but was much slower to reach the milestone than its predecessors. Disney+ was not around for the first chunk of Disney live-action remake releases, so it can be difficult to compare them. However, Disney had a very successful box office run until 2019 and this has dropped considerably. Disney’s top three most successful remakes are stories that are very beloved, especially The Lion King, but if the next remakes continue with the poor performance of the later remakes then the successful few will not counteract Disney’s waning box office. Below is a list of Disney's theatrically released remakes (including prequels and sequels) and their box office earnings.

Critical & Fan Reaction To Disney's Live-Action Remakes Explained

Disney’s live-action remakes have ranged in success among critics, including against their own box office. The worst were 2016's Alice Through The Looking Glass and 2022’s Pinocchio, which both received a poor 29% on Rotten Tomatoes. Mulan was the biggest box office flop, but surprisingly earned a 72% critic score. Plus, Mulan was released in 2020 when Disney+ was incredibly popular and the pandemic restricted audiences from visiting the theater. The Lion King has been Disney’s biggest financial success but only received a 52% Rotten Tomatoes score with critics noting it lacked the emotion of the animation. By this metric, The Jungle Book is probably Disney’s best-performing all-around remake.

Scoring 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, The Jungle Book is Disney’s highest-rated remake critically but not its biggest financial success. This is closely followed by Cinderella which scored 83% but earned less than half of Disney’s highest-earning live-actions. Most recently, Disney’s live-action output has not been up to this standard with all movies since The Lion King receiving average results from the critics. Although critics' scores are important, they do not always derive from financial success so from Disney’s point of view, The Lion King would still be considered the most successful remake even though it is not a fan favorite.

RELATED: Why Is Disney Making So Many Live-Action Remakes?

Is Disney's Live-Action Remake Strategy Actually Successful?

The success of Disney’s live-action remakes is dependent on which area is valued the most. Critically, Disney’s remakes have consistently been given a lukewarm reception besides the odd few. From a cinematic powerhouse like Disney, the run of critically average movies should arguably not be accepted or continued. However, the critical opinion has not impacted the box office of the Disney remakes and most have still done well financially. Especially since four managed to break $1 billion, with The Jungle Book not being far off. The last five remakes have been the poorest performing, but the success of earlier ones has meant Disney has been able to largely ignore them.

Disney+ has given the company the opportunity to eschew the financial failure of their recent movies, shifting viewing habits have become a scapegoat for poor box office results. However, The Little Mermaid was highly anticipated and expected to perform well at the box office. The Little Mermaid’s slow performance could signal the end of the successful box office streak as it is the first remake to perform averagely on both critic and box office rankings. The interest in Disney’s live-action remakes may not be as strong as for its first few movies so, even though its remake strategy may have once been successful, it is not likely to stay that way.

Disney's Live-Action Remakes Will Keep Coming Whether You Like It Or Not

Live-action remakes may have split opinion and delivered varied financial results, but that does not mean the strategy will not continue. Disney already has plenty of live-action remakes in the pipeline with the most recent being Snow White in 2024.

Disney is remaking more classics, such as Hercules and Bambi, but has already announced a remake of Moana, even though the animated movie was only released in 2016. Disney’s remakes have so far been a way to reintroduce their classic stories to new, younger audiences, and remaking Moana so soon goes against that. Moana was a hit, so the remake may well be a way for Disney to reignite their remake box office success, knowing Moana already has a strong fan base.

Disney remaking their animated movies are a much safer bet than creating original movies. With the stories already written and loved, there is a guaranteed base audience. Even backlash to certain elements of a classic story being changed creates conversation and encourages hate-watching, whereas new stories will simply be ignored. Disney’s remake strategy has worked to a certain extent and Mufasa: The Lion King will be Disney’s biggest test as a sequel to the live-action remake and also the best chance to increase box office figures due to previous success. Disney’s remakes show no sign of stopping whether they are deemed successful or not.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes