After the commercial and critical failure of Snow White earlier this year seemed to stall Disney’s remake trend, the studio is pushing forward with its live-action movie slate. The once-paused live-action Tangled was just recently revived, and the live-action Moana is still slated to hit theaters next summer. Now, Disney is reportedly revisiting one of its earliest animated classics for its next live-action movie, but not every Disney fan will be happy.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Disney is once again unlocking its vault of animated classics and pulling out a 66-year-old movie for a new live-action project titled Aurora, according to entertainment scooper Daniel Richtman. The reported film, which Disney hasn’t officially announced, is said to be a remake of Sleeping Beauty, the 1959 animated musical based on Charles Perrault’s 1697 French fairy tale about Princess Aurora, who is cursed by the evil witch Maleficent. There will be a major change to the remake, with Richtman reporting that Aurora will move the story away from 14th-century France and to Mexico.
The Change to Sleeping Beauty Is a Risky Move, but It Could Pay Off
Sleeping Beauty is one of Disney’s most iconic animated films, and the change Aurora intends to make to the story is risky. The change in setting will be a hard sell for die-hard Disney fans, as medieval European art and architecture heavily inspired virtually every aspect of the 1959 film – from the visuals and animation to the character and costume designs and even the music. The studio’s previous attempts to change aspects of its classics for modern audiences, such as the reimagining of the seven dwarfs and Snow White’s motivations in the recent live-action remake, have caused some pushback.
On the other hand, the change in setting could bring a much-needed fresh take to the decades-old story and reinvigorate Disney’s live-action remake trend. There’s a growing number of fans who feel Disney’s current live-action remake approach is repetitive, uninspired, and nothing more than a cash grab and would prefer to see the studio take bigger creative risks with its remakes. Making a bolder change, such as a major change in setting, could bring something fresh and interesting to the story. In the case of Aurora’s setting in Mexico, the film would be allowed to explore the centuries-old fairy tale through a completely new lens rooted in Mexican culture and mythology.
Fresh takes on the Sleeping Beauty story have already proven to be successful. Back in 2014, Disney released Maleficent, which shifted the focus of the fairy tale to the villain, telling the story from her perspective. That movie, starring Angelina Jolie in the titular role opposite Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora, grossed over $758 million worldwide to become the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2014 and even spawned a sequel, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, in 2019.
Disney hasn’t confirmed Aurora, so there’s no word on how exactly the reported movie will take shape or how the plot may differ from the animated classic. The 1959 animated movie is streaming on Disney+.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Image courtesy of RocketWerkz -
Image courtesy of Netflix -
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics -
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
