Disney's Most Exciting Live-Action Remake Isn't Snow White, Moana, Or Lilo & Stitch

Summary Ritchie's success with Aladdin makes his involvement in the Hercules remake even more exciting for fans.

Disney must use CGI effectively for Hercules to outshine previous remakes and appeal to audiences.

The live-action Hercules remake has the potential to be Disney's biggest hit if done justice with casting and musical numbers.

Disney's most exciting live-action remake is surprisingly flying under the radar. Even with the exciting announcements of the live-action Moana, Lilo & Stitch, Snow White, and several other upcoming Disney live-action movies, including the highly-anticipated live-action Lion King follow-up Mufasa, which will hit theaters in December 2024, there are even more that for the most part are going unnoticed. After the poor box-office performance of Disney's live-action Little Mermaid, the popularity of the upcoming remakes was certainly in question, although some titles are sure to be big hits.

Acclaimed filmmaker Guy Ritchie, known best for his comedic action thrillers such as Snatch, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and The Gentlemen, is also a big-name franchise director who helmed Disney's live-action Aladdin in 2019. Since Aladdin made over $1 billion at the worldwide box office, Ritchie proved that he could handle massive projects of this caliber for Disney when he's not making his usual brand of relatively low-budget action movies. Ritchie has been tapped to make both the live-action Aladdin follow-up Aladdin 2, which still has no confirmed release date, and the live-action Hercules, which is arguably the most exciting of all upcoming live-action adaptations.

Related I'll Never Forgive Disney If Hercules' Live-Action Movie Changes The Best Part Of The Original There's a specific facet of 1997's Hercules movie that I champion above all else, and I'm worried the remake will alter it beyond recognition.

Why Hercules Is Disney's Most Exciting Live-Action Remake

The animated Hercules has exceptional characters, plot, and music

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Following Ritchie's success with Aladdin, which received mixed reviews from critics despite being one of the top 50 highest-grossing movies of all time, his involvement in Hercules is even more exciting than his return for Aladdin 2. Most notably, the original music featured in the animated 1997 Hercules is some of the best in Disney's vast arsenal, including classic tracks like "Go the Distance", "I Won't Say (I'm in Love), and "Zero to Hero." There is massive potential for Disney's live-action portrayal of Hercules, Hades, Zeus, and the Titans to draw people to theaters, which could make it one of the best Disney live-action blockbusters ever made.

Hercules already received a live-action interpretation in 2014 starring Dwayne Johnson that essentially bombed at the box office, which might have had something to do with Disney's lack of involvement. The beloved Disney animated original earned $250 million at the worldwide box office in 1997, which would be equivalent to $474 million today. Because of the exceptional characters, plot, and music in the original Hercules, there is hope that the expected Hercules remake will outperform its original and make up for the poor performance of The Little Mermaid remake.

Related Predicting Each Upcoming Disney Live-Action Remake's Box Office After The Little Mermaid's Disappointment With the underwhelming box office performance of The Little Mermaid, Disney's upcoming slate of live-action remakes could be affected in the long run.

Hercules Can Get Right What Previous Disney Remakes Have Not

Disney has to make the best use of its CGI-heavy production & expensive budget

Despite the promise of modern-day Disney live-action adaptations that more or less began with Kenneth Branagh's Cinderella in 2015 and Jon Faverau's The Jungle Book in 2016, both of which were among the highest-grossing films of their respective years, Disney has seen a recent slump in its live-action offerings. 2017's Beauty and the Beast remains the most expensive movie musical ever made with a whopping production budget of $254 million, but Hercules could reasonably top that given its heavy reliance on CGI elements, particularly with its depictions of Zeus, Hades, and the Titans.

Disney's big bet on Beauty and the Beast ended up paying off, with the film earning $1.263 billion. The big risk, big reward strategy should continue to pay off for Disney's live-action adaptation of Hercules, and other future projects it has in store. However, one of the biggest complaints about the live-action Little Mermaid is the CGI distorting some of the characters, making them look strange instead of adorable like in the original animated film. The live-action Hercules will undoubtedly cost Disney a pretty penny, but it will have to make better use of its CGI for it to mimic the success of Beauty and the Beast.

Related Guy Ritchie's Remake Of This Disney Movie Is His Biggest Test In 5 Years After $1Bn Disappointment Guy Ritchie could face a big challenge with his anticipated second live-action Disney remake following the mixed critical reception of 2019's Aladdin.

Doing Live-Action Hercules Justice Is Still A Big Challenge For Disney

Disney needs to go all-out to make Hercules even better than the celebrated animated film

The original Hercules remains a classic and will always be a fan-favorite of Disney's animated movies. Disney seems rather adamant about its live-action ambitions even though some of them have been massive disappointments while others have been mega hits. It's difficult to completely understand why, for example, Aladdin made $1 billion while The Little Mermaid just barely made half of that, but external factors, such as the increased popularity of streaming services, certainly play a big factor.

If Disney wanted to make Hercules its biggest live-action movie ever, it certainly could, given how much the film is likely to cost with all the production requirements in CGI, casting, and above all else, the musical numbers. Not going all in on Ritchie's Hercules may turn out an underwhelming product that could deter fans from seeing Disney movies in theaters even further, opting to wait until they inevitably arrive on Disney+. If Disney misfires with Hercules, it could really spell disaster for the future of Disney's live-action movies moving forward.

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