Have You Enjoyed Disney's String Of Live-Action Remakes? Get Ready For A Lot More

Walt Disney Co DIS is likely sitting on a new billion dollar movie franchise with its remake of the classic "Beauty and the Beast" film. So it's only natural for Disney's executives to be taking a closer look at what other classic films it can remake to create new multiple billion dollar franchises.

According to a Bloomberg report, Disney generated nearly $2 billion in net profit from six remakes since 2010's "Alice in Wonderland." Meanwhile, the company is sitting on a dozen other animated films it can remake using live actors.

Doug Creutz, an analyst at Cowen, told Bloomberg Disney's old franchises are all properties "everybody knows" and transforming them to a new film is probably a "safer strategy" than creating new franchises.

Update: "Beauty And The Beast" is estimated to have earned $170 million on opening weekend, a March box office record.

Importance of Live Action

Barton Crockett, an analyst at FBR, explained to Bloomberg that transforming Disney's older properties into a live-action feature is necessary for today's younger audience. Naturally, film making in the 1990s isn't what it is today so it's "very hard" for the new generation to fall in love with Disney's classics much like the prior generation did decades ago.

Jeff Bock, a senior box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations Co, told Bloomberg Disney has enough content it can convert to live action films for a decade. But that doesn't include potential sequels from the new films.

"I don't think they're anywhere close to trailing off soon," he added.

Some of the live-action adaptations currently confirmed in Disney's pipeline include "Mary Poppins" (due Christmas Day 2018), "Mulan" (due November, 2018), "Dumbo", "The Little Mermaid," "The Lion King," "Aladdin," and more.

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