Disney hopes to mix nostalgia and novelty
Creators of Aladdin, The Lion King remakes know they walk a fine line
It’s Hollywood’s version of the circle of life: Take an old movie that’s hard-wired into one generation’s childhood memory banks, give it a fresh coat of cinematic paint and send a new iteration into theatres for the next generation to hopefully fall in love with just as their parents did. And no studio plays this particular circle game better than the Walt Disney Co. This summer, Disney will offer not one but two remakes of classic animated films from its catalogue — each gussied up with new stars, new songs and the latest filmmaking technology. A live-action version of 1992’s
Aladdin hits theatres May 24, with Will Smith stepping into the role of the mischievous, shape-shifting Genie voiced in the original film by Robin Williams. And a new take on 1994’s smash The Lion King from director Jon Favreau arrives July 19, employing the same photorealistic CGI that Favreau used in 2016’s The Jungle Book.
In serving up these new spins on much-loved films, the studio is trying to strike a delicate balance, delivering a warm and fuzzy nostalgia fix — amplified by familiar songs like “Friend Like Me” from Aladdin and “The Circle of Life” from The
Lion King — while also offering audiences something unexpected.
“We really try to weigh, what is in the contract with the audience? What do they want to feel? What are specific moments that, if you are going to change or lose them, you do so at your own peril?” said Sean Bailey, Disney’s president of production. “Then you combine that with what gets us really creatively excited.”
For Disney, this strategy of revisiting and retrofitting titles from its vaunted library dates to Tim Burton’s 2010 live-action re-imagining of Alice in Wonderland, which grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. In the years since, the studio has found success with new versions of Cinderella, The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast, as well as the Sleeping Beauty spinoff Maleficent.
Though Disney’s most recent reimagining, Burton’s Dumbo, was deemed a box office disappointment when it hit theatres last month, the studio is moving full steam ahead with other remakes, including The Little Mermaid and Mulan.
As the studio has discovered, however, even with the most seemingly timeless films, certain elements may not have aged so well in the intervening years.
In the case of Aladdin, director Guy Ritchie’s new version tweaks the original film’s love story between Princess Jasmine (now played by Naomi Scott) and the street hustler Aladdin (Mena Massoud) to give it a female-empowerment spin.
“Jasmine’s main goal in the original movie is really to find a spouse, and in this movie there’s much more than that,” said Aladdin producer Dan Lin. “She really wants to help to rule Agrabah and take a much bigger leadership position.”
The filmmakers took similar care to update aspects of the depiction of Middle Eastern culture that stirred controversy in the animated version. (After complaints by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, a line in the original film’s opening song, “Arabian Nights,” was changed for the home-video release from “where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face” to “where it’s flat and immense and the heat is intense.”)
“We work hard to educate ourselves as much as we can with really smart people on all of the titles,” Bailey said. “As far as movies that may deal with cultural sensitivity, like Aladdin or our upcoming Mulan, we will bring in a number of scholars, professors and experts and we talk to them throughout the process. We’re really trying to both honour what has made the story timeless but also make sure we’re being cognizant and intelligent about the times we find ourselves in.”
With Smith’s turn as the Genie, the new Aladdin offers something different than Williams’ memorably manic performance.
“Robin Williams’ character was so iconic in the way the played it, and we thought, ‘Is there a way to go that both honours what he did and makes it feel fresh and new?’ ” Lin said. “Will had a very specific point of view ... There are parts of it that are very personal to his style. We call it kind of the hiphop genie.”
Highlighting the dangers of mucking around with a cherished property, however, early glimpses of Smith’s Genie were greeted by fans on social media with skepticism if not derision.
“There’s been a lot of controversy over the Genie: Is he too blue? Is he not blue enough? What shape does he take?” Lin said. “You’ll see in our movie the Genie takes lots of different forms.”
The new version of The Lion King — boasting an all-star vocal cast including Donald Glover as the older Simba alongside Seth Rogen, Beyoncé and, returning to provide the voice of elder lion Mufasa, James Earl Jones — has faced even greater scrutiny. Poring over the film’s recently released trailer, some fans criticized the look and sound of the film’s villain, Simba’s uncle Scar, voiced in the original movie by Jeremy Irons and in the new version by Chiwetel Ejiofor.
While he didn’t personally grow up with the original Lion King, Favreau said he fully understands the reverence for the film, which, like Aladdin, has spawned direct-to-video sequels and a Broadway musical. Indeed, with The Lion King still reigning as the highest-grossing traditionally animated film of all time, the intensity of interest comes as no surprise.
“I pay attention (to the fans) because it’s their movie, too,” Favreau said.
“They grew up with this thing, and there’s some sort of collective understanding between the filmmaker and the audience around the world of what the essence and spirit of The Lion King is.”
When his Lion King opens, he hopes fans of the original film will walk into the theatre with an open mind.