I really have tried to understand why people either don't seem to mind the live-action remakes or, worse, actually like them. Obviously they still make money for the most part so there must be an audience, and aside from those that failed due to circumstances outside their control (like Mulan moving from theatrical to D+ due to the coof), the only out and out flop I can think of is Snow White. And that one was a perfect storm of a failure: the original being particularly old and not overly popular, an obnoxious lead actress that couldn't keep her mouth shut, a rewritten script for modern girlboss audiences, the diverse multicultural dwarf replacements, the replacement of the replacements with nightmare CGI abomination dwarves, hundreds of millions of dollars blown on reshoots and VFX...yeah, there was no way that was getting into the black. (Numbers two and three would be Dumbo and The Little Mermaid, and I'd attribute the former to modern Tim Burton and the latter to the gingercide.)
But then you look at basically every other one, and they not only make their money back, they turn a substantial profit even with the ridiculous budgets. Any moment of self-reflection Disney might have had after Snow White's failure was quickly discarded when Lilo & Stitch made a billion fucking dollars, proving that audiences would still keep showing up no matter what. Why change course when the current direction is obviously not causing them any problems? People will keep paying to watch utter slop, so forget about artistry and craft and storytelling and just churn out another low-effort remake.
If I had to guess, I think it's a couple of factors. For one, a general dearth of kid-oriented entertainment means that families usually don't have many options as to what to go see in theaters, and usually whatever's there is going to be from Disney. So they don't really think about what they're taking their kids to see, they just pick the singular option and roll with it. For another, nostalgia is still a hell of a drug, and parents that grew up with the classic Disney animated movies still have that twinge in their heart when they see the title and want to share that experience with their kids. They probably get swept up in that nostalgic feeling and don't even consider how it's objectively inferior to the original they remember. And there could also be a general disdain for animation that persists in adults, where they feel less embarrassed about going to see a movie if it's in live-action and not that kiddy animated stuff (even if they're supposed to be going for their kids).
But more than that, I think it's also the fuzziness of memory that contributes to the continued success of these pointless remakes. Most adults probably haven't seen any of the Disney classics in years, if not decades, so their memory of what made them special is somewhat faded. All they really remember is that good feeling they got when they watched them all those years ago. So they go to a live-action remake, they settle in to watch, and it's just close enough that it more or less hijacks that good association and makes them think that the remake is just as good. Their kids don't know any better because they've never seen the original, so nobody in the family complains, and everyone goes to watch the next one when it comes out. Don't ask questions, just consume product and get excited for next product.
Honestly, though, how many more movies in the Disney canon do they have left? They've already hit pretty much all of the major names in the classics and most of the Renaissance, and what's left is not really likely. I mean, seriously, could you ever see them doing a live-action Hunchback or Pocahontas, to say nothing of the outright flops like Atlantis or Treasure Planet? They're already resorting to plundering the 2000s and 2010s for movies to remake, so they must know they're running out of source material to plunder. I guess there's always churning out unnecessary sequels like in the direct-to-video days (hello, Lilo & Stitch 2, go fuck yourself), but they're already doing that in the animation department. I'd say diminishing returns has to set in at some point, but it hasn't yet, unfortunately.
All you can do as a parent is make the conscious decision not to see these movies and encourage others to do likewise. It probably won't amount to much, but it can't hurt to champion classic animation.
because it’s easier to cash in on an already established IP rather than take risks making something new, but man am I tired of seeing characters I like being flanderized. Toy Story should have ended at the third one, as it was a natural ending to it, and keeping it alive is just boring at this point. I also already have Moana fatigue, and that’s been around for less time.
