Entertainment
11 Remakes Of Your Fave Childhood Movies Coming Soon
Have you recently woken up inexplicably singing the words, "Bonjour! Good day! How is your family?" Or found yourself in the kitchen waltzing with a fork you named "Fourchette?" If so, chances are you saw the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast and then ran with it for perhaps a tad too long (hey, it happens). The glorious obsession is real, it is beautiful, it is valid and it is important. However, at some point, the excitement will inevitably fade (maybe after you watch the live-action movie five times in theaters — I don't know how deep your love goes). But don't worry, after your Beauty and the Beast excitement dies down, there are plenty more remakes of your fave childhood movies coming down the line to freak out about.
Don't lose hope, for someday soon, you will get to "be our guest" for another childhood classic being remade for the big screen. Hollywood studios clearly understand our collective need for nostalgia, and they're putting out remakes at warp speed. Soon, there will be many remakes of your fave kids' movie coming to theaters, and you can obsess over each one of them (or complain if they're not as good as the originals).
1'Mulan'
Everything about the animated Mulan is perfect — the score, the female empowerment, the beautiful portrayal of feudal China. The live-action Mulan, which is set for release on Nov. 2, 2018, has to reach a very high bar. According to director Niki Caro's recent interview with Screen Crush, "the budget and the location and the story is offering such scope to me for [an] incredible, muscular piece of girly martial arts extravaganza in China." Well, that got my attention — even if this version (probably) won't have any singing, as Caro shared in an interview with Moviefone.
2'Jumanji'
I think it would be too emotionally-draining for us all too see a Jumanji remake that was exactly like the glory that was the Robin Williams version. Thankfully, this remake, which comes out on Dec. 22, 2017, does a switch-a-roo in which the players of the jungle-themed game get sucked into the world of the game and must battle various wildlife, traps, and puzzles. It might be just what we need for a remake of the 1995 classic.
3'Aladdin'
Not much is confirmed for this upcoming live-action remake, not even the premiere date or director, though Guy Ritchie is rumored to be involved. The most information we have now is from Sean Bailey, the president of Motion Picture Production at Walt Disney Studios, who told Vulture that the story of a "riff-raff street rat" fits perfectly with Ritchie's style. As he put it, "Guy’s got his own version of that story in his life. But he wanted to honor and respect the Disney of it all. We never want to feel like we have a playbook to these things because we worry it’ll make us creatively complacent. The idea of a highly energized Guy Ritchie Disney musical felt like, Oh, we haven’t done that before.” If this ends up happening, it could be very cool.
4' The Mummy'
OK, so I know The Mummy is definitely not a children's movie. But that film was always on TV and I can't tell you how many times I hid behind the couch, squealing with delight at the ridiculous one-liners Brendan Fraser was spewing. This new Tom Cruise version of the old song-and-dance in which a mummy is murdered and then comes back singing revenge is part of Universal's new series of monster movies. The Mummy is the first in this monster movie set and will premiere on June 9, 2017.
5'The Lion King'
People were really into Jon Favreau's live-action remake of The Jungle Book, so it stands to reason that they'll be equally pleased with his version of The Lion King. According to Screen Rant, the film will begin its CGI-heavy production in Los Angeles in May 2017. Also Donald Glover is on-board as adult Simba and James Earl Jones is reprising his role as Mufasa. 'Nough said.
6'Clue'
This movie doesn't have a release date yet, so don't get too excited just yet. According to a Variety article from August 2016, Fox and Hasbro Studios are working together to create a remake of the 1986 movie based on the popular murder mystery board game of the same name. Hopefully soon we'll have more details and will be able to guess who murdered Mr. Body in the observatory with the rope.
7'Dumbo'
Variety reports that a Tim Burton-directed Dumbo with live-action and CGI is how Disney plans to portray the 1941 movie about a misfit flying elephant. Both Danny DeVito and Eva Green are rumored to be taking on roles in the film. It's going to be very interesting to see where this movie goes, as long as they keep away from the offensive crows this time around.
8'Dirty Dancing'
Again, maybe not a movie that was meant for children, but definitely a movie that featured prominently in many a childhood. This made-for-TV remake of the '80s classic about finding oneself and also one's dancing shoes is set for release on May 24, 2017. Abigail Breslin will be taking on Jennifer Grey's role as Francis "Baby" Houseman, and while I'm skeptical because no one can compete with Grey's performance, I'm also reminded that "no one puts Baby in the corner."
9'Peter Pan'
If you'll join me on a trip to the "second star to the right, and straight on till morning," we'll soon be at a live-action remake of Peter Pan. Well, actually, there's a little more journey involved, as Deadline reported in April 2016 that a script was in the works by the writer-director team behind the Pete's Dragon remake, David Lowery and Toby Halbrooks. Lowery is set to direct, but that's about all the information we have as of now.
10'How The Grinch Stole Christmas'
There've been a few adaptations of this Dr. Seuss classic, from the 1966 animated TV film with Boris Karloff pulling double-duty as the narrator and the voice of the Grinch as well as the 2000 live-action feature film starring Jim Carrey. Well, according to Variety, come Nov. 9, 2018, Benedict Cumberbatch is taking on the iconic voice-acting role of the Grinch in a new animated remake. What a time to be alive.
11'Pinocchio'
Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro has been sniffing around the idea of a stop-motion Pinocchio for quite some time with little success. Recently he revealed in an interview with Collider that the previously-shelved remake now has a co-writer onboard, Patrick McHale from the animated series Over the Garden Wall. With this writing team, we could totally see a new Pinocchio soon.
