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15 Disney Live-Action Movies That Are Reportedly Coming For Your Childhood

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For anyone who feels like they belong in Neverland with the rest of the Lost Boys, this new trend of Disney remaking its animated classics in live-action/CGI is the best thing to happen since adult scooters became socially acceptable. So far Disney has remade Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty (as the villain-centric Maleficent), The Jungle Book, Beauty & The Beast, Dumbo, and Aladdin, among others. But over the next several years, you'll have even more familiar Disney magic to feast your eyes upon. These 15 upcoming Disney live-action movies should definitely be on your radar, especially with Disney's new streaming site, Disney+ launching in November of this year.

Some of the forthcoming live-action Disney movies may come out on Disney+ rather than having a theatrical release, according to Variety. That means that Disney is giving viewers even more incentive to hop aboard the new streaming site than they already had by offering Marvel movies, Star Wars films, and of course, the Disney classics library.

While most of the live-action Disney movies that have already come out stick pretty closely to the original animated tales, a few of the upcoming films on Disney's docket take creative liberties to tell a new story — or an existing story from a different perspective. For example, a Maleficent-style movie about 101 Dalmatians villain Cruella De Vil is planned for the future.

From close remakes to new takes, these 15 exciting Disney films are either officially in the works or rumored to be.

1

'The Lion King'

As mentioned before, the new Lion King with an all-star cast hits theaters on July 19 and it's bound to make you feel like your childhood has come full circle... of life.

2

'Maleficent: Mistress of Evil'

Angelina Jolie's prosthetic cheekbones return to slice through her naysayers in the sequel to 2014's live-action Disney villain tale. Elle Fanning's Princess Aurora will also return in the twist on Sleeping Beauty when the film hits theaters on Oct. 18, 2019.

3

'Mulan'

On March 27, 2020 you will finally get to see the long-awaited live action Mulan which was originally scheduled to come out in 2018. That year, fans got by with a few cast photos that Disney released which hinting at what actor Crystal Liu, also known as Liu Yife, will look like in the titular role.

4

'Lady And The Tramp'

On Nov. 12, 2019 a live-action version of the canine Disney classic comes out exclusively on Disney's new streaming service, Disney+. It stars Tessa Thompson as Lady and Justin Theroux as Tramp, along with Janelle Monáe as Peg, Deadline reports, and according to Collider, the dogs in the film are actually real. Based on the official Lady and the Tramp poster that Disney previewed last April, they're totally adorable, too.

5

'Cruella'

While Cruella isn't an exact remake of 101 Dalmatians, the fur-loving, dog-hating Disney villain will take the spotlight in what The Hollywood Reporter describes as an "origin story, set in the early 1980s with a punk vibe." Emma Stone will play Cruella De Vil, and W reports that the film is set for release on Dec. 23, 2020.

6

'The Little Mermaid'

Kevin Winter/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Rob Marshall is set to direct the retelling of Disney's underwater classic that's loosely based on a Hans Christian Andersen fairy-tale. Variety recently reported that Melissa McCarthy will play Ursula the Sea Witch, Jacob Tremblay will play Flounder, and Awkwafina will take on the role of Scuttle. Singer and actor Halle Bailey of Chloe x Halle will play Ariel.

Things are happening, but you still probably won't see this one until 2021.

7

'Tink'

A movie about Peter Pan's righthand fairy was first announced in 2015, with the news that Reese Witherspoon would play a live-action Tinker Bell, but no updates have come out since.

The Ringer included it in a 2018 article listing each of Witherspoon's upcoming roles, though, so perhaps there's still hope for a movie that gives Tink all the attention she deserves. Perhaps that idea was scrapped, though, and Witherspoon's role was instead written into a separate Peter Pan remake, as one Disney blog speculates.

8

'Hunchback'

In January of this year, Deadline reported that a live-action musical adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, originally a novel by Victor Hugo before getting the Disney treatment in 1996, is in the works. According to Deadline, the casting has not yet been determined officially, but it's rumored that Beauty and the Beast's Josh Gad would play Quasimodo. Stephen Schwartz and Alan Menken have reportedly been tapped to write the score, with playwright David Henry Hwang penning the script.

9

'Peter Pan'

Peter Pan has already had a few live-action retellings, including Steven Spielberg's Hook and the 2003 straightforward version. A few Disney news blogs claimed last year that another new version is still in the works, but details are scarce.

10

'The Sword In The Stone'

Disney's animated Sword in the Stone came out in 1963, and in 2018 The Hollywood Reporter revealed that 28 Weeks Later's Juan Carlos Fresnadillo will direct a new live-action version that's to be written by Game of Thrones' Bryan Cogman.

Screen Rant later suggested that the new film might come out on Disney+ after it was supposed to start filming in Fall 2018 and Comic Book Resources also speculated that that will be the case.

11

'Lilo & Stitch'

In October of last year, The Hollywood Reporter claimed that Disney has plans to make a live-action remake of the Hawaii-set film about an unlikely friendship between a little girl and a lost alien. As with The Lion King, the animals will be made with CGI technology, but since this one has actual human characters, THR reports that it will be a mix.

The producers on board also worked on the recent live-action Aladdin, but it might be a Disney+ release and not a theatrical one. No casting or further news reports have come out since last October's initial announcement, except for a fake Lilo and Stitch photo release that circulated the web.

12

'Rose Red'

Back in 2016 Disney announced a new live-action Snow White movie called Rose Red, the name of Snow White's sister in the Brothers Grimm's fairy-tale. Then nothing happened until late May 2019 when Variety reported that The Amazing Spider-Man's director Marc Webb is in talks to re-work 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Look out for it in years to come.

13

'The Jungle Book 2'

The sequel to Disney's 2016 live-action Jungle Book film directed by Jon Favreau (who more recently directed the new Lion King) was announced immediately following the first one's blockbuster success. As Digital Spy reports, fans probably shouldn't expect to see the second film until after 2020 due to the time required to create the CGI animals.

14

'Charming'

Disney

The Perks of Being a Wallflower writer and director Stephen Chbosky (he wrote both the book and movie) reportedly signed on to direct a live-action Disney film featuring Cinderella's Prince Charming in 2017, and the story sounds pretty intriguing as it focuses on the brother of Prince Charming, who, per THR, "never quite lived up to the family name."

Not everyone can be charming, even if it's your destiny, but hopefully this movie is destined to actually come out, because it sounds like a fresh take on a classic tale.

15

'Pinocchio'

As Polygon reports, Disney's live-action Pinocchio has had a rough go of it, after three different writers have been rumored to be attached at different times. The job has reportedly landed with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child's Jack Thorne, and, per The Hollywood Reporter announced, Tom Hanks was in talks to play Gepetto at one point.

But in January 2019, The Mary Sue reported that a cinematographer on the project said it was canceled. No further updates from Disney have been supplied, so if anyone can pull some strings (pun intended) to get inside information, that would help a lot.

There's so much happening with Disney's various planned live-action films that it's almost impossible to keep up with their progress. Just know that this trend isn't going away any time soon.

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