Latest news with #DisneyRemake
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Disney's 'Lilo & Stitch' becomes Hollywood's first $1-billion movie of 2025
Walt Disney Co.'s live-action adaptation "Lilo & Stitch" has now generated more than $1 billion in worldwide box office revenue, becoming the first U.S. film of the year to do so. The movie, based on the 2002 animated film of the same name, made $416.2 million in the U.S. and Canada and an additional $584.8 million internationally. It is the highest-grossing Disney live-action film ever in Mexico, where it brought in $67 million. 'We knew there was a lot of love for 'Lilo & Stitch' with audiences around the world, yet we never take that for granted," Disney Entertainment co-Chairman Alan Bergman said in a statement. "We're proud of how this new film has connected with people." The Burbank-based media and entertainment giant has already announced that a sequel to "Lilo & Stitch" is in development. The movie was released on May 23 and hauled in $183 million domestically during its opening weekend, a total that edged out 2022's "Top Gun: Maverick" to claim the mantle of biggest Memorial Day weekend opener ever. Read more: The first 'Lilo & Stitch' wasn't a blockbuster. Disney's remake might be one of the year's biggest The original animated movie was only a modest box-office performer at the time, bringing in $273 million. Yet over time, Stitch has become increasingly popular, ranking in the top 10 bestselling Disney franchises, alongside stalwarts like Mickey and Minnie Mouse, the princesses, Star Wars and Marvel, Disney has said. Sales of Stitch-themed merchandise totaled about $2.6 billion last year. And before the new film was released, the 'Lilo & Stitch' franchise, which includes animated series, TV films and direct-to-video movies, drove 546 million hours of global viewership on Disney+, with the original movie accounting for more than half of that. Bergman said in May that the popularity of the little blue alien "definitely" played a role in greenlighting the live-action film. The success of "Lilo & Stitch" comes as family-friendly movies have ruled the box office. The momentum began in April with Warner Bros. Pictures' "A Minecraft Movie," which has now made $955 million worldwide, and continued with "Lilo & Stitch" and Universal Pictures' live-action adaptation "How to Train Your Dragon," which released in June and collected more than $564 million globally. "Lilo & Stitch" is just the most recent Disney film to cross the $1-billion mark. Last year, Disney and Pixar's animated "Inside Out 2," Walt Disney Animation's "Moana 2" and Marvel Studios' "Deadpool & Wolverine" each made $1 billion in global box office revenue. Globally, the biggest film of the year remains "Ne Zha 2," a Chinese animated juggernaut that grossed more than $2 billion in ticket sales, the vast majority of which came from its home country. Sign up for our Wide Shot newsletter to get the latest entertainment business news, analysis and insights. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Solve the daily Crossword
News.com.au
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Snow White becomes Disney's worst-performing live-action remake in nearly 10 years
Disney's Snow White reboot is leaving a legacy it certainly doesn't want, becoming the company's worst-performing wide-release live-action remake in almost 10 years. The 2025 remake of the original 1937 movie opened March 21 in the US and Canada, and has struggled, earning barely $200 million (A$308.5 million) worldwide. The film's page on calls the movie 'officially a flop,' and says its $205.5 million (A$317 million) earnings are 'miles behind its massive $410 million (A$632 million) total cost,' including marketing, production, and other items. The site calls the film's disappointing performance 'a financial blow which few expected to be this severe, especially with the losses already estimated at over $115 million (A$117 million), per Collider.' Pete's Dragon, a 2016 Disney remake of the 1977 film, came away with $143.7 million (A$221 million), $61.8 million (A$95.3 million) less than Snow White. The Snow White remake was not without its controversies, which perhaps contributed to the film's poor reception. Over three years before the film's release, one A-list actor with dwarfism had Walt Disney Studios reframe how it portrayed the classic seven dwarfs characters. Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage called out the studio for even considering taking a stab at portraying magical dwarfs in the modern era. Speaking on comedian Marc Maron's podcast in 2022, Dinklage stated, 'You're progressive in one way, but then you're still making that f***ing backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together. What the f*** are you doing, man?' Disney then addressed the complaint and said the company would take a 'different approach' to the seven dwarfs. Rachel Zegler, the film's lead actress, faced backlash on social media for comments she made that were critical of the 1937 version of Snow White. 'I mean, you know, the original cartoon came out in 1937 and very evidently so,' Zegler said during Disney's D23 Expo in 2022. 'There's a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her. Weird! Weird. So we didn't do that this time.' Due to the controversy over the dwarfs and Zegler's comments on the original movie, Disney announced in late 2023 it would delay the release for Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs by a full year. It was originally slated to be released in March 2024. Zegler was also vocal about her anti-Israel views. In an August 2024 X post talking about the official trailer for Snow White, the actress wrote, 'And always remember, free Palestine.' She also lashed out at people who voted for President Donald Trump, saying in an Instagram post, 'May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace,' adding, 'F*** Donald Trump.' She later apologised, saying in part that 'Hatred and anger have caused us to move further and further away from peace and understanding.' Disney also scaled back the Hollywood premiere event for Snow White. Variety reported 'the studio won't be rolling out a robust red carpet like it usually does,' and that the dozens of media outlets customarily present wouldn't be. Instead, coverage consisted of house crew members and photographers. Fox News Digital reached out to Disney for comment on Snow White 's box office numbers, but did not immediately receive a response.
Fox News
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
'Snow White' becomes Disney's worst-performing live-action remake in nearly 10 years
Disney's "Snow White" reboot is leaving a legacy it certainly doesn't want, becoming the company's worst-performing wide-release live-action remake in almost 10 years. The 2025 remake of the original 1937 movie opened March 21 in the U.S. and Canada, and has struggled, earning barely $200 million worldwide. The film's page on calls the movie "officially a flop," and says its $205.5 million earnings are "miles behind its massive $410 million total cost," including marketing, production, and other items. The site calls the film's disappointing performance "a financial blow which few expected to be this severe, especially with the losses already estimated at over $115 million, per Collider." "Pete's Dragon," a 2016 Disney remake of the 1977 film, came away with $143.7 million, $61.8 million less than "Snow White." The "Snow White" remake was not without its controversies, which perhaps contributed to the film's poor reception. Over three years before the film's release, one A-list actor with dwarfism had Walt Disney Studios reframe how it portrayed the classic seven dwarfs characters. "Game of Thrones" star Peter Dinklage called out the studio for even considering taking a stab at portraying magical dwarfs in the modern era. Speaking on comedian Marc Maron's podcast in 2022, Dinklage stated, "You're progressive in one way, but then you're still making that f-----g backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together. What the f--- are you doing, man?" Disney then addressed the complaint and said the company would take a "different approach" to the seven dwarfs. Rachel Zegler, the film's lead actress, faced backlash on social media for comments she made that were critical of the 1937 version of "Snow White." "I mean, you know, the original cartoon came out in 1937 and very evidently so," Zegler said during Disney's D23 Expo in 2022. "There's a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her. Weird! Weird. So we didn't do that this time." Due to the controversy over the dwarfs and Zegler's comments on the original movie, Disney announced in late 2023 it would delay the release for "Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs" by a full year. It was originally slated to be released in March 2024. Zegler was also vocal about her anti-Israel views. In an August 2024 X post talking about the official trailer for "Snow White," the actress wrote, "And always remember, free Palestine." She also lashed out at people who voted for President Donald Trump, saying in an Instagram post, "May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace," adding, "F--- Donald Trump." She later apologized, saying in part that "Hatred and anger have caused us to move further and further away from peace and understanding." Disney also scaled back the Hollywood premiere event for "Snow White." Variety reported "the studio won't be rolling out a robust red carpet like it usually does," and that the dozens of media outlets customarily present wouldn't be. Instead, coverage consisted of house crew members and photographers. Fox News Digital reached out to Disney for comment on "Snow White's" box office numbers, but did not immediately receive a response.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How Disney's original Snow White changed cinema forever
Disney probably thought the decision to remake Snow White was as safe a bet as it's possible for there to be in Hollywood. When the film was announced in 2016, the likes of Alice in Wonderland and The Jungle Book had become massive cash cows — with Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin coming down the pipeline. But, in the years since then, attitudes to Disney's live-action remakes have curdled and Snow White has become a lightning rod for controversy. But none of this was even a flicker in anybody's eye almost 90 years ago when Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs first arrived in cinemas, revolutionising the art form of cinema. It was the first full feature to use cel animation and the first animated feature film made in the United States. Nowadays, it's the first in the series of Disney Animated Classics. In the 1930s, Walt Disney achieved success with the Silly Symphony series of short films, which included the Oscar-winning 1933 take on Three Little Pigs — a short that earned more than 10 times its production budget. Disney, though, was determined to embrace the financial potential offered by a fully animated feature, considering classic tales like Alice in Wonderland, Babes in Toyland, Bambi, and Rip Van Winkle for adaptation. Disney introduced the idea of Snow White to his staff in 1934, inspired by the silent film version of the story he'd seen as a teenager. Some staff referred to the project as "Disney's Folly", unsure that the storytelling style that worked in Silly Symphonies could be sustained to feature-length. But the determined boss began to hold story meetings with writers, mainly to avoid us having dwarfs with names like Biggo-Ego, Burpy, and Baldy. A very close escape. The dwarfs were initially envisaged as the main draw by Disney, who thought they had more comedic potential than any of the other characters. But eventually, the concept drilled down to focusing on the relationship between Snow White and the Queen. Sorry, Biggo-Ego. Visually, the film was influenced by other major studio movies of the time, as well as the darker and more shadowy edges of German expressionist classics like Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. It's an amusing contrast given how far apart the 2025 adaptations of Snow White and Nosferatu have turned out to be — assuming there's not a secret deleted scene from the new Snow White in which Rachel Zegler bites the head off a pigeon. Disney's animation team was largely made up of newspaper cartoonists, but one of the few animators with more relevant experience was Grim Natwick — responsible for drawing Betty Boop. Natwick was put in charge of animating Snow White herself, with accomplished dancer Marge Champion brought in to film live-action footage as a reference point. At one stage, the animation team encouraged her to dance wearing an American football helmet to simulate the larger heads of animated characters. She nearly fainted as a result. The process of the animation itself was long and laborious. One cartoonist, Helen Ogger, was tasked with dabbing a red dye on to each individual cel in order to add colour to the characters' faces — a method never used to the same extent again, partly because only Ogger had the skill for it. With all of this effort and expense, the film was an enormous risk. Disney mortgaged his home and also managed to secure a $250,000 (£193,000) loan. Fortunately for all involved, Snow White quickly became the most successful sound movie of all time — until it was unseated by Gone With the Wind two years later — and earned a substantial profit at the box office. Snow White's impact was swiftly recognised. Disney was awarded an honorary Oscar — including seven tiny statuettes — as a result of what the Academy felt was "a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field". Cinematic pioneer Sergei Eisenstein called it the greatest film of all time. Snow White remains the only Disney Princess to have her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But most crucially, Snow White fired the starting pistol on Disney's dominance as a cultural force. The profits from the movie allowed for the development of The Walt Disney Studios location in Burbank, as well as opening the door for a production line of animated features. In the next decade alone, Disney made eight further animated movies, including Pinocchio, Bambi, and Dumbo. It's no exaggeration to say that cinema would be completely different today without Snow White — one of the most influential creative risks ever taken. It could have easily been a poison apple, but Disney's film ended up as the fairest of them all. Snow White is streaming on Disney+.
Daily Mail
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Lilo & Stitch live-action director responds to backlash after making shock change to ending
The director of Disney's Lilo & Stitch remake has broken his silence after a major change to the film's beloved ending left fans outraged. Dean Fleischer Camp, 41, came under fire after altering the emotional finale of the 2002 animated classic for the live-action remake, which sparked claims that the new version 'misses the point' of the original. At the end of the updated live-action film, Lilo's older sister Nani gives custody of the youngster to her neighbor and leaves Hawaii to go to college. She leaves to pursue her dream of studying marine biology at UC San Diego and hands over Lilo's care to a family friend named Tūtū. For fans who grew up with the original, the change came as a shock. Many accused Disney of ruining the story's iconic message: Ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind. Now, Camp has addressed criticism in an interview with Variety, saying: 'I've had some time to think about this.' 'I do think that a fair amount of the people who are dunking on that premise have not actually seen the movie, and they write me stuff that is clearly wrong,' Camp told the outlet. At the end of the updated live-action film, Lilo's older sister Nani gives custody of the youngster to her neighbor and leaves Hawaii to go to college 'They get the beats of the story wrong. But when you see [it], it doesn't feel that way at all, and you see the intent of the actual filmmaking.' Despite fans arguing the story's message was lost, Camp said the goal of the ending was to 'expand the meaning.' 'We wanted to expand the meaning of ohana, and ground it in traditional Hawaiian values of collectivism, extended family and community,' he detailed. 'Chris [Sanders, a co-creator of the original film and collaborator on the new one], who's Hawaiian, made a really important observation about the original early on in our discussions. 'He didn't buy that the two orphan sisters would just be left to fend for themselves. 'He said, "Neighbors, church groups, aunties and uncles, all these people would step in. That's just the Hawaii I know and grew up in."' Camp added: 'That led him to create this character of Tutu, and she ultimately takes Lilo in as hanai, which is this culturally specific term and tradition that is a form of informal adoption. 'It isn't about blood or paperwork, but love and responsibility for the greater good and for one's community.' The director argued that many Hawaiians who had seen the film enjoyed what they did with the movie. 'A lot of Hawaiians who've seen the film have picked up on that reference to hanai, and they love that,' said Camp. 'It's this uniquely Hawaiian answer to the question of who shows up when things fall apart, and that idea of informal adoption. 'It shows the broader community's willingness to sacrifice and do whatever it takes for these girls and for their ohana.' However, he said he is still aware of the many viewers who are unhappy with the conclusion. 'I think you can't satisfy everyone with these remakes,' Camp argued. 'You are treading on hallowed ground when you make one of these because these are films people grew up with, and I'm one of them, and I totally understand it.' Camp continued, saying he and the team 'didn't want to just restage the beats of the original film.' 'We wanted to tell a story that's honest about what it means to lose everything and still find a way forward,' he said. 'People do get left behind, like what Nani says, this is, and it's incumbent upon the community to make sure that they aren't forgotten.' In May, before the movie hit theaters, users also fumed after learning Captain Gantu - the main antagonist in the 2002 cartoon - was not going to appear in the live-action remake. Upon hearing this news, many outraged fans claimed they were going to boycott the remake. In addition, fans were upset over the news that alien Pleakley wouldn't dress like a woman in the live-action movie. Throughout their journey to try to get Stitch back, Jumba and Pleakley wear disguises in an attempt to try to look human and blend in with everyone around them - and in the original, Pleakley, who is male, opts to wear a dress, and women's wig. But in the new version, that doesn't happen. Camp previously explained that Jumba and Pleakley, played by Zach Galifianakis and Billy Magnussen respectively, don't put human clothes and wigs on at all in the live-action remake, so there actually wasn't a chance for Pleakley to dress up as a woman like he did in the animated flick. Instead, he explained that they use technology to morph themselves into humans. He added that he and his team did 'some tests and some character design work' to try to make Jumba and Pleakley look like they did in the original, but it just didn't work. Ultimately, he said they decided it was 'a bridge too far' and that it didn't translate well into live-action. 'The humor of them walking around Hawaii dressed in these terrible disguises where Pleakley still has one eyeball, it's a little harder to buy in live action,' he said. The director added that 'budgets' also played a part in the decision. 'If you have Jumba and Pleakley in alien disguises, then you're going to have to shortchange how much development work you can do on Stitch and these other elements,' he continued. 'It's not that they're aliens in the movie. You definitely see Jumba and Pleakley in their alien forms through a lot of the movie, but they are in human skin suits for part of it.'
