Disney has cancelled yet another live-action remake of an animated classic. There's no denying Disney has found great success with some live-action remakes such as The Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and The Jungle Book. Even more recently, Lilo & Stitch and Mufassa: The Lion King were both huge successes, with the former becoming 2025's highest-grossing Hollywood flick. However, in back-to-back years from 2023 to 2024, Snow White and The Little Mermaid's live-action remakes disappointed at the box office with high budgets, sparking concerns about their future at the House of Mouse.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Disney is "not moving forward" with its live-action remake of The Aristocats, marking the sixth adaptation of an animated classic to be cancelled or shelved in recent years. The project was to be directed by musician and filmmaker Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, who was also set to work on the music with a script from Will Gluck and Keith Bunin.
Speaking on Score: The Podcast, Questlove noted that Disney went through multiple "administration [shuffles]" after each of which he had to reexplain his pitch for The Aristocats. Eventually, he concluded, "Maybe this isn't meant for me," but left the door open to returning to the project after his busy schedule clears up, saying that it could "happen in the future."
The 1970 animated musical begins after a retired opera singer leaves her inheritance to her cat, Duchess, and her kittens. Having been abandoned in the countryside by a greedy butler aiming to steal the fortune for himself, the cats begin an adventure back to their home in Paris.
The Aristocrats is just the latest of six live-action Disney remakes to be cancelled recently, signally a strategy pivot at the House of Mouse...
Tangled
Disney's 2010 Rapunzel retelling, Tangled, was reportedly set for a live-action remake, with MCU stars Florence Pugh and Kathryn Hahn eyed for roles.
Tangled was reportedly in "active development" under The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey and Thor: Love and Thunder co-writer Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. However, according to The Hollywood Reporter, development paused in April 2025 after Snow White flopped, leaving its future uncertain.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Deadline reported in 2019 that Hunchback was in the works as a live-action musical based on the Victor Hugo novel that was once adapted in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The report noted that Frozen star Josh Gad would produce and could play the lead, Quasimodo, in the tale of the deformed bell-ringer.
Composer Alan Menken later told The Standard that the remake was cancelled, saying, "I wish it was [still happening]" while pointing out how the story contains "very heavy and profound themes," which may be too much for Disney.
Aladdin 2
A recent report from The DisInsider's Skyler Shuler revealed that Disney has shelved three upcoming live-action remake sequels, including Aladdin 2.
In 2019, director Guy Ritchie raked in over $1 billion for Disney with Aladdin, starring Will Smith and Mena Massoud. A sequel was in development for some time, but was not expected to adapt the animated direct-to-video sequels.
The Jungle Book 2
Similarly, The Jungle Book proved to be a massive success under The Lion King director Jon Favreau, and a sequel was set to reunite him with writer Justin Marks for release around 2019. That said, the continuation of Mowgli's story never saw the light of day and has been on indefinite hold for years.
Any revival of the sequel would at this point sequel a recast, as original star Neel Sethi has increasingly aged out of the role of a 10-year-old Mowgli.
Maleficent 3
Eternals star Angelina Jolie has now starred in two movies as the Sleeping Beauty villain Maleficent, retelling the classic tale from her perspective and exploring her sympathetic backstory. While Jolie was once expected to reprise the role, it seems Maleficent 3 is on hold, at least for now.
Is Disney Dialing Back on Live-Action Remakes?
The mixed reactions and box office results of these divisive live-action remakes look to have sparked a strategy shift at Disney, reducing the number of adaptations moving forward and leaving some projects on hold.
Currently, Disney is still pushing forward with live-action remakes of Moana and Hercules, along with a Lilo & Stitch sequel. The sea-faring Moana adaptation starring Dwayne Johnson has already wrapped filming for release on July 10, 2026, but it seems to be changing Moana's original ending.
Just because Disney has cancelled, or at least shelved, six live-action remakes for now, that doesn't kill their chances of getting such a treatment forever. The studio is likely re-evaluating how it handles these remakes after the Snow White debacle, and could wait until after Moana to make any further decisions.
Lilo & Stitch notably managed to bring in over $1 billion with just a $100 million production budget (albeit with one of Disney's biggest brands at the forefront). By comparison, other remakes have carried budgets over $200 million, making it much tougher to land any major profit.
Moving forward, further remakes could have budgets slashed well below $200 million to reduce the risk factor. After all, it seems to be a rather unpredictable 50/50 question whether these live-action modernizations will break the box office or struggle to break even in recent years.
