With Disney’s recent box office results being less than stellar, as audiences have become bored of live-action remakes and sequels, Disney has been taking a long hard look at its projects. 

Recently, it was revealed that Sean Bailey, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, was replaced by Searchlight Picture’s co-president, David Greenbaum. Sean had run Disney’s live-action movie division for over fifteen years and has had some huge success with live-action movies like “Aladdin,” “Alice In Wonderland,” “The Jungle Book”, “Maleficent,” “Beauty And The Beast,” and “The Lion King.”

However, Disney has reached into its back catalogue of amazing animated classics one too many times, with lacklustre results for “The Little Mermaid”, “Dumbo”, and other straight-to Disney+ films, “Peter Pan & Wendy” and “Pinocchio”.  

Things are looking to be changing with Walt Disney Studios with David Greenbaum taking over the leadership role. Recently, it was revealed by Puck News that David always asks one simple question about any new project: “Does this film need to exist?” David has been behind some major films, including “The Shape of Water,” “12 Years a Slave,” and “Slumdog Millionaire.”

And just earlier this week, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that they’ve quietly cancelled some projects, as they look to improve the quality of their projects

“We’ve killed a few projects already that we just didn’t feel were strong enough.”

This comment has led to much speculation about what projects they’ve killed off, and ironically, one project that looks to have been impacted is the live-action version of Bambi, as according to TheWrap, Sarah Polley will no longer direct the film.     The director has previously worked on “Women Talking“, where she won an Oscar for her Screenplay.

It’s unclear if the entire project is now cancelled, or if Disney is looking for another director, but with the words from both Bob Iger and David Greenbaum, it doesn’t look good.  Though that depends on your point of view, many Disney fans have questioned “why?” whenever the idea of a live-action “Bambi” movie is mentioned.

Disney has got lots of other live-action remakes in various stages of development, with “Lilo & Stitch” recently wrapped filming and a sequel to “The Lion King” due to arrive in cinemas in December.  Plus, there is also “Moana” and “Snow White”, which was recently delayed until 2025 (though many might also want “Snow White” cancelled!)   There are also reports of other films, including “Hercules”, “Aristocats”, “Robin Hood”, and “Sword In The Stone”, in addition to sequels of “Aladdin, “Maleficent”, and “Cruella”.  

With new leadership and a focus on quality over quantity, maybe Disney has worked out that just remaking old films and doing sequels isn’t always going to work and reduces them down, and I personally think that’s for the best, or at least space them out a few years apart, as like Disney’s done with Star Wars and Marvel, gotten a little carried away with how many projects they’ve released.

Do you think its a good idea for a live-action remake of “Bambi” to get cancelled?  Let us know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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