With the much-anticipated, Emma Watson-starring Beauty and the Beast in cinemas this week, live-action remakes are a hot topic. After the success of The Jungle Book and The BFG in 2016, the trend is set to continue over the next few years.
To spark discussion among film lovers, Vue have flipped the current trend of live-action remakes on its head and surveyed the nation to ask which iconic live-action films they’d like animated. Working with award-winning illustrator Amrit Birdi, the UK cinema chain have created ten images representing what these famous live-action movies might look like in the style of creative cartoons. We’ll be revealing one image a day so head on over to our Twitter to guess the films.
Eduardo Leal, Senior Film Content Manager at Vue Entertainment, had this to say:
“When looking at live action remakes of classic animations as a trend, we cannot dissociate this phenomenon from Disney’s central role in shaping the entire industry for the past 20 years. After re-defining animation with Pixar, Disney has been focusing its entire studio strategy on tentpole franchises that lend themselves to what Disney does best since its modest start in the 1920s – expanding the value of its family entertainment brands into other media (e.g. books, consumer products, theme parks).”
“Even though the company has been active in acquiring other brand portfolios (Marvel, LucasFilm, Pixar), remaking their own classic animations into live action (e.g. Alice in Wonderland, The Jungle Book, Sleeping Beauty/Maleficent, Cinderella) is a natural way of updating these franchises to a new generation whilst taking full advantage of the recent advances in make-up and CGI. As with most Disney film releases, these live-action remakes represent large investments in ‘safe’household brands that children and parents instantly recognise.”
“It’s no surprise that the major animation studios have started to increase their output. Pixar has gone from one release to occasionally two a year, and DreamWorks at one point increased its output to three releases a year. This growth in production is fuelled by success, meaning the number of animated films released is only likely to increase in future. This is because they represent good business for studios, with sequels built around computer generated ecosystems that are cost effective to reproduce, resulting in box office success.”
#10 – The Lord of the Rings
#9 – Back to the Future
#8 – E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
#7 – Forrest Gump
#6 – Ghostbusters
#5 – Grease
#4 – Jaws
#3 – Jurassic Park
#2 – Pirates of the Caribbean
#1 – Announced tomorrow
