Bambi Is Getting A Live-Action Remake
Bambi is slated for a live-action remake, but Disney has yet to announce a release date.
The 1942 animated film Bambi is one of the few Disney classics that, so far, has not been subjected to Disney’s recent trend of creating live-action versions of their massive catalog of animated feature films. That soon will change, however, with Deadline reporting that Dawn of the Dead actress and Women Talking director Sarah Polley is in talks to direct a “live-action” remake of the film. The film will use photorealistic CGI similar to the 2019 remake of The Lion King.
If the talks are fruitful, Sarah Polley will be the latest in a long line of major directors who have created live-action remakes for the House of Mouse. Other big-name directors who have created these remakes include Iron Man director Jon Favreau, Sherlock Holmes director Guy Ritchie, Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis, and Edward Scissorhands director Tim Burton.
While the upcoming Bambi remake film is billed as “live-action,” the original Bambi has no visible human characters, with the only mention of humans being off-screen hunters — one of whom shoots and kills Bambi’s mother midway. A faithful remake of the movie would likely have no humans onscreen, meaning that Disney is unlikely to implement any live-action elements. Instead, all of the animals and environments will probably be computer-animated, meaning that the “live-action” claim is just in reference to the photorealistic nature of the animated film.
The strength of Bambi as a film relies on the emotional impact its anthropomorphized animals have on the audience — an impact so profound that it is credited for kickstarting interest in animal rights among its viewers. If the remake removes the humanized elements of the animated deer, replacing the characters’ emotive faces with realistic glassy-eyed expressions, the new movie will likely lose the original film’s emotional impact. This is a common weakness of Disney‘s latest remakes, such as Dumbo (2019), The Jungle Book (2016), and The Lion King (2019).
However, despite these oft-cited weaknesses, Disney’s remakes have almost all been major financial successes. While Dumbo lost the studio money, The Jungle Book earned a massive $966 million at the box office, and The Lion King brought in $1.6 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing animated film of all time. So, even if a realistic remake weakens the effectiveness of Bambi‘s story, that might not have any effect on the film’s wider success.
It’s notable, however, that the original Bambi did not perform particularly well in the box office during its initial theatrical run, despite its current status as a Disney classic. The movie only made $1.7 million domestically, only lasting in theaters for two weeks before being pulled. It wasn’t until the movie was reissued into theaters in 1966 that it started making major profits, eventually earning $267 million across its multiple reissues.
Given that the average Disney remake costs more than $250 million to make, it goes without saying that the studio hopes that Bambi will earn more than the entire lifetime gross of the original film.
No projected release date for Bambi has been announced.
