Can We Just Stop With Remakes and Politics?

By Andy Kober

Perhaps the latest Disney disaster might finally put a stop to remakes, especially those involving politics.

Like many parents and grandparents I remember reading the story of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” to my child when she was very young. This was not the Brothers Grimm version but rather the Disney version. It was one of many Disney stories I read to her at bedtime. As she grew older we watched the popular animated Disney version along with the broad collection of Disney animated movies. Those movies were incredibly popular and I remember purchasing them on VHS for her to watch.

That has been a few years ago.

That was when Disney was still true to the aspirations and ideals of Walt Disney and the animated movies were huge hits, often with successive generations.

Parents and grandparents took small children to theaters just to watch these animated classics, movies that mixed live action with animation, and new animated movies that followed.

Sad how times have changed.

TODAY’S Disney productions are a far cry from the previous movies that small children could watch.

Instead of creating new stories, leadership at Disney has taken to “remaking” those iconic movies and more often than not the remakes have fallen far short of the originals, and reason is simple.

The current group of leaders at Disney no longer place quality entertainment for children as the first priority. Instead, the series of “remakes” or “reboots” appear more concerned with social agendas and political agendas than entertainment. There are those who have accused Disney of becoming “woke” which is often a moving target.

That Disney has lost direction on remakes is exemplified by the latest iteration of Snow White.

Even before the movie premiered, it was being heavily criticized and its opening weekend was a disaster. In fact, it generated less revenue than any of Disney’s previous live-action remakes and was bombarded with bad reviews. One critic called the movie “toe-curlingly terrible.”

In fairness, the audience reviews were 74 percent positive but the geopolitical and demographic makeup of the audiences was not noted and could be important.

Rachel Zegler, the main star of the latest but apparently not greatest rendition of “Snow White”, was vocally critical of the original movie and its traditional themes, and if that was not enough she demonized supporters of President Donald Trump. Those two things alone would have turned many people away from the movie. It seems as though the Hollywood crowd would learn from their mistakes, but fail to do so.

That was not the only faux pas as the Disney people wanted to make the depiction of dwarfs more politically correct.

The result was predictable to everyone but Disney.

The “Snow White” remake cost about $250 million to produce and generated less than $50 million opening weekend – when this column was written. This will make it even worse than Disney’s disastrous live-action remake of “Dumbo” that cost $170 million to make and only generated $46 million its opening weekend.

What Disney has done to its own original iconic movies, it is also doing to the Marvel franchise, and everything else the company touches.

THE LESSON that Disney, and others, needs to learn is simple – quit with the remakes. Produce offerings that are fresh and new.

Leave political correctness, social agendas and progressive politics out of movies and televisions programs.

The first and forecast goal of any production should be entertainment – nothing else.

That’s my opinion.

Andy Kober can be reached at andykober@hotmail.com