We’ve had enough.
Hollywood is coming for us. King Kong, Superman, Snow White — no character is safe, and neither are we. They’ve rebooted and reanimated basically all of our childhood favorites. We don’t recognize them.
We let our guard down. We’ve been lured here, by our love for what once was. We’ll die on this hill—killed by countless remakes.
While we’d love to walk you through all 1,000 deaths, let’s stick to three for now.
Death by animated remake
Classic animated films are untouchable… and they should stay that way.
The 2019 version of The Lion King was Disney’s attempt at a photorealistic version of the 1994 classic. They made a movie about singing lions, but they had no facial expressions and hardly any emotion.
And what about Pumbaa? He was a goofy and lovable warthog. Now he’s just… a warthog. The animation looks (mostly) realistic, but it relies on your nostalgia to make it feel magical.
Death by live-action remake
If animated remakes feel like something’s off, let us present live-action adaptations.
The 2017 version of Beauty and the Beast was a reimagining of the 1991 animation. It was true to the original—too true.
In the live-action version, the realism just makes the whole being held hostage and Stockholm syndrome thing way harder to ignore. It needed some new IP.
Death by musical remake
Now for another death, and a painful one at that. The musical adaptation.
The 2024 version of Mean Girls was based on the Broadway musical, which was based on the 2004 original. The first Mean Girls was so funny and so rewatchable. But, even the New York Times says the musical adaptation is “not especially tart and is undeniably over-padded.”
Musical remakes are tough. What is tangible in a musical with an audience does not often translate to the screen. When ineffective, they become endless and painful karaoke.
Death by all three
We said we’d just talk about only three of these deaths—it was a lie. There was a secret fourth option—a combo of them all.
The 2019 version of Cats was insane. It was a live-action musical with a bad soundtrack that was also heavily animated—complete with fuzzy CGI ears that would not stop twitching.
The moral of the story
In the creative world, whether designing a campaign or pitching a program, it’s tempting to execute with what’s safe—familiar IP, overused formulas, “it worked before, it’ll work again,” or the all too familiar superhero motif.
What’s forgotten is the necessity of fresh storytelling. It’s how we can connect, feel, and be moved by something.
This is where Mahalo Digital comes in. We write, design, and tell original stories that stick. So, if you’re tired of reboots, we’ve got ideas.
