6) An IP dispute wouldn't be complete without mentioning Disney...

In the news this week, tabloids around the world are reporting that the UN goodwill ambassador and former Harry Potter actress, Emma Watson, has been cast as the latest Disney princess!

After posting the announcement on her Facebook page, its been confirmed that she will be playing the character of Belle, in a Disney live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. The reboot of the 1991 animated classic is also due to be directed by Bill Condon, whose name may sound familiar to you, as he as he is also directing Mr. Holmes (2015), mentioned in my previous post! 

Disney released their animated of version of the then public domain, La Belle et la Bête (1756), over two decades ago, which became a box-office hit, grossing more than $375 million worldwide. To add to this success, the animated feature was also made into a hit Broadway musical, nominated Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and 3 of its songs were nominated for Oscars, with the theme song, Beauty and the Beast taking the title.

But this newest adaptation, scheduled for release sometime in 2016, has raised a few eyebrows. Disney is now considered as refusing to take risks in order to finding new bankable properties, as the studio is just "dipping into its past and reimagining its back catalogue" (Grafton-Green, 2014). Although its common knowledge that this is not the first time Disney has remade some of its animated classics, the first example being 101 Dalmations (1996), the issue of Disney's live-action remake trend has arisen due to the fact that this is the fourth remake produced by the studio since 2014.

The first is the recent adaptation of Sleeping Beauty (1959), Maleficent (2014), released in cinemas worldwide last summer. Starring Angelina Jolie, its considered to be what Wicked (2003) is to The Wizard of Oz (1939), telling the story from the perspective of the antagonist. The film has been a notable success for the studio, despite its mixed reviews, as it earned an astonishing $750 million worldwide, making it the third-highest grossing film of 2014.

The second is the reimagining of Cinderella (1950), starring Downtown Abbey's (2010) Lily James and renowned actress Helena Bonham Carter. Although its due for release in March this year, the film has already smashed a few records when a two-minute trailer was premiered last November. Within 24 hours, the video obtained a massive 4.2 million hits and over 33 million Facebook views, according to The Independent.

Third and finally (for now), filming has already begun for The Jungle Book (2016), a new live-action-with-CGI-and-3D-adaptation of the 1991 Oscar-nominated animation. Directed by Jon Favreau and a cast list containing A-list celebrities, such as Christopher Walken, Scarlett Johanssen, Billy Murray and Idris Elba, its scheduled for release in April of 2016. It's also worth mentioning that the film will contain classic songs from the original movie, including Academy Award nominated The Bare Necessities, which will be sung Bill Murray. 

So why is all of this considered an IP issue?

Remakes. Remakes have a bad reputation, as they rarely live up to the original. There are a few exceptions to this rule of course, with Martin Scorsese's The Departed (2006) and The Coen Brother's True Grit (2010) being notable examples, but its common knowledge that remakes are often a big flop. Too often, Hollywood "will simply bank on the success of its predecessor in the hopes of attracting audiences" (Box Office Scoop; n.d), and it appears that Disney has jumped on the bandwagon of this remake trend. The studio is using their own animated IPs as bait, in an attempt to attract the familiar childhood culture audiences, telling them the same timeless story in a different way. 

Neither Maleficent or even 101 Dalmatians was lavished with praise, achieving a dissapointing 38% and 49% on Rotten Tomatoes, so why do they bother? Well, with Maleficent as a great example, these live-action films were a great success, commercially speaking, ranking in millions of dollars each time they arrived at our cinema screens!

So, revisiting films "that have formed an important part of so many childhoods is dangerous, if probably wildly lucrative, ground" (Grafton-Green, 2014), but so as long as these continue to attract huge audiences and prove to be a great financial success, there is no reason to think that Disney is going to stop this trend anytime soon...

But we mustn't begin hating on Disney just yet, as there are a few original Disney IP's due for release this year including, Inside Out (2015), Tomorrow Land (2015) and The Good Dinosaur (2015)! Whether or not these become as successful as the remakes, that's another matter, and I suppose we'll just have to wait to find out... 

But if we look at the issue from another perspective, it's also worth mentioning that this new remake trend might not necessarily be a bad thing. By introducing these new stories to more generations, it "leaves room for new vision and inventions" (Grafton-Green, 2014), spurring new creative ideas in the minds of the little ones. After all, IP laws have always been designed to leak at the sides, "encouraging the creation of art and ideas, so they can be consumed and built upon" (Decherney, 2012), and in this way, remakes allow us to learn from other people's creative mistakes and invent our our adaptations... 

So, remakes are vital to the future of the industry... whether you like them or not!

References and Bibliography

101 Dalmations. Disney, 1996. film.

Beauty And The Beast. Disney, 1991. film.

Boxofficescoop.com,. '15 Remakes So Terrible They Were A Disgrace To The Originals | Box Office Scoop'. N.p., 2015. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.

Cinderella. Disney, 1950. film.

Cinderella. Disney, 2015. film.

Decherney, Peter. Hollywood's Copyright Wars. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012. Print.

Denham, Jess. 'Cinderella Trailer Breaks Disney Record For Most Online Views In 24 Hours'. The Independent. N.p., 2014. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.

'Downtown Abbey'. ITV, 2010. TV programme.

Gilkyson, Terry. The Bare Necessities. Disney, 1967. Soundtrack.

Grafton-Green, Patrick. 'From Cinderella To The Jungle Book, Disney Plans Live-Action Remakes Of Animated Classics - But Can They Recapture The Old Magic?'. The Independent. N.p., 2014. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.

Inside Out. Disney, 2015. film

Leprince de Beaumont, Jeanne-Marie. La Belle Et La Bête. France: N.p., 1756. Print.

Maleficent. Disney, 2014. DVD.

Menken, Alan, and Howard Ashman. Beauty And The Beast. Disney, 1991. Soundtrack.

Mr Holmes. Bill Condon, 2015. film.

Rottentomatoes.com,. '101 Dalmatians'. N.p., 2015. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.

Rottentomatoes.com,. 'Maleficent'. N.p., 2015. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.

Sleeping Beauty. Disney, 1959. film.
Tomorrow Land. Disney, 2015. film

The Departed. Martin Scorsese, 2006. film.

The Good Dinosaur. Disney, 2015. film

The Jungle Book. Disney. film.

The Jungle Book. Disney, 1967. film.

The Wizard Of Oz. Victor Fleming, 1939. film.

True Grit. Coen Brothers, 2010. film.

Watson, Emma. 'Emma Watson - I'm Finally Able To Tell You... That I Will... | Facebook'.Facebook.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.

Beauty and the Beast Gif
Beauty and the Beast Theme Song
Maleficent Gif
Disney's Cinderella Trailer
The Bare Necessities Song
Cruella Devil Gif
Haters Gonna Hate Gif