Disney classics that need a live action remake

Ash Walker • 20 May 2025 Features

Some day my (live action) prince will come…

Despite some pretty… mixed critical and commercial feeling in recent years - looking at you, Snow White - Disney just loves to remake its animated classics in live action.

So far there have been 23 live action Disney remakes (including sequels), from The Lion King to Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. But there are still a ton of great films that have yet to receive the remake treatment.

We’ve trawled through the Disney Vault and picked the films that, in our humble opinions, should be top of Disney’s to-do list.

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Credit: Sleeping Beauty Official Trailer (Walt Disney Animation Studios, YouTube)

Perhaps the biggest omission in Disney’s current slate of live action adaptations - although you could argue that they’ve already touched on this story with the Maleficent films.

Sleeping Beauty is an all-time classic, and has everything you’d want in a Disney movie: a princess, an iconic castle, an epic villain. It even has a great big dragon at the end, which would look incredible rendered in modern, big budget CGI.

In fact, the whole movie would look amazing, playing on traditional fairy tale imagery with fairies, witches and enchanted thorns. 

The only area where this classic falls down a little is in the music. Really there’s only one memorable song to speak of - ‘Once Upon a Dream’, which is undeniably a banger - but that just leaves room for a modern composer to put their stamp on the film.

We’d be very surprised if Disney didn’t announce a Sleeping Beauty remake very soon…

The Sword in the Stone (1963)

Credit: The Sword in the Stone (1963) Preview (Film Trailer Channel, YouTube)

There have been countless versions of the Arthurian legend over the years, but few are as beloved as Disney’s, which is itself based on the first part of The Once and Future King by TH White.

The story is pretty bonkers, when you think about it - wizard Merlin takes young Arthur, a hapless squire, under his wing, teaching him valuable life lessons by transforming him into various creatures. The whole thing culminates in the iconic moment when Arthur pulls Excalibur from its rocky prison, becoming de facto king of England.

Unlike other recent on-screen Arthurs, this live action remake should do as the animated original does and really lean into the magic. We want talking owls, animated brooms and full-on animal transmogrification!

Just imagine how epic the battle of wits between Merlin and Madame Mim could be, rendered on-screen in lavish photorealistic animation.

The Rescuers (1977)

Credit: The Rescuers (1977) Trailer (Film Trailer Channel, YouTube)

The story of two brave mice, tasked with rescuing a young girl from the clutches of some villainous jewel thieves. Bernard and Bianca (the mice) are members of the Rescue Aid Society, whose sole mission is to help out lost and imperilled children.

It’s a great premise for a movie - itself based on a book series by Margery Sharp - and one that is ripe for rediscovery by a new generation. Plus it’s just so much fun!

The blending of human and animal characters on screen wouldn’t be an issue either. The furry do-gooders could easily be brought to life with modern special effects wizardry - just look at something like Paddington for a great example.

And if the movie does well, we can totally see the further adventures of Bernard, Bianca and the Rescue Aid Society explored in a Disney+ series.

The Black Cauldron (1985)

Credit: The Black Cauldron (1985) Trailer (Film Trailer Channel, YouTube)

Otherwise known as Disney’s emo phase. The Black Cauldron - loosely based on the Chronicles of Prydain series of books by Lloyd Alexander - is a heavy metal album come to life, a dark fantasy filled with weird creatures, necromancy and skeleton armies.

Not your typical Disney fair then, and by all accounts not quite as good as some of the more well-known classics, but the film has its die-hard fans and, more importantly for this list, would make an absolutely incredible live action movie.

Storywise it’s bog-standard epic fantasy, very much along the lines of Lord of the Rings or Star Wars - naive farmboy, magical object, dark lord, epic quest - but it’s the world, inspired by medieval Wales, that’s the real draw here.

Imagine dark forests, miasmic swamps and doom-laden gothic castles. Plus all the aforementioned monsters. It’s a production designer’s dream!

Think something like Army of Darkness, populated with the freaky Jim Henson puppets from Labyrinth and you’re most of the way there. Now who in their right mind wouldn’t want to watch something like that?

Tarzan (1999)

Credit: Tarzan (1999) Trailer #1 (Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers, YouTube)

A bit of an underappreciated gem in the Disney canon, Tarzan adapts Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic series of pulp novels into a fun, heartfelt, action-packed adventure.

You probably know the story, even if you haven’t seen the movie - lost in the African jungle as a baby, Tarzan is raised by apes, and that’s the only world he ever knows until he stumbles upon a band of British explorers. One named Jane in particular.

The tension - and comedy - is all in the pull between Tarzan’s two worlds: his adoptive family of gorillas and his human roots. Will he choose to stay in the jungle or follow these newfound companions back to London?

The Disney movie gets it spot-on, and manages to pack in some genuinely thrilling action sequences to boot. Just imagine how cool it would be to see the camera whipping around as Tarzan - in live action - surfs and swings through the jungle, chased by a horde of screeching baboons.

And then there’s the music. Full of massive Phil Collins bangers like ‘Two Worlds’ and ‘You’ll Be In My Heart’, it’s truly one of the all-time great Disney soundtracks, and deserves to be discovered by a whole new generation of moviegoers.

The Fox and the Hound (1981)

Credit: The Fox and the Hound (1981) Trailer (Film Trailer Channel, YouTube)

A sweet, simple story about two young friends - a fox and a hound - who are driven apart by societal expectations. Disney has form with photorealistic animal leads, and…

Actually, no, never mind.

This one would never work - sitting through that gut-wrenching finale in live action would be far too traumatic.

The latest live action Disney remake, Lilo & Stitch, is in cinemas from 23rd May. Fancy watching it for free? All Sky Cinema customers get two free cinema tickets, every month.

And while you’re at it, check out our ranking of the top 5 Disney live action remakes, and our argument that maybe these remakes aren’t such a bad thing after all.