• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, March 18, 2025

Consumers may be wising up to the whole idea about franchise movies, TV series spinoffs (Hello “NCIS” and “Law & Order”) and other successful stories and characters that have a longer lifespan.

It’s all about making money -- not necessarily creating good content.

A new survey goes a bit further in one regard: what consumers feel about Walt Disney’s live-action remakes of its original animation classics.

Nearly 60% say -- somewhat obviously -- that Disney is doing this as “just a way to make money,” while 55% say they are “not as good as the originals” and 38% say they are “unnecessary and uninspired.”

This comes from research from MX8 Labs, a market-research firm. On the slightly positive side of things, 52% say they “bring the stories to a new audience.”

That last point is one obvious goal going forward for any marketer -- to expand their TAM (Total Addressable Market).

For Disney, this is in the hopes of selling those consumers even more Disney brand storylines, as well as merchandise, Disney theme park attractions and rides, and other products and services.

MX8 Labs’ insights come from over 500 respondents 18 years and older. Data was weighted to be nationally representative based on demographics, socioeconomic factors, and geography/residence.

Some of those live action remakes included "The Jungle Book," "Aladdin," "Dumbo," "Mulan," "The Lion King," "Cruella," "Christopher Robin," "Cinderella," "Maleficent," "Lady and the Tramp," "Pete's Dragon," "Pinocchio" and "Alice Through the Looking Glass."

Some of the more successful remakes, per IMDb's Box Office Mojo, were “Beauty and the Beast," at $1.36 billion (2017); “Aladdin” with $1.1 billion (2019) and “The Little Mermaid” at $569.6 million (2023).

Upcoming this year will be “Snow White.”

Analysis is not just focused on theatrical movies' big million- or billion-dollar paydays Disney gets from these movies, but longer term, what they mean for the company’s growing premium streaming business under Disney+.

Disney's live-action remakes are crucial for Disney+, as they generate significant revenue in terms of the pull of new subscribers for these beloved core Disney-brand movies and stories. All that can keep streaming churn to a minimum while extending engagement on the platform to many other areas.

For many, the analysis around feeding the core Disney brand may go a long way to expand other non Disney-centric entertainment live-action content efforts -- especially around stronger adult brands like the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Still, even with smarter media and entertainment consumers knowing the business-financial score -- perhaps with an air of cynicism -- Disney can still point to the obvious: loyal consumers are ready and able to pay up to continue to ingest a new story -- wherever it plays.