The 10 Animated Classics Disney WON'T Remake In Live Action

10. The Lion King

If there's one movie above all others Disney would want to remake, it's The Lion King. Until Frozen (which you can guarantee will get the treatment once the sequel pool dries up), it was the company's biggest hit and remains the cultural touchstone by which all subsequent films are measured; the "Best since The Lion King" line is so potent even Disney use it in their marketing.

But it simply wouldn't work. There's no human characters in the film, so, unlike The Jungle Book, which is grounded by Mowgli, you'd be essentially making a photo-realistic animated movie, which feels incredibly reductive and doesn't offer that advancement of concept these movies clamour for.

Of course, Hamlet On The Savanna has already been brought into live-action before, with the obscenely long-running stage musical, and that may be the biggest reason Disney will be non-plussed about not being able to do a new movie; The Lion King brand is already massive and exists independent of the original animation. It doesn't need a revamp to be profitable. There's even a new animated TV series, The Lion Guard, which has just received a second season. They can Hakuna Matata this one.