Box Office: Disney’s ‘Hercules’ Remake Must Stick To The Script To Go The Distance

Fidelity to the 1997 Walt Disney
DIS
toon and a charismatic cast as the film’s marquee characters will be the two key elements in helping this latest live-action remake go the distance.

As first noted in The DisInsder and confirmed yesterday by the various trades, it looks like Hercules will be the next big Disney toon to get the (in theaters) live-action remake treatment. The 1997 flick, which has a following while also not necessarily being considered among Disney’s best of the 1989-1999 era, came courtesy of John Musker and Ron Clements. The action comedy musical stood out at the time for its stylized animation and lightweight narrative, which certainly felt like a change of pace after the comparatively grim and serious The Hunchback of Notre Dame from the previous summer.

The film earned generally positive reviews and nabbed $99 million domestic and $252.7 million worldwide on an $85 million budget, back when marketing expenses were cheaper, VHS was a vibrant revenue stream and “triple your budget” was a decent result. This time out, the new movie will be produced by Joe and Anthony Russo and penned by Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings scribe Dave Callaham. Online fan-casting aside (Robert Downey Jr. as Hades, Arianna Grande as Meg, etc.) notwithstanding, the film certainly seems more viable than, for example, Dumbo ($350 million, but on a $170 million budget).

Yes, Renny Harlin’s The Legend of Hercules earned $61 million on an $80 million budget in early 2014, while even Brett Ratner and Dwayne Johnson’s (pretty damn good) Hercules earned “just” $244 million global on a $100 million budget later that summer.  But just because the mere idea of a Hercules movie seems to fall in the same realm as doomed IP franchise-starters like Pan and The Lone Ranger, the specific tone, visuals, characters and songs of Disney’s Tate Donovan/Danny DeVito/James Woods/Susan Egan fantasy has specific appeal. The advantage, relatively speaking, is that this will be “Disney’s Hercules.”

The only problem with that approach, relatively speaking, is that it limits the amount of “different from the toon” artistic choices. Sure, I can joke about the Russos producing a hyperviolent “real” action movie akin to Extraction, 21 Bridges, Mosul and Wolf Warrior 2, Even a PG-13 version of that would make the film not that different from the aforementioned 2014 disappointments. Niki Caro’s Mulan had the ability to do something different, both because the original 1998 toon is a comparatively serious action fantasy and the mere idea of a PG-13 Chinese action epic featuring a well-known female action hero had a unique-unto-itself global appeal.

The good news is that folks may be intrigued to see specific movie stars playing the Disney-specific versions of these characters, which will go a long way in differentiating it from a generic Hercules actioner that just happens to have the Disney logo. It’s not like Dumbo or even Mulan (beyond its title character) featured characters who were all that popular popular, although the replacement of Shang-Li in the live-action Mulan will do little in terms of hurting its financial potential. And there were no marquee characters in The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. Audiences may show up for these specific versions of Hercules, Meg and Hades.

Again, I am sure Disney is having these conversations as we speak. Moreover, as much as I might roll my eyes at the padded, overwritten and “too-close-to-the-original” likes of Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King, those films earned $1.263 billion, $1.053 billion and $1.643 billion worldwide. Moreover, the reason Guy Ritchie’s Aladdin worked in spite of its screenplay and need to over-correct alleged culturally problematic elements was the sheer charm and charisma of its heroic leads (Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott and Will Smith), as well as the chance to see a bunch of non-white actors headlining a mega-budget musical fantasy romance.   

Casting will be of paramount importance. But Hercules has a character-specific advantage over Dumbo or even Mulan, in that audiences like the lead hero, the lead villain and the various supporting characters. Meg is one of the more popular Disney heroines of that era (with one of the best Disney love songs of the decade), Hades will be an excuse for any major actor to have a party and I suppose Danny DeVito could reprise the pint-sized Phil. Or, if they are going for a vaguely Greek cast, Theo James or  Sebastian Croft for Hercules, Hugh Jackman or John Stamos for Hades, Zoe Kazan for Meg and Zach Galifianakis for Phil.

Yes, Disney really is running out of animated hits which offer a strong nostalgic pull to today’s nostalgic adults. I expect The Little Mermaid will be the last mega-blockbuster in this specific sub-genre, but there is room for over/under $500 million grossers provided the budgets are kept in check. Heck, even if they are not, an overbudgeted but underperforming Hercules would still make for an A-level debut on Disney+ after it finishes up in theaters and the VOD/DVD cycle. As long as these “from Little Mermaid to Lilo & Stitch”-era remakes keep making big bucks, Disney will keep greenlighting them.