The live-action remake of Disney‘s beloved ’73 animated classic, Robin Hood, has been scrapped, according to the director.
The remake was first reported in 2020, and it was set to be a CGI and live-action hybrid, as well as a musical. Raya and the Last Dragon director Carlos López Estrada was set to helm the film.
“It’s dead sadly. I say sadly because I actually thought there was something really special (and original!) there. Some truly extraordinary music we had figured out for it,” Estrada wrote in a Reddit AMA, adding: “I keep daydreaming about doing it independently with different characters.”
The animated Robin Hood depicts all the major characters as animals, with Robin Hood a red fox, Little John a bear, and Prince John a (pretty scrawny) lion. The Sheriff of Nottingham is a wolf, Maid Marian another red fox, and the rest of the cast are made up of the likes of rabbits, a rooster, a badger, and a snake.
Naturally, then, a lot of the film’s unique charm comes from the animation, which likely would have been stripped away by a live-action reimagining. That’s a sentiment a lot of movie fans are sharing, with one writing on Reddit: “Oh, I know! Let’s take the thing people love about animation and get rid of it! They’ll love animation even more without the animation!”
“There are already too many Robin Hood movies anyways, including the one with Hugh Jackman which comes out this summer,” points out another person.
Someone else simply said, “GOOD!” while another agrees: “This is the best news. These ‘live action’ remakes are stupid.”
However, the news that the film isn’t going ahead is pretty surprising, considering the live-action Lilo and Stitch grossed over $1 billion at the box office last year, and the live-action Moana is arriving in just a few months. It’s unclear when the decision was made to scrap the Robin Hood remake, though.
You can keep up to date with everything Disney has in store with our guide to all the upcoming Disney movies.
