Why is Disney Sleeping On Treasure Planet?

Disney is really ramping up their live-action adaptations. Winnie the Pooh, Mulan, Dumbo, Aladdin, and The Lion King are all going to be getting remakes from a variety of brilliant directors, and while that's all well and good, it feels a bit...pointless? After all, those films are classics of cinema, so remaking them really serves no purpose beyond giving people a chance to see beloved characters in live-action. 

 Plus a chance to see an adaption of this cocaine nightmare disguised as a whimsical dream sequence. 

What would be much more interesting is seeing Disney taking films that failed and adapting them into live-action blockbusters that could theoretically thrive where they once suffered. For my first (and probably best) example of this is Treasure Planet, a 2002 sci-fi adaption of the classic Treasure Island, only with space pirates. The film was well-received critically and was widely seen as a refreshing entry in the Disney Animated Canon, so naturally it bombed, costing Disney nearly $47 million and causing them to shift away from traditional animation. 

And what's frustrating about that is it really shouldn't have, given how much was going for it. A good cast, exciting visuals, and a really good premise, added with one of Disney's best villains in the form of John Silver. Hell, no one can even really tell how it failed, with most guesses coming down to the fact that it came out around the same time as Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, costing it it's target audience. Well, guess what Disney? You can just avoid that next time. 

In an era where sci-fi is once again the top dog, all Disney would need to guarantee success is giving a big budget and a good director. (In my mind, James Gunn would nail it. Just putting it out there.) "But Ryan," you ask, annoyingly, "Would people even remember this film?" To which I reply, full of gusto, do they even need to? If audiences see a cool Disney-produced science fiction movie, they'll see it. 

Besides, who even remembers Dumbo? 

In conclusion, Treasure Planet is an underrated gem, and a live-action adaption could not only do it justice, but maybe turn a new generation of viewers towards the original film as well. It's Disney, for goodness sake, they can take some risks.