Remaking Animated Movies Like How to Train Your Dragon in Live-Action Probably Isn’t Going Away… and That’s Okay

Remember way, way back in March of the year 2025 when a bunch of people were declaring that the era of beloved animated movies being remade in live-action was done? That’s when Disney’s Snow White opened and promptly bombed. Then, very shortly after, Disney put a live-action version of Tangled they were developing on hold. Whether the timing of that decision was coincidental or not, many began to speculate that Snow White’s performance had a massive ripple effect that could finally put an end to these remakes so many sneered at.

…Except then the live-action Lilo & Stitch came out and became an instant massive hit.

And now Universal is getting in on this trend with the release of their first remake of an animated movie in their own library, as the live-action version of DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon arrives in theaters this weekend. And while anything could happen, it’s tracking to open quite well.

Oh, and next year Disney has a live-action version of Moana coming out. And based on the animated Moana 2 making over a billion dollars at the box office just a few months ago, it seem likely that will be a success too.

So yeah, it feels like this isn’t going to just stop in its tracks anytime soon. Sure, you might see Disney become more selective about which films they remake, especially since it’s pretty apparent that, exceptions aside, there’s a much better chance of success in remaking a movie that first opened in the 1990s (or even more recently than that) – and thus has a lot of relevance to a relatively younger audience who grew up with it, not to mention any modern little kids it’s been passed on to – versus something like Snow White, which is nearly 90 years old now. But there is still clearly money to be made from this practice, and word on the street is that, shockingly, movie studios like money (I predict in the not too distant future we see live-action takes on the likes of Frozen, Encanto and, yes, Tangled, which can just as easily stop being on hold).

Financial success doesn’t equal quality of course, and this entire “remake the vault!” endeavor is inarguably a pretty cynical one as far as the overriding corporate drive towards putting out movies believed to most likely sell a bunch of tickets, even as few of them begin life for artistic reasons. And some of them have had painful results to be sure, like Disney’s Pinocchio remake. Or there’s a case like 2019’s The Lion King (technically still animated, but now “photo realistic”), which was a huge hit, yes, but was also a movie which contained all the plot points of the original with little of its heart and emotion.

And yet, I do think people go overboard in how angrily they react to these movies. I remember a few years ago when a friend of mine lamented that Disney was trying to replace all of the original versions with these new ones. But I’ve never felt that was the case, and I think that’s pretty obvious looking at how they merchandise these titles in the long run, even when the remakes are clear-cut blockbuster hits. Consider 2017’s Beauty and the Beast, which was a huge, billion dollar-grossing success (Did you know that movie made $90 million domestically in its second weekend? That’s one of the best second weekend takes ever). A few years later, if you go to buy Beauty & the Beast merch, which version are you going to find represented? It sure ain’t the live-action one, since just about everything is again based off the original version of the characters.

I guess that can add to the cynical, bottom line-driven thoughts fans have about the whole remake idea, since I think Disney knows this will always be the case in the long run, even when these movies make them a ton of money upon release. They are produced because people love this story already and, often, will show up for a new version of that story. But regardless, it’s the original that remains the core version for most fans, and that’s also the one that Disney themselves understand is the “real” version if one had to pick.

That’s even the case when a remake is better than the original. And yes, that’s happened, including for Disney! 2016’s The Jungle Book and that same year’s Pete’s Dragon (I know, I know, both versions of that one are live-action/animation hybrids) were done better the second time around and feel like stronger artistic achievements. But at Disney Parks, when Mowgli is represented, he still looks like the cartoon kid from 1967.

When it comes to the current crop of remakes we’re getting today, yeah, Snow White was a big mess (on top of being way less relevant to a younger audience), but I’m one of those people who thinks the new Lilo & Stitch is a damn good version of what we already knew was a great story (just like I said in my review). There are even a couple of aspects of the new version I like better in this one, like Nani’s expanded role (no, sigh, I don’t think she “abandoned Lilo to the state” at the end of the movie), even though, sure, if I was told I could only watch one version for the rest of my life, I’d stick with the original.

But good news - I don’t have to make that choice and neither do you! You can see the new one or skip it. It can be a huge hit or a bomb. But they’ll still let you see the original and still make sure it’s readily available because they know people will always want to, and they, per usual, like making money.

I’ve also seen How to Train Your Dragon, 2025 edition, and it’s one of those cases where a wonderful story is once again told well and, thankfully, there are some genuine emotions to be felt by the end of it - though in that case, there is a bit of a bigger obstacle in the early scenes if you know the animated film, since the new one replicates the original extremely closely in a manner that does feel way too constrained and boxed in by choices from 15 years ago, even though it’s actually one of the same directors of the animated version behind the remake this time.

And yet I saw people cry at my screening who I discovered had never seen the original before. The story still works in this version so the story still got them. You could say, “Well, those people should just watch the original!” And I agree, that would be ideal, while also knowing some of those folks might not anytime soon and that it’s the release of the shiny New Movie that gets them to finally check it out - but then hopefully leads them to the animated version after that.

Universal has already ordered a sequel to the live-action How to Train Your Dragon, so they’re clearly feeling quite optimistic about the performance of the film. And yet just this past month, in the midst of the studio hyping up the live-action movie, the large new How to Train Your Dragon - Isle of Berk land opened as part of the new Epic Universe theme park at Universal Orlando Resort. And which version of How to Train Your Dragon is that land and its multiple attractions and shows based on? The animated one, of course! Because the new version is good, yes, and Universal is hopeful about turning it into its own multiple-film series, but the animated film is already timeless and one they can count on resonating for years to come.

The new version doesn’t hurt the original, whether it’s good or bad, because regardless of how we feel about the remake, those of us who love the original are reminded of why we love it by the remake’s mere existence - whether it’s because the new version successfully recaptures the warm feelings the original always evoked or, by failing to recapture them, it just really pisses us off. But either way, the original is always there, waiting for us to revisit it as often as we want.

For even more on this topic, check out our ranking of the live-action Disney remakes.