Four years ago, it was announced that Disney was looking to move forward with a live-action remake of the animated classic Bambi. Then last year, the studio made it known that they were looking to hire Academy Award-winning director Sarah Polley (Women Talking) to helm the feature film. News of the remake has been scarce since then, but now, according to a report from The Wrap, Polley has quietly left the remake.
It’s unclear when Polley departed, and under what circumstances. The report also says that the studio is equally unclear as to whether the movie will still move forward. Disney’s former president of Walt Disney Motion Picture Production, Sean Bailey, has recently left his position, and he was largely responsible for the number of live-action remakes we’ve seen over the last decade. Now that he’s left the studio, things may or may not be getting a shakeup, which Disney CEO Bob Iger has recently spoken to at the Morgan Stanley investor conference, where he mentioned that the studio has “killed a few projects already that we just didn’t feel were strong enough.” He didn’t mention anything by name, although it’s possible “Bambi” was one of those projects.
Only time will tell. I don’t think anyone was really clamoring for a remake of Bambi, so I think that one could easily fall by the wayside, and the studio wouldn’t suffer because of it. As it is, many of the live-action Disney remakes haven’t done very well as far as money and fan reception, so I think Disney would do well to continue making sequels and original content.
What do you think? Do you hope the studio moves forward with a live-action Bambi movie?