Summary
- "Alice in Wonderland" was Tim Burton's highest-grossing movie, making over $1 billion worldwide, thanks to its unique gothic and whimsical visuals, star-studded cast, and lack of major competition at the box office.
- The success of "Alice in Wonderland" shifted Disney's focus onto live-action remakes of its animated films, leading to a string of remakes that adopted the same formula of high budgets, CGI, and A-list actors. However, recent remakes haven't seen the same success as "Alice in Wonderland."
- Despite diminishing returns on investment, Disney continues to prioritize live-action remakes due to their potential profitability. However, inconsistent quality and the availability of films on Disney Plus have impacted their box office performance. The trend of live-action remakes is expected to continue, with potential remakes of even recent animated films like "Moana" in the works.
Burton's collaborators like Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, and it led to the biggest financial success of his career. Alice in Wonderland made $1.025 billion worldwide (via Box Office Mojo).
There had been live-action Disney remakes released before 2010, such as 1994's Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book and 1996's 101 Dalmations, but they weren't all that successful. It wasn't until the success of 2010's Alice in Wonderland that Disney realized it could capitalize on live-action remakes of its beloved animated films. Not only that, but Alice in Wonderland had a unique formula that most subsequent live-action Disney remakes copied. However, despite the fact that the Tim Burton-directed movie grossed over a billion dollars, Disney shifting its focus onto live-action remakes has proven to be not quite as rewarding as expected.
Why Alice In Wonderland Made $1 Billion Despite Mixed Reviews
Alice in Wonderland was released in March 2010 to mixed reviews from critics and audiences, soon being considered one of Burton's worst movies after earning a "rotten" 51% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, despite its mixed reception, the movie was still a huge success at the box office, marking Burton's first (and so far only) billion-dollar movie. One reason why Alice in Wonderland performed so well at the box office is that it wasn't facing competition from any major family-friendly films throughout February and March, giving Disney a relative monopoly in theaters with a big-budget, familiar IP that appealed to a broad audience pool.
It wasn't until later in March that the movie saw significant competition with How to Train Your Dragon, meaning that Alice in Wonderland was in theaters without any competition for three whole weeks. In addition to the lack of competition, Alice in Wonderland boasted an appealing all-star cast that included acclaimed actors like Johnny Depp and Anne Hathaway. Of course, Tim Burton is a brand in his own right, whose name being attached to the project doubtlessly increased interest after his recent adaptation successes like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Sweeney Todd. All of those elements, along with the fact that the movie is part of an established multigenerational, beloved IP, made Alice in Wonderland a recipe for success.
Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland Success Started Disney's Live-Action Remake Obsession
Though other live-action remakes of Disney's animated movies had been produced before 2010, they were few and far between and not Disney's highest priority. However, following Alice in Wonderland's huge box office success, this mindset for a potential gold mine changed. Outside its other successful studios and brands like Marvel Studios, Pixar, and LucasFilm, Disney has made live-action remakes of its beloved animated classics one of its highest priorities. There are now 21 live-action Disney remakes, and there's no sign of the studio slowing down.
While the pre-2010 live-action remakes clearly had ample budgets and production value, Alice in Wonderland started the model that every following live-action remake has used. Alice in Wonderland is full of CGI, a $200 million budget, and a star-studded cast, just like Disney's other live-action remakes released afterward. The live-action remakes have adopted this formula, which has become something of a problem, as the budgets are now inflating to $260 million (via Deadline), and it has gotten to the point where there's so much CGI that the "live-action" remakes are really animated remakes, as 2019's The Lion King being live-action is highly debated.
Why Disney's Recent Remakes Haven't Had The Same Success As Alice In Wonderland
Unfortunately, Disney's live-action remakes have become less successful in the decade since Alice in Wonderland. There have been a few success stories, such as The Jungle Book, which made some differences for the better and took advantage of the source material. However, for the most part, Disney's live-action remakes don't do enough differently to warrant audiences paying to see a new version of the original movie. As a result, with a few exceptions, Disney hasn't seen the return on investment that Alice in Wonderland teased. Live-action Disney remakes are now often received with mixed reviews, fail to reach expectations at the box office, or both.
One glaring reason most live-action Disney remakes underperform is the inconsistent quality, as the new releases could be as good as The Jungle Book, as bad as Pinocchio, or as average as The Little Mermaid. This is why Dumbo, Burton's second remake for the studio failed, and why Alice Through the Looking Glass failed as well. Alice Through the Looking Glass's failure should have been an eye-opening moment for Disney, as a sequel to the billion-dollar-grossing movie shockingly made less than $300 million. The reason for the 2016 movie's failure was largely down to quality, but also because it followed its predecessor, which wasn't well received in the first place, by a whole six years.
Disney hasn't had a bona fide hit with its live-action remakes since 2019's The Lion King, and there have been seven more live-action remakes since then, including Cruella, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and The Little Mermaid. While some of them might not count because they were made immediately available on Disney+, that's exactly part of the problem. Disney's decision to do day-and-date theatrical and streaming releases during the pandemic also damaged the profitable nature of the studio's releases. Some Disney+ subscribers no longer see the studio's family-friendly movies as theatrical events and will simply wait for new films to be available on the streaming service.
Disney's Live-Action Remakes Have Been A Problem - But Won't End Anytime Soon
Even though Disney's profit margins have largely decreased with its live-action remakes since Alice in Wonderland, as even The Little Mermaid underperformed at the box office, Disney continues to produce them, and this trend isn't likely to end anytime soon. Disney is more focused on live-action remakes of its animated movies than ever, as a live-action remake of Moana, which is only seven years old, is in development. At this rate, audiences can eventually expect live-action remakes of Frozen, Tangled, and The Princess and the Frog. As Disney is becoming increasingly reliant on its existing franchises, sooner or later, the studio will run out, and that's only if live-action-remake fatigue doesn't completely settle in with audiences beforehand.
