Disney’s Hercules: “Experimental” and inspired by TikTok – Guy Ritchie’s crazy plans for the live-action film adaptation

• Disney’s “Hercules” from 1997 still has many fans today.
• So it’s hardly surprising that a live-action film adaptation of “Hercules” is already being planned.
• However, the plans of the producers and director Guy Ritchie are now causing criticism of the remake.

Disney has had great success with live-action remakes of The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and Aladdin. It was different with “Mulan”, “Pinocchio” and “Dumbo”, which fell short of expectations. “Pinocchio” in particular was criticized as a meaningless and soulless remake without added value.

Disney hasn’t yet found a universal formula for success here, but the remake production is happily going on. “Arielle, the Mermaid” will start in cinemas in 2023, in 2024 we can expect “Snow White” and “Mufasa”, a “Lion King” prequel.

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Also in the pipeline is Hercules, produced by Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo and directed by Guy Ritchie. A cast has not yet been determined, but Ariana Grande is being hotly traded as Meg, although she should be busy with the two-part musical “Wicked” for the time being.

Now a new Variety interview with the Russo brothers is causing concern among “Hercules” fans as they discuss their plans for the live-action adaptation. By stating that their Hercules film should be “a little more experimental in tone, a little more experimental in execution,” the Russos were probably just making it clear that we’re not expecting a 1:1 copy of the cartoon.

However, the announcement that they want to be inspired by TikTok when implementing the musical numbers is not well received.

The question arises how to implement it as a musical. Today’s audience has been schooled by TikTok, right? What expectations do you have of what a musical looks and feels like? This can be a lot of fun and help us push the boundaries of a modern musical a bit.

Joe Russo on “Hercules”

Here it becomes clear that the “Hercules” remake is not aimed at the children of the nineties who grew up with the “Hercules” cartoon, but at a new generation.

This approach is of course a risk, because if Generation Z is not interested in the “Hercules” remake from the outset and Millennials feel alienated by the innovations tailored to a younger generation, Disney is threatened with the next flop.

We will probably only find out for sure when “Hercules” appears in the cinemas or at least when a first trailer is released. Before that, Guy Ritchie’s next film “Operation Fortune” awaits us, in which Jason Statham plays the super spy Orson Fortune. Nothing can go wrong with this wonderfully unrealistic name!