While taking stock of the Disney Live Action remakes in development, I came across a Wikipedia update from May that said 4 films in development hell had finally been cancelled. Upon checking the citation, I saw that TheDisinsider apparently broke the news a couple months ago to no fanfare, buried at the end of their own update on Disney’s Live Action films.
The 4 films TheDisinsider says are no longer in development are Tink, Genies, Prince Charming, and Night on Bald Mountain.
Tink was announced in 2015 when Variety announced Reese Witherspoon was attached to star and produce.
Genies was also first announced back in 2015 by The Hollywood Reporter. The initial plan was to lead into the Aladdin Live Action film. Later it changed to be a Disney+ Original film. Now it’s just dead. Probably for the best. Aladdin 2 and Prince Anders spin-off remain in development.
Night on Bald Mountain, also announced in 2015 by The Hollywood Reporter, would have taken the classic Fantasia (1940) sequence and turned it into a film.
Clearly somebody working at Disney Studios back in 2015 isn’t working there anymore – talk about a cold streak. The success of Maleficent (2014) had them throwing spaghetti at the wall!
Prince Charming, first announced in 2017, intended to follow Prince Charming’s twin brother teaming with Snow White to save Princess Rosebud.
For years I’d been checking on those film’s statuses. As Disney continued to announce more and more, it’s relieving to be able to close the door on some. Have to admit these were probably my four least anticipated so no sadness here. As long as Lilo and Stitch, Aladdin 2, and Snow White get made I’m good. As long as I’m editorializing, I don’t have interest in their planned Bambi or Sword in the Stone films unless they do something interesting with the casting.
How do you feel about this news? Were you excited for any of these?
Drew Ryan is a film, TV, and Disney geek. He has degrees in English, Student Personnel Administration, and Library & Information Science from Lawrence University, Concordia University-Wisconsin, and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Interested in the minutia and licensing of streaming service content, he is always publishing lists, suggestions, and advocating for Disney’s missing library to be added to Disney+. Drew subscribes to Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, HBO Max, and Paramount+. You can find him waxing nostalgic over classic Disney Channel or geeking out over Marvel, CW shows, & Disney on Twitter.
