‘Bambi’ Is Next Up for Disney ‘Live-Action’ Remake

By Adam B. Vary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – From bears to lions to deer: Disney is developing a lifelike remake of its 1942 animated feature “Bambi,” Variety has confirmed.

Screenwriters Geneva Robertson-Dworet (“Captain Marvel”) and Lindsey Beer (“Sierra Burgess Is a Loser”) will write the screenplay, with Chris and Paul Weitz’s Depth of Field producing.

The film will employ the same photo-realistic CGI used on ’s remakes of “The Jungle Book” and “The Lion King” to tell the story of the titular fawn who befriends a rabbit and skunk before coping with the death of his mother at the hands of a hunter.

Since 2010’s “Alice in Wonderland,” Disney’s strategy of remaking its animated classics as (presumptively) live-action films has been highly lucrative, grossing over $8.2 billion worldwide, and the studio shows no signs of slowing down. This year will feature “Mulan” from director Niki Caro, and the “101 Dalmatians” prequel “Cruella” with Emma Stone is set to debut in May 2021.

Director Rob Marshall is mounting a live-action version of “The Little Mermaid,” with Melissa McCarthy, Javier Bardem, and Halle Bailey. And Variety first reported that Robert Zemeckis is directing a live-action version of “Pinocchio” (also with Depth of Field), and that Marc Webb will helm a live-action version of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

Other live-action remakes in the works: “Peter and Wendy,” based on Disney’s 1953 animated film “Peter Pan,” with writer-director David Lowrey; a “Lilo & Stitch” remake with producers Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich; and a “Hunchback of Notre Dame” remake with playwright David Henry Hwang writing the screenplay, and Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz writing the music and lyrics.

This story has been updated to reflect that the “Bambi” remake won’t actually be live-action with a living deer, rabbit, and skunk.