Live Action “Tangled” on Hold! Here’s why… It was announced late last year that a live action version of my favorite Disney movie, Tangled. As a huge fan, I was worried about this one, Tangled is great in the animated version, do we really need a live action one? Well, it was just announced at the Hollywood Reporter that this movie has hit the pause button. Why? Partially because of the dismal performance of Disney’s live action Snow White film. Here’s the full scoop on what was reported this afternoon!
The project had been in active development, with The Greatest Showman helmer Michael Gracey on board to direct and a script by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Thor: Love and Thunder, Do Revenge).
The pause occurs in the wake of the rather underwhelming release of Disney’s latest live-action adaptation, Snow White. The movie has grossed only $69 million domestically and $145 million worldwide on a production budget of $270 million (the budget inflated due to the 2023 labor strikes). The film was plagued by controversial headlines from the start due to casting and creative choices and then into its press tour due to social media posts from star Rachel Zegler. But Snow White didn’t fare well with the critics nor audiences, the latter of which have given it a B+ Cinemascore (anything outside the A range is considered unsatisfying). It currently only has a 50 percent on review aggregator Metacritic.
It remains uncertain whether Tangled will move forward down the road or undergo a creative rethink.
Since the early 2010s, Disney has embarked on a live-action feature strategy that relied heavily on returning to its library and repurposing its old titles. Some of the features worked incredibly well (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King) while others did not (Dumbo, Pete’s Dragon). Recently, Barry Jenkins’ Mufasa: The Lion King had a slow start with a $35.4 million domestic opening before picking up steaming and ending up with an impressive $718 million globally. Before this, The Little Mermaid earned a tepid $570 million.
But Snow White seemed to test the limits of that strategy.
The coming 15 months will offer two more live-action remakes to test audiences’ appetite. And each one has glimmers that offer Disney reason to believe they will be successful. Lilo & Stitch, a remake of the 2002 animated film, surfs into theaters May 23. During this year’s Super Bowl game, a spot featuring Stitch “crashing” the field generated 173.1 million views in 24 hours, making it Disney’s most-viewed spot digitally. The trailer also became the second most-viewed Disney live-action trailer of all time.
Meanwhile, the live-action Moana is set to sail July 10, 2026. That film has the benefit of being based on one of the biggest movies streaming on Disney+, surpassing 1.4 billion hours, which Disney has pointed out is equivalent to streaming the film over 735 million times. Or playing the Grammy-winning Oscar-nominated song “How Far I’ll Go” on repeat for more than 50,000 years. And it also comes a few months after the animated sequel, Moana 2, grossed $1 billion when it was released last November and became the third highest-grossing film of 2024.
Tangled’s pause also comes as some of the architects of Disney’s live-action features strategy have exited the studio’s executive ranks and a new infusion has taken place. In February, Daria Cercek was named the head of live action theatrical films, reporting to David Greenbaum, President of Disney Live Action and 20th Century Studios, who replaced Sean Bailey last year.
‘Tangled’ Live-Action Movie Set With Director Michael Gracey
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