Many high schoolers grew up enchanted by Disney’s movie making magic. Now, both older fans and younger ones can enjoy the same magic together, as Disney is releasing a number of new films this year.

The company seems to be focusing its efforts on recreating older classics, while still trying to introduce new ideas. For example, in the last few years, Disney has been releasing live-action remakes of older animated classics, such as “The Jungle Book” and “Dumbo”.

One of these live-action recreations is “Aladdin”, which is set to come out on May 24. The cast is lead by Mena Massoud as Aladdin and Naomi Scott as Princess Jasmine. Another star in the film is Will Smith, who will be taking over the role of the Genie. Some fans are unsure of this new casting, as many of them are still attached to the original character’s portrayal by Robin Williams.

“Robin Williams set a high bar, so that’s hard to one-up,” principal Tom Lietz said. “Aladdin holds a special place in my childhood heart.”

Also coming out this year, is the live-action remake of “The Lion King”. Though the film won’t be released until July, fans have already been hyping up this movie thanks hyper-realistic CGI.

“I’m going to enjoy the movie because of the cute animals,” sophomore Olivia Nordin said. “I like that they used CGI instead of real animals, so no animals were harmed for the movie.”

“The Lion King” cast is made up of many big names from both the music and film industries, such as Beyoncé Knowles as Nala, Donald Glover as Simba and John Oliver as Zazu. James Earl Jones will also be reprising his role as Mufasa.
“I’m excited for ‘The Lion King’ because of John Oliver,” Lietz said. “I think he’s hilarious and he kind of looks like Zazu, so that’s great.”

Disney is also releasing the fourth addition to the Toy Story saga, in June. Although the animation seemed to be wrapped up after the third film came out, Woody and friends are set to go on another adventure.

“I’m nervous about Toy Story 4,” junior Savannah Sultes said. “They got lucky with us liking the third one and I just hope they aren’t pushing the childhood stories we all know and love.”

This is a common worry among Disney fans, though it isn’t always the outcome. Many fans of the original animations also enjoyed the remakes. One such fan is senior Olivia Fuhrman, who enjoyed the new remake of “The Jungle Book”.

“I liked it,” Fuhrman said. “I hadn’t seen the old one in a while, so it reignited my want to re-watch childhood movies.”
These new films give the younger generations a chance to enjoy the same childhood classics as their parents, with their own twists. It seems as though Disney will continue producing these live-action remakes into the coming years, with the “Mulan” remake set for a 2020 release date.

“I really hope that they end up making ‘Mulan’ a musical and I’m super excited to see what they do with it even though I haven’t seen it in years,” Nordin said. “I also feel that Disney is kind of over using live action movies within the last couple years and the next years to come.”

Whether or not Disney is “over using” their abilities to make live-action films has little impact on the fans excitement for the upcoming movies. Keep an eye on the big screen as Disney releases all of their upcoming films in the coming months and even years.