Entertainment

Home Alone fans angry at Disney’s plan for remake

The studio also aims to ‘reimagine’ Cheaper By The Dozen, Diary Of A Wimpy Kid and Night At The Museum for its Disney+ service.
The studio also aims to ‘reimagine’ Cheaper By The Dozen, Diary Of A Wimpy Kid and Night At The Museum for its Disney+ service.

Disney’s announcement of plans to remake Home Alone for its streaming service has prompted an angry reaction from fans.

According to reports, chief executive Bob Iger said there would be “reimaginations” of films including the 1990 Christmas favourite which starred Macaulay Culkin.

Speaking to investors on a conference call, Iger said Disney is “focused on leveraging Fox’s vast library of great titles to further enrich the content mix on our… platforms”.

These include Cheaper By The Dozen, Diary Of A Wimpy Kid and Night At The Museum, which Disney now owns after its acquisition of Fox earlier this year.

The Disney+ service is due to launch in the US in November, before becoming available in the UK next year.

But fans of the franchise are unsure.

Some labelled the decision “one step too far” while others said the studio has no right to touch the “timeless classic”.

One fan questioned whether a remade version of Home Alone could match the original.

And some viewers asked whether all of Disney’s writers had quit, given the studio’s recent trend of rebooting classic titles.

The Lion King is the latest Disney film to be given the remake treatment, 25 years after the original became a film classic.

Dumbo, The Jungle Book, Beauty And The Beast and Aladdin are also among the studio’s titles to have been remade using live-action or photo-realistic technology.

Other fans took issue with Disney’s decision to remake 2003’s Cheaper By The Dozen starring Hilary Duff and Steve Martin.

The family comedy-drama helped launch Duff’s career and was itself a remake of the 1950 film of the same name.

The Home Alone franchise ran across five films and featured an array of young protagonists who found themselves alone during the festive season, faced with burglars, criminals and all manner of challenges.

Disney has been contacted for comment.