Disney’s ‘The Lion King’ live-action adaptation is nearly weeks away from its theatrical premiere on July 19. The renaissance of Disney’s classic film has me asking the question why is Disney releasing live-action adaptation of their classic film?

As a kid so of what I thought to be the greatest cinematic experiences came from what are considered classic from the production of the Mouse House. These past few years with announcements of live-action adaptation… ‘Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Maleficent, Aladdin, The Lion King, and recently The Little Mermaid.’ I rejoiced at watching some of my favorite Disney movies again, some people felt the motivation behind these releases had to do with extending the copyright on these films.

I remember an episode of  ‘Adam Ruins Everything,’ that explained the rules of copyright law and public domain. In this episode show host, Adam touched on Disney’s continuous battle to keep their intellectual property ‘Mickey Mouse’ from being fair use. In short, once ‘Mickey’  hits the public domain anyone could use hit a likeness in anything. In order to stop this from happening Disney fought to practically make intellectual properties strictly belong to their creator(s).  This battle has only ended in extending copyright, seems a little hypocritical when Disney made its name in animated films based off of fairy tales in the public domain. As well as allegations that ‘The Lion King’ was a carbon copy of Japanese TV series ‘Kimba the White Lion’

Thanks to the Sonny Bono Copyright Protection Act, extending copyrights to an author’s lifetime plus 70 years for individual properties, and 125 years after creation or 95 years after publication for corporate works. So the theory is Disney could take a film like Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’ originally released in 1967, by releasing a live-action version in 2016 pretty much identical to its predecessor with unique Disney elements would then extend ownership of the film 49 years to 2111.

This theory has been debuted an article in the Plagiarism Today speaking about the ‘Dumbo’ remake stating:

“The release of a brand-new Dumbo film does absolutely nothing to impact the copyright term on the original 1941 film. Under the current law, that film is scheduled to enter the public domain on January 1, 2037. That’s on January 1st the year following 95 years after its publication… The remake doesn’t change that nor does it matter if Disney re-releases the film or releases an updated version of the original. That term remains the same.”

What this means is the copyright is not extended for the original Disney films but, any new character elements introduced will not be usable and you will not be able to make copies of it (outside the boundaries of fair use) without a license. While Disney has made an effort to make the public domain almost nonexistent in the US there is no way for them to extend the copyrights on the original works by re-releasing live-action adaptation. 

So why are these Disney classic being re-released in live-action form? While the answer is simply money, the nostalgia of seeing your favorite film in a new form is luring enough. Tim Burton’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ grossed over $300 million in North America. The success of this film began the trend of live-action remakes,many of those kids who watched films like ‘The Lion King’ in the ’90s are now parents and would love to share a piece of their childhood with their children.