The Classic (& Not-So-Classic) Movies Disney Needs To Re-Release Next

Thanks to the studios shooting themselves in the foot, not striking a fair deal with the writers and actors as soon as possible, and subsequently delaying many of their planned releases, the first few months of 2024 are going to feel pretty barren at the box office. It's not exactly ideal timing for pumping the brakes, given that the industry was finally starting to regain some momentum after the pandemic took its legs out from underneath it. To help shore up the release calendar, Disney announced today that the studio will be releasing three Pixar films — "Soul," "Turning Red," and "Luca" — in theaters nationwide for the first time in the first quarter of 2024.

It remains to be seen whether this tactic will be enough to reestablish Pixar as a theatrical brand in the minds of consumers, but it's a tangible admission on Disney's part that the studio screwed up by devaluing Pixar and its artists by essentially dumping those films direct to Disney+.

Putting its existing movies in theaters seems like a cost-effective way to make a few extra bucks, but the 2024 calendar could use even more help. Here are a few additional movies we'd love to see Disney put back in theaters next year.

Personally, I'd love to see some of Disney's much older animated projects get the spotlight. 1959's "Sleeping Beauty," which may be the most aesthetically gorgeous film the animation studio ever produced (designer Eyvind Earle's backgrounds are the stuff of legend), would be a treat to witness on the big screen. 1973's "Robin Hood" has such a terrific sense of character and pacing that it would hold the gaze of even the most attention-addled millennial and Gen Z audiences, and if Disney wanted to be really bold, they could try to reclaim something like 1985's "The Black Cauldron," a surprisingly dark fantasy that performed so poorly during its original theatrical run that it nearly killed the entire animation division at the company.

If they're not interested in trotting out their animated projects again, Disney could release some of its live-action films that were aimed at kids — films like "Blank Check" (about a kid who gets a million dollars and lives out all of his toy-loving dreams in a mansion that looks like a castle), or "Angels in the Outfield" (a remake of a sports comedy in which literal angels help a terrible professional baseball team make a run for the championship). 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of those movies, as well as titles like "D2: The Mighty Ducks" and the Tim Allen-led holiday staple "The Santa Clause," which seems like as good an excuse as any to cheaply toss those back into theaters and boost their overall box office hauls.

/Film editor Ethan Anderton and I raised this topic on today's episode of the /Film Daily podcast and spoke more about it there, so listen in to hear the other films we suggested:

We also had a spoiler-free discussion about "Wonka," the newest film from director Paul King that stars Timothée Chalamet as a young version of Willy Wonka.

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