The '90s cult classic will now receive a live-action adaptation.
A Gargoyles reboot is officially on the way. Months after a report suggested Kenneth Branagh could be helming a live-action reboot of the cult classic animated series, a new trade report says a live-action series is, in fact, in development at Disney+. While it doesn't appear that Branagh is working on it, the series has a pair of monstrous names attached. Gary Dauberman has been hired to write, showrun, and executive produce the series alongside James Wan and his Atomic Monster banner.
Folks got no respect for animation anymore. Every shortcoming excused with how much money it costs for live action to achieve what animation does naturally. Assuming its a series, they wont have the budget for CG main characters, itll be a compromise of costume and practical effects played off as being 'more realistic' to excuse the more mundane character shapes.
Oh look another franchise to resurrect from the dead to churn out soulless live action garbage to appease the shareholders thirst for more subscribers.
Go write an original fucking story already Hollywood ya hack.
It’s now a media franchise with it being multiple shows and a comic.
Or I could have use a different word like intellectual property, license or whatever terminology that won’t trigger stupid fans.
What I’m criticizing is the scraping of the barrel for stupid live action adaptations to squeeze any money left from dead IPs.
Enjoy a show or franchise and move on. You don’t have to volunteer to get strapped into the nostalgia money sucking machine every time they resurrect a dead horse to flog.
Why is Disney obsessed with remaking everything “live action” we love Disney for their animation, they’re good at animation! Is live action cheaper or something?
...fuck it, I'm down. Gargoyles was the shit growing up; worse case scenario, the new one sucks and we put something else on.
Edit - Maybe do a movie though? Kinda feel like stretching this out over an entire season is gonna give us like an hour of actual content, and a loooooooooot of filler.
I know what you mean. A lot of Disney+ shows have felt like they had two 90min movies worth of content that they padded so they could hit six 1 hour episodes. I'm totally on board with the idea of some lesser-tier stories from the MCU skipping a theatrical release and going straight to D+ but they're obsessed with turning a movie's worth of ideas into a tv series just so they can claim to have a bigger catalog of original shows. The end result is painfully boring shows that are a chore to get through.
Conceptually it looks like the right people have been hired. I do hope we can get our original voice actors back, specifically Keith David. I'd love to see Frakes and other humans, but if this is a full reboot you'll probably need to recast (but a cameo or different character for sure.)
My concern would be Disney not giving this show time to grow. While a darker "kids" show, I expect the primary audience to be much older. We don't need to be R rated, but they should lean into that darker tone. I also wouldn't expect this show to be a big hit, this'll be a slow roll. They've given shows like Andor that freedom, but as a "new" IP Disney may be more reserved.
They can lean, but if they jump headfirst into it, it's just going to be another shitty grimdark edgelord wankfest. Have a bit of dark, but don't take yourself too seriously. Lean into the fantasy element, have fun with it. Don't make another "Depression: The TV Show"
Not OP, but I personally have a, "do my best to not give money to Disney, unless it's to fuck up DeSantis legally" belief. I'm just one person and I know it won't matter, but I vote with my wallet, and I think Disney is a shit company.
Sigh...alright, they can give it a shot. Personally, I see no reason to do a reboot of this series. Things ended quite well in Season 2 of the original, and I'm happy with what I got.
Hopefully its decent. Personally I would rather an animated reboot, but I imagine theyre going live action to target an older audience.
Lately Ive kind of taken a bit of an indifferent approach to the onslaught of remakes, sequels, and series coming back from cancellation years later. If it's good it's good and thats neat. If not meh, I dont have to watch or engage with it and hopefully it dies a quick death. I kinda wish that Hollywood would focus more on new and original ideas instead of their focus on sequels, IP, and reboots, but that's not going to change anytime soon.
At least Gargoyles has been off the air for about 30 years so it's not like theyre beating a dead horse here. If done well it could be interesting and would be very possible to provide a fresh take. That said it being live action doesnt leave me feeling optimistic.
Yeah, going the live action route is a bit of a head-scratcher. Between two seasons of "Marvel's What If...?" with third on the way and the upcoming X-Men '97 revival Disney clearly hasn't shied away from animated shows aimed at older audiences. So I'm not sure why Gargoyles, of all things, would be getting the live action treatment.
but I imagine theyre going live action to target an older audience.
How old are we talking here? I was a youth when this show was airing (Disney afternoon) and still watch a ton of animation. I think the belief that animation is for kids is pretty dated and doesn't hold true (not that you're making that argument, but presuming that is what Disney execs believe)
Gargoyles was made to go head to head with batman tas and they both did a great job of going right to the end of the line of what a tv-y7 could get away with(and probably couldnt get away with today). That said like Batman they both were designed to target kids and for all the brilliance there were episodes that skewed a little younger, and little touches like how shows of that era had to dance around words like "kill".
In addition to the usual stigmas surrounding animation I wonder if another factor in this is that it's a pure Disney branded product. While they have plenty of edgier stuff in their back catalog that should let people know their cartoons arent just for small children, the rep is there and they may not be ready to put out a tv-14 or even tv-pg cartoon that targets young adults and teens. It was find when its some licensed anime on d+, or if it's star wars or marvel, but this is a pure Disney badge.
Of course theres also the usual explanation of cost. Good animation costs a lot of money to produce and while lord knows disney has the cash it might be cheaper for them to just shoot this series in front of the giant tv. I feel like a show with characters like the gargoyales would be counter productive to be live action since they regularly fly, and would need expensive suits or full cgi anyway to work, but I suspect they do the math and no an effects guy is cheaper than a team of animators.
A lot of big names attached to working on this which is great, but I still hope some of the original writers can get on this. If no one else, I'd at least like to see Greg Weisman involved.
I know Greg's working on the comics but ultimately I'd love to see him able to finish the original animated series too.
Seriously, I loved Gargoyles as a kid. I loved the animation style and I loved the darker subject matter that I as a kid got to experience. As an adult, I have no use for another CGI filled paint-by-numbers show with milquetoast stories and hours of filler. And I sure as heck have no desire to give Disney any more money to support it.