Heller: Superheroes are out. Live action Disney is in.

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-Photo Courtesy of Disney.Wikia.com

For more than a decade, moviegoers and comic book fans have experienced a renaissance of storytelling at the box office. From the grittiness of Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy to the action packed hilarity of Kevin Feige’s Marvel franchise, film buffs and comic nerds have been extremely entertained by the superhero market, with a few hiccups here and there (ahem, DC).

Although Hollywood had surely raked in the dough throughout the years, audience members (including myself) are facing exhaustion from the overexposure of these movies. Critics are also taking note of the pattern most of these films are taking: tragic backstory, face off against a one dimensional villain, get the girl (or guy) and save the day. Rinse and repeat and you got yourself a multi-billion dollar franchise right there!

Despite the overexposure, Hollywood executives are still backing their franchises, even if those films don’t do well. Again, looking at you DC!

But there’s one company that’s looking to get ahead of the game: Disney.

If you’ve been living under a rock for decades, Disney has owned Marvel Studios for over 20 years and had been the benefactor and recipient of billions of dollars from Marvel films and merchandising.

Disney is happy throughout the decade, but like most fads, their Marvel success is doomed to fade away. So what better way of getting ahead than investing in yourself? In comes 2014’s live action remake of “Sleeping Beauty,” starring Angelina Jolie in the film “Maleficent.” The film kick-started the live action craze that Disney is currently on.

Although in its early stages it wasn’t well received by most moviegoers, 2016’s The Jungle Book, directed by the same man that started the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Jon Favreau, showed exactly what live action/CGI is capable of doing. Grossing close to a billion dollars and generating rave reviews, the film is a benchmark in live action/CGI, and for Disney it’s an opportunity to replace it’s comic book films.

With the major story-lines of the Avengers wrapping up next summer and Disney looking to branch out to the online TV market, Disney’s best bet to remain relevant in the box office could be rehashing their animated movies to live action/CGI.

From a business standpoint, it’s genius! However, from a moviegoer’s standpoint, it could be a slippery slope for many film companies to do the same thing. This could saturate the market AGAIN with the same films that people have already seen.

With how expensive the movie-going experience is becoming, who’s to say if it’s even worth the money to see the same movie that can be bought in Walmart or on Amazon? One thing’s for sure: I don’t think my heart can take seeing Mufasa die again.

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