Disney has made it clear that they are planning on bringing as many of their animated classics to life in new live-action adaptations, whether on the big screen like The Lion King, Beauty and The Beast or the upcoming The Little Mermaid, or as a Disney+ exclusive such as Lady and The Tramp. Now Deadline has reported that 1970 movie The Aristocats is the latest movie to be added to Disney’s ever-growing list of remakes, and will be scripted by Peter Rabbit 2 scribe Will Gluck and Keith Bunin, who was responsible for the Pixar hit Onward.

Moviegoers are always complaining about the number of unnecessary remakes that come out of Hollywood year after year, but Disney has managed to find a way of developing almost guaranteed hit remakes while not simply rehashing an old movie for the sake of it. Delving into their almost 90-year history of being the most recognized producer of animated feature films, Disney has managed to harness new technology to bring to the big screen in live-action some of their animated classics that could previously have only been made in animated form. With new versions of Snow White, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, and The Sword in The Stone, just some of those in various stages of production, The Aristocats will bring another much loved classic to life with photorealistic CGI animals.

While there is a constant debate whether the kind of CGI graphics used to phenomenal effect in the likes of The Jungle Book and The Lion King are classed as live-action or animation, what is not in question is that Disney’s use of the latest technology to recreate some of their most loved stories featuring animals has been a stroke of genius considering both the success of their releases so far, and the number of other movies that are still to be adapted. When it comes to The Aristocats, the simple tale of a family of Parisian cats who are separated from their owner by a greedy and sinister butler, only to be befriended by a ragamuffin alley cat who helps them find their way home, there is likely to be some expansion to the story required to fill a 100+ minute movie just like previous older movies that have been adapted into this format.

The Aristocats Will Be Loved By New Fans, But Has Some Big Shoes To Fill for Long-Time Disney Fans

As with any remake of a much-loved movie, the new version of The Aristocats will be the first version that some young movie fans ever watch, but for older fans of Disney, the iconic voices that brought life to the original movie will no doubt be a hard act to follow. The 1970 movie included Disney frequent-fliers such as Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, and Sterling Holloway, but even those iconic tones can be worked around if Disney wants to keep older fans on side and avoid the unfair criticism newly voiced remakes always seem to garner.

Bill Murray voiced Baloo in the remake of The Jungle Book, and Phil Harris also played in that role; it could make sense for Disney to try and bring the Ghostbusters actor on board to play Thomas O’Malley the alley cat. Similarly, Disney legend Jim Cummings has now played Winnie The Pooh to perfection for years, and could also step into Sterling Holloway’s shoes as the voice of Roquefort the mouse. However, Disney has been known to play very left field with some of their new takes on old classics, such as having Scarlett Johansson voice Kaa in The Jungle Book, a role that was played by Holloway in the animated film. Until casting is done on the film, it is anyone’s guess as to which names will be joining the cast, and a lot of that could end up depending more on whether this will be a cinematic movie or a Disney+ exclusive than anything else.