Current Events > Er... why did audiences overwhelmingly like the 2 live action remakes of 2025

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Why do the big 2 live action remakes of 2025 have such a surprisingly high audience score:

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lilo_and_stitch_2025

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/how_to_train_your_dragon_2025

I remember being on the lookout for both these movies, and yet I ended up inadvertently missing out on both due to unexpected busy circumstances.

any release in the series of How To Train Your Dragon seems to awaken some kind of sleeper agent protocol among my (affectionately) weirdo ex-tumblr friends

I heard How To Train Your Dragon was actually good.

Nearly all of the Disney live-action remakes do insane numbers at the box office. That's why they keep making them despite being consistently terrible. People just have no standards.

They're not bad films at all. Kids love them.

sure they do well. their target audience is little kids, and they dont know any better.

Disney adults and parents needing to take their kids to see something to act as a distraction for an hour and a half minimum, presence of a cute critter in both movies acts as a bonus.

i can't say anything about lilo and stitch but HTTYD is a nearly shot-for-shot remake of a legitimately great movie

so even if it is very redundant, it is watchable and more importantly (for universal), something you can bank on

How to Train Your Dragon was genuinely good.

Live action appeals to me less than animation - So I've skipped all of the remakes.

Children's movies do have an advantage over other movie types though. They tend to be closer to the 90 minute mark, compared to 120-180 minutes. I've never been a fan of 3 hour long movies.

Do kids these days not like cartoons anymore

Evolician posted...

Do kids these days not like cartoons anymore

kids still like cartoons its corporations that hate cartoons

they want everything to have a huge budget to justify the effects studios they own

ai123 posted...

They're not bad films at all. Kids love them.

I was at least a little interested in Lilo and Stitch and then I heard how they bastardized the ending.

chris1001_the_sequel posted...

I was at least a little interested in Lilo and Stitch and then I heard how they bastardized the ending.

they also removed the anti tourism messaging

Because the originals were popular and they strongly resembled the source material.

It's just highly unexpected, that's hell of a coincidence

ai123 posted...

They're not bad films at all. Kids love them.

This, plus kids generally don't have any connection to the old versions of stuff so they don't get hung up on comparing them

Lilo and Stitch is more popular now than when it released, so no surprise there.

saspa posted...

It's just highly unexpected, that's hell of a coincidence

It's not though. They just did what obviously makes these live action movies successful, which is that they were remakes of popular animated movies that copied the original enough to trigger nostalgia. Last time that happened was Lion King and it was successful too. Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast were the same deal.

Common comments made about live-action remakes:

"Its unnecessary."
No movie is necessary. Water and oxygen are necessary.

"Creatively bankrupt."
Supply and demand. Audiences show up for remakes, reboots, sequels and known IP. Audiences do not show up for original movies or unique ideas.

"A cash grab."
Broke-ass film school students make "art." Major studios do not. They are a business. When they invest 10s or 100s of millions of dollars, they want a return on that investment. In that regard, all studio films are "cash grabs."

"Who asked for this?!"
Millions of movie-goers. With their wallets.

In summation: your opinions don't matter. Facts matter. Remaking Lilo & Stitch and HTTYD were smart business decisions. There's an audience for them. That audience liked them. They made a lot of money. More live action remakes will be made.

How to Train Your Dragon looks dope, but I heard awful things about Lilo from people that saw it. About the changed ending and how it ruined everything the original stood for. I wont see it because of that.

I know a lot of fanboys werent very excited about the dragon movie, I still need to see the last animated movie before I see this live action one. I swear theyre coming out with some of this shit too fast.

after the last few disney live action remakes flopped i was hoping it'd be the end of it but with L&S doing so well......yeah we're cooked

Add to this a couple extra facts:

It's literally the same director of the original trilogy which is pretty wild.

That same director, is literally the same dude who directed lilo and stitch, further linking these 2 movies together