Disney is a company that is learning how to Go Farther with what they do.
This may sound strange, as people often associate Disney with rather conservative endeavors – a bunch of throwaway films, the alternating animated hits, etc. However, Disney has, if you step back, gone farther and has looked for many ways to make more of what it has.
- Kingdom Hearts is the obvious one. Though I have mixed feelings about the series, it IS a series that reused and re-imagined a bunch of its properties, was often fun and imaginative, and certainly was ambitious. It's a game series that sounds like random speculation that worked.
- Tinkerbell. Peter Pan's fairy sidekick has spawned her own movies, games, and an MMO that sounds surprisingly effective, and an enhanced continuity. Yes, Tinkerbell.
- Mickey Mouse is being re-imagined for an artistic Wii Game, Epic Mickey, that mixes Steampunk, Okami, and oddly disturbing themes of abandonment.
- All sorts of direct-to-video productions. Sure many may not be of expected quality (though some are).
Yes it's easy to write off Disney – which of course seems to be something Disney doesn't care about. They keep trundling on. Yes, they are, to an extent, recycling, but if you step back they know what they're doing in a lot of cases.
Sure, I'm doubtful of their ability to handle Marvel, but that's another thing entirely.
Right now there are many media companies out there with many properties that can be expanded or re-imagined, properties with loyalty and long, deserved histories. As technology expands – from gaming to online delivery to CGI to blogs – there are many ways for companies to DO more. To re-invigorate the fun, or the scares, or whatever they deliver.
(And hopefully without the bloody remakes).
Do a Kingdom Hearts on Warner Brothers characters, and have Bugs Bunny and company trapsing through a parody of Final Fantasy/Lord of the Rings overblown fantasy. I've seen some manga-izations of classics – so take a Classic Comic approach and start doing MORE literature in manga form (perhaps try it online). Go nuts, go crazy, try stuff out.
There's a lot out there waiting to be re-invigorated – NOT remade or just done over.
– Steven Savage