Live-action remakes of animated movies... is this getting out of hand?

No, it's not.
Novelties are usually one-offs, just think of novelty songs.
The Disney animated films weren't supposed to be remade, so when that happened it felt fresh and unusual. Not anymore.

They're making these remakes because they can, it's the complete opposite of raison d'être

As I've mentioned in another thread, I'm not a fan of these boo-hoo victimy origin stories for villains.

Live action films like Cocteau and Gans (1946 & 2014) versions of Beauty and the Beast are so much better than anything Disney has done.

Just to play devil's advocate, tho, do you think the average 6-year-old would enjoy those movies if you take them to watch them at the theater?

I don't think a 6 yr old would enjoy a Disney live action of the film. Children are more interest in cartoons. Some don't have the attention span to sit through a hour of anything.

Um, an 8 or 10 year old?

“My 8 yr old's movie pick was The Gangs of New York but she was taught at an early age how to watch movies.”

Pretty impressive. I know a lot of adults who wouldn’t be able to get through that movie.
I’m waiting for an 8-year-old (or thereabouts) to tell me their movie pick is Koyaanisqatsi.

Mark

Just to play devil's advocate, tho, do you think the average 6-year-old would enjoy those movies if you take them to watch them at the theater?

If you're going to approach it from a child's point of view then it kinda changes the topic of discussion, doesn't it.

If you have a long literary memory, you realize that, since there really are only about 10 unique plot lines in the world, it's not a surprise that most movies are remakes of something. Movies are just arriving at the point that books did a century ago. "Remakes" are nothing new; they are inevitable, although you do need to put something new into it. It's live action now, 3D years ago, etc.

So, it used to be that Disney used to have a near-monopoly on the practice of making live-action remakes of its animated classics.

That's about to change in a big way this summer, when Dreamworks debuts the live-action remake of How to Train a Dragon...


.

A new movie, using an old plot and characters, is completely new to an 8 year old. Add in some licensing and negotiations, along with the possibility of lots of money and it's a "NEW" movie. Most kids have seen lots of old Disney movies, so you have to add a new element.