On February 23rd 2025 we got a new “not really an update,” update on the state of the “Disney Hunchback Live Action Remake” from Alan Menken. This article covers Menken’s interview from The Standard.
Menken seems to be the only person left talking about this project. In a nutshell Menken said “wouldn’t bet against it happening at some point.” he went on to say “I wish it was [still happening]. I think it’s a property that’s challenged – we won’t call it a problem” Menken continued saying “It gets a little complicated because it’s Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame and let’s face it, it’s a meaty material. It deals with very heavy and profound themes, but Disney they walk a line.”
He went on to say, “The challenge is how can we deal with those themes of the inner obsession that Frollo has both as a man of the church and also obsession with this gy***. How do we deal with this sense of discrimination against the gy**** – Romani people? How do we deal with the revulsion that people feel towards this hunchback? If we’re going to soft pedal that then what’s the point? It’s hard, it is hard. But again, hope springs eternal.”
For some context, this project was first announced in 2019 and with Josh Gad taking the helm with David Henry Hwang writing the screenplay.
In 2023 after that viral fancast made the rounds Josh Gad said “The script is one of the best I have read and hopefully the powers that be will see this love and let us make the live action adaptation the original animated film deserves.” He ends by saying “Regardless of what stage this project is in, we are just happy to see is still alive – even if it is in the form of a promising script at this point.”
This ultimately this tracks with what Menken is alluding to in this interview and what he has said a previous interview “I have no idea. It’s a tough one, because the Hunchback movie, Hunchback story involves a lot of real, real issues that are important issues and should be explored to be discussed. And there has to be an agreement about how we deal with those issues. You know, do we do a Hunchback without ‘Hellfire?’ I don’t think so … So it sits in this limbo right now, but the Hercules movie is apparently underway and I got some inklings of what’s going on, but just some, and I’ve been more involved with the Broadway show off of Hercules, which is coming, and it’s really exciting.” (https://screenrant.com/hunchback-notre-dame-remake-update-alan-menken-response/)
Disney only wants to address “heavy themes” like racism in covert way, like mermaids and their dynamics with humans, and religions like Catholicism are off the table, so it stands to reason that the executives are interfering with the project. And since it sounds like the creatives involved are not motivated by money, they are not comprising on softening their vision for the project and because Disney is worried about alienating families, thus not making money, the creatives are at odds with executives who are risk adverse.
The idea that Hunchback failing to make money or being unpopular is not enough of a reason that Disney would for-go a remake as and these remakes are to capsize on nostalgia. Case in point, Hercules made less at the Box-office than Hunchback and it’s getting the treatment (Hunchback made $325 million to Hercules’ $252.7 million.) But Hercules is lighter in themes and is easily to sell merch in a theme park. Disney doesn’t want to risk not making money to make a more thematic live action version of Hunchback. The current leadership simply won’t do it even if they could gain award accolades which is a gamble. Meanwhile the creatives are stuck as they can’t shop the project to different studios and it would unfair to for the creatives like Menken to start from starch with new unrelated Hunchback movie project, people love the songs and the score too much.
So no new news, basically it might happen someday just not soon. However given the quality of the remakes I think that Disney’s Hunchback dodged a bullet. Maybe Hunchback could have been one the “good ones” that offered a new perceptive and expanded off the original animated movie instead of hollow lackluster shot-for-shot remake.
Ps- I do think that given how the story has evolved in the cultural landscape over time that it would be a very good time for a new version to come out for a new generation.
