The ‘Lilo & Stitch’ trailer has me begging Disney to stop making these live-action remakes

Hi there. Welcome to a Friday edition of Popculturology.

There’s a ton going on this week, but we need to talk about astronomers discovering a whopping 62 new moons orbiting Saturn. Sixty! Two! That brings Saturn’s total to 121, blowing away Jupiter’s 95 satellites. That just seems excessive, right?

The Righteous Gemstones’ founding father

Congrats to Bradley Cooper on his upcoming Emmy award for guest starring on The Righteous Gemstones season premiere. What a fun bit of casting — and a great reminder that we need to see Cooper in more comedic roles. I’m not saying he should make a fourth Hangover movie (I’m sure Warner Bros. would love that, though), but maybe mix in something fun alongside films like Maestro.

• “Why don’t we just ask him?” The Righteous Gemstones co-creator and star Danny McBride gave The Hollywood Reporter a behind-the-scenes breakdown of how the show landed Cooper for the show’s flashback episode. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Cue that White Lotus theme song

We’re finally caught up with the third season of The White Lotus. As always, it’s great. What’s surprised me is the revelation that Jon Gries’ Greg/Gary appears to be the show’s overarching villain. (It’s also fun to watch this season and imagine that it takes place in the Justified universe. Why is Walton Goggins’ Boyd Crowder in Thailand?)

“It’s a different art form”

If you read last week’s Friday newsletter, you know that I wasn’t a fan of director Bong Joon-ho’s adaptation of the book Mickey7 into the movie Mickey 17. Shortly after that edition hit your inboxes, I came across an article from my former Democrat and Chronicle colleague Gary Craig diving into Mickey7’s Rochester connection — there’s always a Rochester connection — and how author Edward Ashton was on board with the changes Bong made.

In conversations with Bong, the director explained how the 350-page novel would become a 120-page script and how there would be scenes that Bong would want to create for Mickey 17. The message: Don't expect the film to replicate the book with the same precision as Mickeys are recreated.

“I was totally down with that,” Ashton said. “It’s a different art form.”

Maybe I need to watch Mickey 17 again with the mindset that it was never meant to “replicate the book.” (Democrat and Chronicle)

NEWS, NOTES & TRAILERS

🍿 “Now it looks lifeless”

The first full trailer for Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch movie is painful.

“I couldn’t even finish watching this trailer,” someone wrote in response to me posting it on Bluesky.

So, I am here once again to beg Disney to stop producing these live-action remakes.

Enough is enough.

We get it. You have the technology to make photorealistic lions and blue-furred aliens that appear to exist in our world, Disney. You’re pretty soon going to force upon the universe Dwayne Johnson as a live-action Maui in the incredibly unnecessary Moana remake.

But why? Is it really worth what feels like a diminishing box office haul to keep desecrating these animated films? Why not take these resources and make actual animated sequels to these movies. Tell some new stories.

The magic — if there ever was any magic to these live-action remakes — is gone.