Disney+ announces live-action Robin Hood reboot that's definitely gonna give kids some thoughts

It’s a common joke—that is also, from anecdotal evidence, exceptionally true—that the 1973 animated Robin Hood movie was a, let’s say, formative movie for a lot of young minds. Expose children of a certain age to a lithe, charming, muscular fox man (or his feminine counterpart), and you’re pretty much automatically going to, if not outright imprint certain interests on them, then at least open a couple of handy windows and doors. (Also, they’ll spend their whole lives with that goddamn “Oo-de-lally” song stuck in their heads.)

Now, Disney has announced that it’s going to wreak similar havoc on the development of a whole new crop of kids, announcing this week that it’s putting a live-action remake of the film into development for Disney+. This is per Deadline, which cruelly refused to disclose exactly what “live-action” might actually mean in this context. Human beings? Lion King-esque faux animals running around on all fours? Or a direct translation of the original’s look—which we can’t help but note—would look a whole hell of a lot like Cats. (Fingers/claws/appendages crossed for the last one, obviously.) What we do know is that the film is being developed by Carlos Lopez Estrada, who previously directed the quite good 2018 Daveed Diggs vehicle Blindspotting. Sadly, a quick glance through his filmography doesn’t reveal any explicit positions, one way or another, on whether Maid Marian’s chicken friend can get it, but hearts can hold out hope.