Disney’s Live-Action Bambi Movie Faces Setback As Writer Shares New Update

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One of Disney’s reported live-action remakes is not moving forward — at least for the time being.

So, back in January 2020, Disney announced they were planning a live-action Bambi – kind of like what they did with The Lion King and The Jungle Book, using really realistic CGI. I was excited because Sarah Polley was set to direct, and Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Lindsey Beer were writing the script. But honestly, we haven’t heard a single thing about it since. It’s like the project just disappeared, which is a shame because I was really looking forward to seeing how they’d tackle that story.

Geneva Robertson-Dworet, co-creator of the popular Prime Video series Fallout (which earned her a second Emmy nomination), recently discussed the long-awaited Bambi live-action film. In an interview with The Direct, she revealed she hasn’t received any updates on the movie’s progress in at least five years.

She described working on Fallout as incredibly demanding, saying it felt like a full-time job. She admitted she hadn’t even looked at the show since starting her own project, and hasn’t checked in at all. Surprisingly, no one from Disney has contacted her either. Additionally, both Polley and Beer are reported to have left the Fallout project since its initial announcement.

Now that Fallout has been picked up for a third season, Lindsey Robertson-Dworet probably won’t be involved with a potential Bambi remake, even if Disney decides to make one. She explained that she’s too focused on Fallout to dedicate the necessary time and energy to Bambi, saying, “I’m not the right person for it right now. I’m still a fan of a Bambi movie, but I’m just too busy with Fallout to keep up with what’s happening with Bambi.”

Disney has consistently updated its classic animated films for modern audiences, with mixed results. The recent failure of the 2025 Snow White remake indicates that revisiting Disney’s oldest stories might not be successful. Bambi, released in 1942, came five years after the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

After the disappointing performance of the live-action Snow White film, Disney paused its plans to remake Tangled, thinking audiences might be losing interest in live-action remakes. However, the huge success of the live-action Lilo & Stitch – which earned over $1 billion – changed their minds, and Disney recently began working on Tangled again, even announcing who will play the lead roles.

Disney is planning a live-action remake of Moana this summer, following up on its animated version from 2016. However, the 2019 remake of Dumbo (originally from 1941) wasn’t successful. Considering these results, Disney seems likely to avoid remaking Bambi and will instead concentrate on updating its more recent films.

Surprisingly, a horror remake of Bambi, called Bambi: The Reckoning, was released in 2025 and actually received a reasonably positive score of 63% on Rotten Tomatoes. While Disney could revisit the story of Bambi again, it seems they’d need to work with a completely different group of filmmakers.

Bambi is available to stream on Disney+

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2026-02-06 20:50