Another Disney Live-Action Remake of an Older Fan-Favorite Movie Gets the Chopping Block

Disney’s live-action version of the 1970 animated classic The Aristocats has been canceled, and director Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson says it might be for the best.

The project was first announced in 2023, with Questlove set to direct the story about a family of Parisian cats kidnapped by a greedy butler aiming to steal their inheritance.

After months of little news about the movie, Questlove confirmed in an interview on Score: The Podcast on Wednesday that the live-action film is no longer moving forward.

A new administration came in, and then I was like, ‘Okay, well, this is what I plan to do, and dadada, do the song and dance, and here’s some of the music examples, and there’s some team I’m working with dadada,’ he explained.

And then they had another administration shuffle, and it was like, ‘Okay well. All right.’ And by the third time I was just like, ‘Maybe this isn’t meant for me, because there’s also, at least, like right now, there’s so much options I have in pickings.’

Although Questlove said he “would have loved to have done that project,” he added that he has plenty of other opportunities ahead. “There’s like 20 others that I can get to… there’s literally four other films. I’ll be working till, you know, 2029, 2030. So, just wasn’t meant to happen. Maybe it’ll happen in the future,” he said.

Originally, the live-action remake was announced in January 2022 with Will Gluck producing under his Olive Bridge Entertainment banner and Keith Bunin writing the script. Questlove was brought on to direct in March 2023.

After the latest update in August 2025, it’s clear the project will not move forward for now.

Fans of The Aristocats who were looking forward to seeing the classic animated story reimagined for a new generation will have to wait, though Questlove hinted that the idea could be revisited in the future. For now, the director is focusing on a full slate of other films, making it clear that this particular project just wasn’t meant to happen at this time.

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