Fake movie posters for a remake of The Land Before Time, falsely billed as upcoming releases from Universal and Disney/Pixar respectively.Screenshot: Facebook / TikTok
Movie posters appearing to show an upcoming remake of the children’s dinosaur movie The Land Before Time (1988) have elicited strong emotions on social media recently. But no matter if you think a remake is a bad idea or a good idea, the movie isn’t happening. At least not in the foreseeable future.
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The rumors about this fake dino-remake can likely be traced to a Facebook page called YODA BBY ABY, which first wrote about the potential movie in late 2023.
“Get ready to embark on a prehistoric escapade like never before! Disney and Pixar join forces to bring you a dazzling remake of The Land Before Time, where Littlefoot and friends journey through lush landscapes and encounter enchanting surprises,” the fake post reads. “Brace yourself for a January 2025 release – a dino-mite adventure awaits!”
But there’s no evidence that any remake of The Land Before Time is in production by Disney and Pixar, much less coming out in January 2025. Another viral claim suggests the movie is coming out in December 2024, but there’s no evidence for that either.
The prospect of a remake has been incredibly polarizing, especially because people who loved the original movie took issue with the way the dinosaurs looked on these fake movie posters.
“I hope this is some kind of sick joke that someone made, because that is not Little Foot,” on TikTok user commented last week.
Other TikTok users said they were “disrespecting the spirit of Land Before Time” and “disrespecting Littlefoot” with the new character designs.
While the original 1988 film, executive produced by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, is the most beloved, there were actually 13 sequels. Only the 1988 version received a theatrical release though, with all of the follow-ups going straight to home video. The last in the series was released in 2016 and is titled Journey of the Brave.
But if I’m Universal Pictures I’m looking at the strong opinions currently circulating online and seeing dollar signs in my eyes. If people have strong feelings about the film series, that certainly counts for something. Millennial nostalgia can be an extremely profitable enterprise as the generation enters middle age, whether it’s the 30th iteration of Mean Girls or our favorite animated dinosaurs. Get to work, movie execs.