While Disney’s live-action Tangled may be on ice for now, one newly revealed detail offers a glimpse into the creative vision behind the remake.Love them or hate them, there’s no denying that Disney’s live-action remakes have, at their best, been huge moneymakers. The Lion King (2019) roared past $1.6 billion globally, Aladdin (2019) crossed the $1 billion mark, and Beauty and the Beast (2017) brought in over $1.2 billion worldwide.Credit: DisneyHowever, when things go wrong for Disney’s remakes, they go really wrong. This year’s Snow White proved to be one of the company’s costliest losses, having cost up to $270 million to make and only raking in $205.7 million at the box office.Whether or not a film flops isn’t always reflective of its quality, and, in this case, a lot of the negativity around Snow White had less to do with the film itself (which had its own weaknesses, but also its own strengths) and more to do with how the public felt about Rachel Zegler. The actress had previously sparked controversy with her comments regarding Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).Controversy continued to grow as Zegler and Gal Gadot, who played the Evil Queen to Zegler’s Snow White, openly took opposing sides on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.Credit: DisneyUpdate on Disney’s Live-Action Remake of ‘Tangled’In the wake of the film’s failure, Disney pressed pause on future live-action remakes not already in production. While the likes of Lilo & Stitch (which has since hit theaters) and Moana (which has already wrapped filming) were safe, Tangled was not.Disney’s planned remake of the film – which follows Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) as she seeks out the floating lights with the help of thief Flynn Rider (Eugene Fitzherbert) – was swiftly axed, just months after it was confirmed that Michael Gracey was attached to direct and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (who previously co-wrote Thor: Love and Thunder with Taika Waititi) would write the script.Prior to its cancellation, rumors had swirled for years that Florence Pugh was Disney’s first choice to play the lead role of Rapunzel. Both Sabrina Carpenter and Avantika were also floated as potential candidates. While fans had suggested fellow Marvel actress Kathryn Hahn to possibly play the villain Mother Gothel – who keeps Rapunzel locked in her tower for the sake of her powers – no actresses were ever officially linked to the role.Credit: Marvel StudiosNow, however, scooper @MyTimeToShineHello has claimed that none other than Scarlett Johansson was Disney’s top choice.Before the project was put on hold, Scarlett Johansson was in talks to play Mother Gothel in the live action Tangled movie.Before the project was put on hold, Scarlett Johansson was in talks to play Mother Gothel in the live action Tangled movie pic.twitter.com/dWpnaO0i0t— MyTimeToShineHello (@MyTimeToShineH) July 5, 2025Disney famously has a long history with Johansson, having portrayed Black Widow, AKA Natasha Romanoff, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for over a decade. While that relationship took a bumpy detour during the pandemic when Johansson filed a lawsuit against the company for breach of contract over the decision to release Black Widow on Disney+ and eat into its theatrical profits, she’s currently attached to a project inspired by the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.Most interestingly, Johansson is already a familiar co-star to Pugh. The pair’s characters were adoptive sisters, with both Natasha Romanoff and Pugh’s Yelena Belova trained in the Red Room as assassins and spending a portion of their childhood in Ohio. Yelena’s storyline in the wake of Johansson’s MCU departure has largely focused on dealing with the grief in the wake of Natasha’s passing in Avengers: Endgame (2019).Credit: Marvel StudiosWhile Tangled 2.0 may be on hold for now, there’s a chance that, in the wake of Lilo & Stitch‘s mammoth success at the box office, Disney may decide to pick up where it left off. Should that be the case, we might just be lucky enough to hear Scarlett Johansson’s take on “Mother Knows Best” in the future.What do you think of Scarlett Johansson potentially playing Mother Gothel?The post REPORT: Scarlett Johansson Disney’s Choice for Live-Action ‘Tangled’ appeared first on Inside the Magic.