What kind of movie lends itself to Broadway? This question is hard to answer because, at first glance, there seems to be no one ingredient to be found in every adaptive Broadway smash.

One common assumption is that a successful movie would make for a successful musical. This, a very logical assumption, is quite true in several cases. Indeed, many blockbuster movies such as “Mary Poppins” and “Legally Blonde” have earned similar critical and commercial success on the stage as they did on screen. However, it is actually the less successful movies whose musical adaptations tend to flourish. Low-budget films like “Little Shop of Horrors” and “Newsies” have found incredible success on stage, whereas the adaptations of many of their more critically acclaimed counterparts such as “Ghost” and “Big Fish” fizzled.

Another logical assumption is that musical movies are prime candidates for theater adaptations. If a movie already has a winning soundtrack, then why wouldn’t it be able to seamlessly transition onto the stage? This theory seems to be proven true by Academy Award-winning scores such as those of “The Lion King” and “Aladdin” that went on to become equally successful on the Great White Way. These musical masterpieces prove most 
effective when they’re complemented with re-orchestrations and original songs. In the case of the previous two shows, songs that never appeared in the movie incarnations, such as Lion King’s “Endless Night” and Aladdin’s “Proud of Your Boy,” serve as some of the version’s strongest moments.

By far the most common movie genre to find success on Broadway is family-friendly entertainment. This is somewhat ironic because the majority of successful Broadway musicals in general tend to be PG-13 at best. Whether looking to holiday classics like “A Christmas Story” and “Elf,” animated masterpieces like “Beauty and the Beast” and “Shrek” or childhood favorites such as “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and “Secondhand Lions,” PG-rated movies have quite a successful reputation on New York stages.

From “Beauty and the Beast” to “Aladdin” and everything in between, Disney Theatrical Productions can do no wrong in its adaptations. With its record, it’s no wonder that it has several more shows – including “The Jungle Book” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” – already in development.

So while any and all types of movies can be made into musicals, if the best chance of success is to choose an obscure children’s movie that already has a great soundtrack, and if it happened to be written by Disney, that wouldn’t hurt.