I didn't mean to imply Alan Horn created the live action remakes, just that he is the one most responsible for the current slate of films we keep hearing about.
I happen to think he deserves 'credit' rather than disdain, but that's sometimes an unpopular opinion given the reaction folks have to the remakes. Critically and financially he is working out well for DIS.
But you're misappropriating credit here. Alan's job entails that he oversee the heads of the production divisions of TWDS; Disney Live-Action, Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel and Lucasfilm. In this role, Alan has been an excellent leader for the studios.
However, Sean Bailey, head of physical production at Disney Live-Action, is the individual largely responsible for the surge of remakes we read about in the trades at least a couple times a month. I personally believe he greenlights these projects because he can't make a film without existing IP that's worth a damn. Instead of building a great team within the studio to develop new IP, he has to bring others in. The folks he has brought in to do these projects vary from excellent fits that lead to creative successes, or BRAND deposits, a term stolen from the late Steve Jobs, like Cinderella, The Jungle Book, and Pete's Dragon to dumpsterfires like the Alice films or Maleficent. Looking at all the remakes they currently have produced or are in development, their approach is to throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks, even if the stuff which fails leaves a nasty stench. Luck, not quality or talented people, has allowed Sean to make so many of these remakes and fill the development pipeline with these project, not matter how inappropriate they may be, think TWDS buying a garabage spec script for the Mulan remake, or unimaginative, Jon Favreau's Lion King, or poorly matched to the source material, Tim Burton's Dumbo. I could go on, but I won't. These remakes, the Iger era's equivalent to the direct to video sequels of the Eisner years, rarely lead to improved takes on the source material, Pete's Dragon has been the only one to do that, but stripe mine the built up goodwill of the public to sell them a repackaged lesser product.
Post Script: Someone who doesn't get a ton of credit, TWDS development executive Tendo Nagenda, received a nice write up in Wired for his work on "Queen of Katwe", the sort of film Disney should make more often, even it if doesn't light the world on fire. His next projects are Ava DuVernay's "A Wrinkle in Time" and the Mulan remake (which I hope is put on pause until they secure Ang Lee).
https://www.wired.com/2016/09/queen-of-katwe/#slide-1
