2016 is already a mammoth year for Disney, with 4 of the 6 top grossing films a release from the studio. With another Marvel film (Doctor Strange) and a Star Wars Story (Rogue One) still to come, it’s sure to take the lion’s share of the top ten come year’s end. One of the films already released is their live action adaptation of The Jungle Book, which has smashed expectations, currently sitting at number three on the charts with US$930 million gross worldwide.
Things won’t be slowing down anytime in 2017, which looks set to kick off with another live action adaptation – coming off their 1991 animated masterpiece, and based off the classic French fairy tale of the same name, Beauty and the Beast. Today, the studio released the first teaser poster for the film, which is directed by Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters, Dreamgirls, Mr. Holmes, Twilight: Breaking Dawn) and stars Emma Watson (Harry Potter) as Belle, Luke Evans (The Hobbit, Fast and Furious) as Gaston and Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) as Beast. Ewan McGregor, Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Kline and Ian McKellen also add their names to the impressive cast.
The live-action adaption may be considered by some as Disney’s second for the now classic 1991 animated film, which was the first animated film nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards (a year that was taken out by The Silence of the Lambs). In 1994, it became Disney’s first Broadway Adaptation, going on to become the 9th longest running show in Broadway’s history. How much music will play in this incarnation is yet to be seen – but if The Jungle Book is in indication, it will prove difficult for Disney to tell the story without some of those classic songs included.
The release of the poster, which features the film’s iconic rose (still pristine at this point in the story), comes after the studio released the initial teaser trailer for the film back in May.
Beauty and the Beast will be released in March 2017
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