Beauty and the Beast Getting a Live Action Adaptation

[harpere]

Beauty and the Beast Getting a Live Action Adaptation

The success of Maleficent means Beauty and the Beast may be up for similar treatment.

Live action adaptations - or straight-up retellings - of animated classics seem to be all the rage at Disney, and rumored to be starring Scarlett Johansson, Idris Elba, and Lupita Nyong'o [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/134937-FRIDAY-BOX-OFFICE-Maleficent-Reigns-McFarlanes-Cowboy-Shoots-Blanks]), also predicted to be out in 2015.

Now it seems was working on the Joe Ahearne-penned The Beast [http://variety.com/2014/film/news/bill-condon-beauty-and-the-beast-disney-1201151834/], a retelling from - you guessed it - the Beast's point of view. Since we haven't heard anything from that project, we're left to assume that whatever Condon is working on is the way of the future... though we'll always wonder what Ahearne's version of the story would have been.

Source: Variety [http://variety.com/2014/film/news/bill-condon-beauty-and-the-beast-disney-1201151834/]

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[Nokturos]

I guess the Lion King will be next. No CGI, just humans in lion make-up crawling on all fours and roaring.

 

[Orange12345]

I hope Gaston is the hero in this one, the story of a man who just wanted some tail

EDIT: reading hard, says beast hero (which seems kinda stupid since we see some things from his side in the original anyway)

 

[Hero in a half shell]

I would love to see a Gaston origin story.

"Alpha Male and the Friendzone"

It'd be epic.

 

[RealRT]

I've got only one word on my mind now.
Why?

 

[The_Darkness]

I've got only one word on my mind now.
Why?

Because Marvel Studios is making so much money for Disney at the moment that they wanted to see if they could duplicate the magic. And it looks like they decided to borrow some of the talent from Marvel Studios too...

 

[tmande2nd]

I would love seeing classics retold from the villains POV.

Like:
"What if Jafar was really trying to save the city from an idiotic sultan, and his bratty daughter who was in love with a criminal?"

I mean it has potential, maybe not so much cause Malifecent only really worked cause Jolie owned it.

 

[Trishbot]

I've got only one word on my mind now.
Why?

Because Marvel Studios is making so much money for Disney at the moment that they wanted to see if they could duplicate the magic. And it looks like they decided to borrow some of the talent from Marvel Studios too...

Well, regardless of quality, the overwhelming financial success of Alice in Wonderland, Oz: The Great and Powerful, and now Maleficent sort of proves it makes good financial sense...

... But then again, so did The Lone Ranger at the time.

 

[Cerebrawl]

There's already been Beauty and the Beast liveaction... with Linda Hamilton as the beauty and Ron Perlman as the beast.

But sure, it wasn't a Disney live-action, and TV series rather than movie, but still. Ron Perlman > Disney.

[link]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092319/[/link]

 

[Shiftygiant]

Why?

Really, why? Why remake something that worked in Animation for Live Action? What is it with the current trend? What is the point? Did someone suddenly say 'Kids can't connect animated film remake money live action!' or something? Who's asking for this?

 

[vid87]

It feels weird to say this when we're living in an age where absolutely everything is being remade, but seeing how Disney is rebirthing all of its major stories into the live-action format gave me the strongest feeling that we've entered some weird time-loop where we'll just experience the same 50 years for the rest of our lives. I'd have been ok if this particular era of Disney (Aladdin, B+B, Little Mermaid) got one nice final send-off ala Kingdom Hearts or something (because damn if that isn't the best nostalgia factory they've got), but they really do seem determined to make sure absolutely none of these things ever die - my great-grandkids are going to be seeing versions of this.

 

[Alterego-X]

they really do seem determined to make sure absolutely none of these things ever die - my great-grandkids are going to be seeing versions of this.

Which is appropriate, given that your great-great-great grandparents were also familiar with versions of these stories.

If anything, I kind of appreciate how along with Once Upon a Time, Kingdom Hearts, and these movies, Disney is working hard to bring back the same organically developing multi-threaded "fairy tale" feeling that the original folk tales had, instead of just some direct continuity based fantasy universe.

I would prefer it even more if they were public domain nd not dependent on Disney's authority at all, but I'll take what I have.

 

[Jack Robinson]

Wasn't Disney's Beauty & The Beast already basically a remake of the 1946 Jean Cocteau live-action version?

 

[shirkbot]

Why?

Really, why? Why remake something that worked in Animation for Live Action? What is it with the current trend? What is the point? Did someone suddenly say 'Kids can't connect animated film remake money live action!' or something? Who's asking for this?

This is actually something that has been bothering me a great deal lately, and I think I'll start a forum thread on the topic, but there is apparently some kind of live-action fixation, and I just don't get it. Especially when the thing being adapted was already fully realized at the time. I don't know who is asking for this, but I can safely say I am asking it to stay as far from me as possible.

 

[vid87]

they really do seem determined to make sure absolutely none of these things ever die - my great-grandkids are going to be seeing versions of this.

Which is appropriate, given that your great-great-great grandparents were also familiar with versions of these stories.

If anything, I kind of appreciate how along with Once Upon a Time, Kingdom Hearts, and these movies, Disney is working hard to bring back the same organically developing multi-threaded "fairy tale" feeling that the original folk tales had, instead of just some direct continuity based fantasy universe.

I would prefer it even more if they were public domain nd not dependent on Disney's authority at all, but I'll take what I have.

(Last comment first - I believe Sopfia Coppola is doing Little Mermaid, but the Hans Christian Anderson version. Even now I can hear the sobbing children when they find out how it REALLY goes down).

That's the thing that bothers me about this and much of Disney's strategy in general - they're not selling stories or fairy-tales, but their brand. Once Upon a Time started with some odd nods to its own properties (Jimminy Cricket, Pongo, Dopey's trademark purple hat, along with a Darth Vader ringtone and apparently Wonderland bestiary including the goddamn Sarlacc) all existing alongside King Midas, Lancelot, Frankenstein, Rumplestiltskin, and Oz, which for me created a jarring disconnect of the show trying to establish its own identity but still remind people it's strictly Disney; then they pulled a twist reveal so nakedly cash-grabbing that the specter of brand control is now directly influencing the show:

Spoiler

But really, should I be surprised Elsa showed up at this point?

Kingdom Hearts, while previously acknowledged as a machine for brand delivery and also has its jarring mesh of Disney and Square (though I find the latter really doesn't have as much presence as you might think), at least tried to keep closer to its source while it threw in some clever nuances to bring depth to its own properties (Ariel can fight Ursula, making her take direct responsibility for her mistakes; Beast actively chooses Belle over the Rose; Maleficent bides her time and saves Sora but only in the "enemy of my enemy" sense, showing her calculating tactician side; Simba has moments of doubt before taking the throne because he's not sure he can live up to Mufasa's legacy).

What I believe the difference is between KH and the rest of this is that KH tools directly with its established canon in interesting ways; everything else is trying to come off as "new" but keep the familiar elements everyone instantly recognizes intact (I bet anything your very first thought about the LA Maleficent was "Wow, she looks JUST like the 50's version!"), which smacks of trying to have your cake and eat it, especially when they throw in wildly dark themes that, though the animated films could pull off to a less extreme extent, clash with the whimsical brand Disney set for itself.

Spoiler

Because when I think Maleficent, I obviously think rape metaphor.

I get on some level that Marvel is kind've doing the same thing here and I'm not sure there's an argument to say their case is different, but something about the main Disney branch with these LA adaptations recycling itself to bring about nostalgia yet be different enough that it begs the question of why not just make a new character that I can't bring myself to be excited for. Maybe when Marvel ultimately reboots itself in a few years I'll feel the same way.

*looks back on post*

I hope people reading that made tea or something.

 

[Padwolf]

I dunno if I like this really. The thing about Beauty and the Beast, disney's animation was gorgeous for it, and the film has stood the test of what, two decades now? And the nicest thing about it is that it gets better and better as I grow older. The film worked for animation, it worked beautifully. Hell even the voices were brilliant, the musical score was amazing. I can see a live action version being good, but nowhere near as magical as the disney animated film.

 

[mgs16925]

So after they made Maleficent into a *SPOILER* rape revenge epic that completely tore the original Sleeping Beauty into little bitty pieces I assume this movie will be a disturbing look into the Stockholm Syndrome implications of the original.

Honestly that sounds awesome, sign me up.

 

[redisforever]

I'd rather have Guillermo del Toro do it, with the Beast played by Ron Perelman.

Ok, yes, I just want Hellboy 3.

 

[Brian Tams]

Sure, why not. There's already been a really excellent Beauty & the Beast stage play (bet a lot of people here didn't know that), and the story has been retold a bajillion times in other live action movies.

I'm optimistic.