The Beauty and the Beast teaser trailer may have had no Beast and very little Beauty, yet it had more views than the first glimpse of Star Wars: The Force Awakens!
Early Monday morning, the teaser trailer for Beauty and the Beast, Disney’s live-action remake starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens, hit the web. And it was watched by everyone.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, the 90-second teaser trailer had an astounding 91.8 million views in the first 24 hours, which is more than the previous record-holder Star Wars: The Force Awakens (which came in at 88 million views).
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We knew that Disney’s live-action version of Beauty and the Beast was hotly anticipated, but the fact that it got more views than The Force Awakens (as well as Captain America: Civil War, which had 61 million views) is still pretty astonishing. Clearly the draw of one of Disney’s most iconic tales, plus the star power of Harry Potter’s Emma Watson, is a recipe for surefire success.
It’s also reassuring that, in a time where sexism is seeping through pop culture, a female-led movie such as Beauty and the Beast has such widespread appeal. Belle has always been a fan favorite Disney princess, and most people couldn’t imagine anyone more perfect for the role than Hermione actress Emma Watson. The teaser trailer only revealed a tiny glimpse of her, but clearly, that was enough to draw in audiences.
With hints of the “Tale as Old as Time” song, the voices of Cogsworth and Lumière and the words “be our guest” tantalizingly setting up the re-imagining of this classic Disney tale, we have no doubt that Beauty and the Beast will break all kinds of records when it hits theaters in March 2017.
Beauty and the Beast, directed by Bill Condon, also boasts the talents of Sir Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, Ewan McGregor as Lumière, Luke Evans as Gaston, Josh Gad as LeFou, Emma Thompson as Mrs Potts, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette, Kevin Kline as Maurice, and Audra McDonald as the Wardrobe.