With their live-action Maleficent about to hit theaters in May, Disney is turning their attention to revamping another classic story: Beauty and the Beast.
A tweet from FilmDivider (and relayed via CinemaBlend) notes that the Breaking Dawn and Gods and Monsters director will likely helm the story of Belle and the Beast:
Expect Breaking Dawn and Gods and Monsters' Bill Condon to direct Disney's live action take on Beauty and the Beast. pic.twitter.com/5Ia03vRU6a
— Film Divider (@FilmDivider) April 10, 2014
Hypable feels confident in this information.
As we learned over a year ago, the screenplay for this project, which is reportedly titled The Beast, is by Joe Ahearne.
The news of Disney looking to create a live-action Beauty and the Beast shouldn’t be too surprising. In recent years the studio has offered up revamps like Oz the Great and Powerful, Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent. Next year we’ll see Cinderella starring Downton Abbey’s Lily James.
Disney’s first adaptation of Beauty and the Beast was animated and released in 1991. It is considered part of Disney’s “renaissance period” in which they released hit after hit.
This forthcoming live-action story is not to be confused with Guillermo Del Toro and Emma Watson’s Beauty and the Beast project which, at last check, appears to be moving very slowly.
Condon is also working on a Sherlock adaptation starring Ian McKellen which is expected to begin filming this year.