Another day, another story about a new live-action movie Disney is developing based on their iconic characters. The latest: Prince Charming.
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Update (July 7): Maybe this isn’t exactly about Prince Charming after all? While THR’s report didn’t go into specifics, Variety says that the film’s “point of view isn’t that of the prince himself but of his brother who never lived up to the family name.” Interesting! It almost sounds like a gender-swapped version of Cinderella — now it’s a guy who doesn’t fit in with his family.
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Original story (July 6): The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Disney has bought a script for a live-action film starring the character Prince Charming, idealized in many fairytales as a hero to all princesses he encounters. Making a movie out of the guy may not come as too big a surprise — versions of him were seen three times in live-action Disney films over the past two years: The first was in 2014’s Maleficent (Brenton Thwaites), then over Christmas in Into the Woods (Chris Pine), and most he appeared in March 2015’s Cinderella (Richard Madden).
Prince Charming plot details are currently unknown, but THR describes it as being a “revisionist take on the fairy tales” and name checks Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. In other words, we don’t know which Prince Charming Disney is dealing with in this film.
The “revisionist” idea is how Disney handled their live-action Maleficent starring Angelina Jolie — the ending told a story different than the one found in Sleeping Beauty. It was fun to watch the new ending play out in Maleficent because it wasn’t what anyone was expecting.
The Prince Charming script was penned by Matt Fogel, a person who has a short Hollywood resumé so far. He wrote the script for 2011’s Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son and was an assistant on Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller).
Disney is currently at work on many live-action retellings that will fill their slate for years to come. The studio is currently shooting Beauty and the Beast starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens in the lead roles for a theatrical release in 2017. Also in the works are live-action versions of Pete’s Dragon (2016), Mulan, Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo Pinocchio, Tink, and something based on a scene in Fantasia.
Who would you like to see Disney cast as Prince Charming?
We doubt they’ll go with an actor who’s already taken on the role (sorry, Pine and Madden fans), but we’re sure many handsome young actors in Hollywood are already gunning for this gig.
We’re also wondering what the script is about. An idea like Prince Charming saving Cinderella seems too bland — maybe this live-action film will give him a sob story that makes us feel for the guy leading up to the events of Disney’s original Cinderella?
Related: Play our Disney animated-to-live-action bingo game!