Disney has announced that it is planning a live action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast.
According to Deadline the Hollywood studio has recruited Britain's Joe Ahearne, who wrote Danny Boyle's heist thriller Trance, to work on the screenplay for the project. They also reported that the film could be called "The Beast."
The move follows the $150m opening of "Oz the Great and Powerful" this weekend, the highest of the year so far. It also follows the $1.02 billion success of Tim Burton's similarly revisionist Alice in Wonderland in 2010. Disney also has a live-action take on the Sleeping Beauty story, Maleficent, arriving next year with Angelina Jolie as the evil queen and is also developing a live action version of Cinderella with Kenneth Branagh and Cate Blanchett.
The studio's live action takes have been delivered through an alternative prism. "Alice in Wonderland" was a sequel of sorts, in which Alice returns to Lewis Carroll's subterranean netherworld as a teenager, while "Oz the Great and Powerful" recounts the wizard's arrival in Oz. "Maleficent" will examine the "Sleeping Beauty" story from the evil queen's perspective. From its title, Beast might be expected to go for a grimmer take on the story and follow the Beast's journey told in the original Best Picture nominee.
"Oz the Great and Powerful" and "Alice in Wonderland" both received mixed reviews. Disney last released "Wreck It Ralph," and "Brave." They also released "The Avengers" and will open the summer with "iron Man 3." The studio will also release "Monster's University" and "Lone Ranger" with Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer.
No date has been set for "Beauty and the Beast" but Cinderella is set for 2014.
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