We’ve all grown up with Disney movies, and each of us has a favorite. Whether it’s Snow White or Mulan, or the more recent Elsa, Disney has touched our lives in many ways. Because Disney is rooted in everyone’s lives, it’s understandable that everyone gets excited whenever the studio releases a new movie or adaptation. And due to the growing complexity of CGI, it’s now possible to adapt animated classics as live-action movies!
We scoured the Internet and found 10 Disney classics that are being developed into live-action adaptations. Here are our favorites:
1. Prince Charming
Prince Charming has appeared in so many Disney movies that we can’t help but wonder: is he the same guy? Is he so charming that he managed to make Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora from Sleeping Beauty fall in love with him? Disney is going to adapt a live-action comedy, but it will not follow the unnamed seducer. Instead, the movie will focus on his brother, who can’t compete in the charm department. Matt Fogel, who served as assistant to the director in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, submitted his script mid-2015, but there is no word on the release date.
2. Beauty and the Beast
It’s a tale as old as time, but Beauty and the Beast, the first animated feature to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, is set to have its own live-action adaptation in 2017. Emma Watson will star as Belle, while Dan Stevens will take on the role of Beast. They will be joined by Luke Evans (Gaston), Emma Thompson (Mrs. Potts), Ewan McGregor (Lumière), Ian McKellen (Cogsworth), and Stanley Tucci (Cadenza). Bill Condon will be directing, while The Perks of Being a Wallflower author Stephen Chbosky will write the script. Beauty and the Beast will premiere on March 17, 2017.
3. Dumbo
The sad tale of Dumbo, a young circus elephant ridiculed for his large ears, will also have its own live-action movie. It was announced in May 2015 that Tim Burton will direct, and he will be joined by writer Ehren Kruger, who also wrote the Transformers franchise. The film is set to be a mix of live-action and CGI. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have asked Burton to change the ending to one where Dumbo experiences freedom, and it sounds like an excellent and modern idea.
4. Mulan
Mulan, the OG Disney Princess who saved China instead of marrying a Prince, is going live-action at feminism’s peak. There’s still no word about the project, except Disney is developing it, and Elizabeth Martin and Lauren Hynek are writing the script.
5. Pocahontas
Pocahontas is a real Native American woman whose story remains unclear: in one anecdote she was said to have sacrificed her life when her father tried to execute John Smith. In another, she was captured by the English and was given the name Rebecca to be the face of “civilized savage” in order to stimulate investment in the Jamestown settlement in Virginia. But the version many of us grew up with is the Disney version, where Pocahontas faces John Smith and the settlers, but chooses to stay with her tribe. No word yet on the production, except that Disney is producing.
Check out more Disney cartoons that are going to have a live action adaptation on the next page!
