EXCLUSIVE: Execs at Disney are in the early stages of reviving Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid as a live-action feature. Disney produchttp://deadline.com/2016/05/disney-beauty-and-the-beast-live-action-teaser-1201761213/tion chiefs recently heard a new take and are currently evaluating whether to proceed with the idea. Deadline understands that initial discussions have also taken place with major producers, including some with a strong connection to the studio.
The Little Mermaid holds special significance for Disney, which produced an animated version of the story in 1989. That pic, which followed the adventures of Ariel the singing mermaid, gave viewers classic songs such as “Under The Sea” and helped usher in a new golden age of animation at Disney. That streak would include Beauty And The Beast and Aladdin.
The teaser for Disney’s live-action version of Beauty And The Beast, starring Emma Watson, was viewed almost 92 million times in its first 24 hours alone this week, beating the previous record holder for most viewed teaser Star Wars: The Force Awakens, as well as the latest installments of Marvel titles Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Age Of Ultron — all of which are Disney movies.
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That, along with the sensational performance of The Jungle Book, with a worldwide gross to date of $860 million — has buoyed Disney execs to look through their back catalog for more live-action adaptations.
Should Disney execs decide to move forward, they’ll find strong competition from an existing live-action project being led by Brit production powerhouse Working Title. That Little Mermaid project, set up at Universal, has Chloe Grace Moretz attached to star and up-and-coming filmmaker Rebecca Thomas set to direct from a script by Richard Curtis.
Disney is moving forward expansively with its live-action slate in general. In April it dated a number of films in addition to Alice Through the Looking Glass (May 27), Beauty And The Beast (March 17, 2017), as well as this summer’s Pete’s Dragon (August 12). The slate includes Cruella with Emma Stone set for the title role and Kelly Marcel writing; A Wrinkle In Time with Ava DuVernay attached to direct and Jennifer Lee writing; Jungle Cruise with Dwayne Johnson set to star and John Requa and Glenn Ficarra writing; Dumbo with director Tim Burton and writer Ehren Kruger; and a sequel to Mary Poppins with director Rob Marshall, starring Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Also in the pipelines are Maleficent 2 with Angelia Jolie set to return in the title role and Linda Woolverton writing; The Nutcracker And The Four Realms with director Lasse Hallstrom and writer Ashleigh Powell; The Jungle Book 2 with both director Jon Favreau and writer Justin Marks returning; and a Tinker Bell project with Reese Witherspoon set to star and Victoria Strouse writing
Great idea but…. How can it be done?
News alert! All Disney animated films other than Song of the South (don’t count it out!) are in active development as live action remakes. Then the remakes will be remade as animated films. That’s the business model.
LIve action Fantasia. That’s what we need.
That’s a bigger than usual gamble for Disney, the scenes “under the sea” have to be spectacular, anything less would turn the film into a joke. Ever since “Alice” crossed 1B, I have known all these live-action remakes were inevitable, but I thought they would go with the safer options first, you know Aladdin, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan, Frozen.
Having said that, considering it is now a race to the finish line with that rival project set up at Uni, I can understand why Disney would fast track this, they’ve already lost a remake opportunity because of a quicker rival and unless tracking picks up steam, it sure looks like a lose-lose situation for now : Disney won’t be advised to make their version anytime soon, and the rival studio may just lose a lot of money (Warner Bros – Tarzan). Well, I hate to see films flop, so I hope it will do at least relatively well. We’ll see, we’ll see.
Mulan is already in the works as a live action remake. Hopefully Ming na will make a cameo is said remake. Maybe as Mulans mok or one of the ancestorial guardians.
I predict that this movie will be a giant Bonanza . . . for all the animators, computer programmers, and compositors at ILM.
ILM could not handle all the shots required to do The Little Mermaid live action version and capture the quality of the story. This, if green lit, it will take many vfx houses to support ILM’s lead.
Go for it. Love the challenge.
it’s early, but this sounds interesting.
However, I would like the Richard Curtis/Chloe Moretz version to enter production first. As much as I love Disney, I don’t think that they own fairytales any more than the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen, so it would be really interesting to see an independant take on TLM from a mainstream Anglo-American Studio…
The Richard Curtis script is surpisingly grim— much more Hans Christian Andersen and less Disney, which seems an odd choice.
That’s interesting…It will help the Universal version stand out.
I am OK with darker adaptations of Andersen’s tale, but I don’t like ones which are outright nihilistic (Such as the 1975 Czech adaptation). The Little Mermaid isn’t solely a great fairy tale because she dies at the end – It’s a great fairytale because it’s brilliantly written with a compelling protagonist.
A Jungle-Book style duel between the light of Disney and a darker, more faithful adaptation, would be really interesting, especially with the latter coming first this time. (It is also worth noting that the TV show Fairie Tale Theatre did a darker Adaptation of Andersen’s story whilst Disney’s was in production).
However, my main reason for being excited about the Universal version is the fact Richard Curtis is penning it – He’s one of my favorite writers, and I am sure he can handle the dark aspects of the story excellently…
Hans Christian Andersen did own his fairy tales though. His were for the most part original writings while the Grimms just collected them.
True, but most of his fairytales were based on fairytales and stories from other writers. “The Little Mermaid” was heavily inspired by the story of “Undine” (Which, if my memory is correct, has an even bleaker ending, with the titular water spirit being forced to come back as an angel of death and kill the prince). Other Andersen tales, such as “The Wild Swans” and “Thumbelina” were based on traditional fairy tales.
However, “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”, “The Ugly Duckling” and “The Snow Queen” WERE entirely original…
i really want a live action remake of “The Black Cauldron” so much story to that and it could make a great movie.
Good news. It’s happening. Disney got the rights to the Chronicles of Prydain which Black Cauldron is a part of. You can google for more googy.
Great Mouse Detective or gtfo.
I figured Jungle Book and great buzz for Beauty and the Beast would encourage such an ambitious live-action reboot – can’t blame Disney here!
That said, it would be GREAT if Disney would take a leap with these remakes a bit: the Genie live-action prequel is a start, but what about theatrical remakes of beloved nostalgic properties on their TV Zside (such as Chip & Dale’s Rescue Rangers or Gargoyles?)
They were developing Rescue Rangers in the same vein as Alvin and teh Chipmunks. Not sure what happened to it.
Like went down a toilet, like one for Phineas and Ferb that was canned in 2013. Though the CaDRR was likely that the Road Chip got steamrolled since TFA was done the same weekend, and was a what I’d call a “light” PG-13. Common Sense Media has it at Age 10, while Alice will likely be a 9.
Disney: where being unoriginal is the name of the game.
ALADDIN! ALADDIN! ALADDIN!
Please not Don Hahn, please not Dan Hahn, please not Don Hahn!
Will JUNGLE BOOK 2 be subtitled THE WRATH OF KAA?
cancel it and cancel any future disney star wars movies, oh woops, I mean cancel any future star wars remakes…..disney/remakes – samething.
Was Tomorrowland a remake? Was the first Pirates of the Caribbean a remake? I don’t recall them being remakes
No, but they both were based off of amusement park rides. So, kind of?
Disney has become home of bad but profitable ideas.
I sure hope that they do not ‘drop’ another trailer for this.
Their last 3 movies had over a 90 score on Rotten Tomatoes (Zootpia 98, Jungle Book 95, Civil War 90), and all made close to a billion worldwide. Add in the 92 score for The Force Awakens and I’d say they’ve had a lot of good ideas that were profitable Alice notwithstanding. As long as they keep making good versions of these properties I’m in. Hollywood and literature have always told new versions of old stories. It’s not new.
Melissa Benoist for Ariel!
Fantastic news! I want to see a Disney’s Little Mermaid live-action!
Little Mermaid is the most beloved classic movie!
This project is the best!
Disney need not worry, a live-action adaptation of it’s 1989 property will be very different from the other mermaid movies currently in the works. And if the reaction to the Beauty & the Beast teaser trailer is anything to go by, audiences would flock to see a live-action remake of arguably Disney’s best movie. Just get on with it already!
Please please don’t make Ariel ( The little mermaid) blonde !!!!
Ugh I really don’t think chole grace mortez is a good fit for Ariel… She’s blonde and I don’t see the resemblance in the face– don’t get me wrong, she’s a great actor but my childhood dreams are on the line and I hope she does a good job living up to it.
When and where do you audition for the little mermaid?