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In recent years, Walt Disney Studios has taken to adapting its animated classics to live-action with success both at the box office as well as with critics and casual moviegoers. Disney’s live-action fairytales have either been reinventions of the classic stories — as was the case with both Alice in Wonderland (which received an unsuccessful sequel earlier this year, Alice Through the Looking Glass) and Maleficent — or fairly strict adaptations, such as Cinderella and The Jungle Book.
Disney has a number of other live-action adaptations of animated classics in various stages of development, including a new take on the story of Mulan, Jon Favreau’s The Lion King, and Aladdin with Guy Ritchiesigned on as director. However, the next Disney fairytale being brought to life is Bill Condon’s Beauty and the Beast, set to be released in spring 2017. Now, the Mouse House is looking to another classic princess for inspiration for its next animated classic-turned-live-action blockbusters.
THR is reporting that Disney is developing a live-action musical adaptation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, with Erin Cressida Wilson (The Girl on the Train) in negotiations to pen the script. Songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land) are attached to write new songs for Disney’s live-action Snow White movie, which is reported to “expand upon the story and music from the beloved animated classic.”
Based on the “Snow White” fairytale by the Brothers Grimm, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered in 1937 as Disney Animation’s first feature-length animated movie. The film tells the classic story of a young princess cast out by her jealous stepmother, the Evil Queen, who takes refuge with seven dwarves until she’s poisoned by her stepmother disguised as an old hag. However, Snow White is awakened by the kiss of a prince and rides off into the sunset for her happily ever after.
Snow White has previously been adapted to live-action a number of times, most recently the 2012 releases Mirror Mirror starring Lily Collins and Julia Roberts and Snow White and the Huntsman starring Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, and Charlize Theron. The latter film earned a prequel/sequel in The Huntsman: Winter’s War, which shifted the focus away from Stewart’s Snow White and was less well-received by critics and moviegoers.
However, while these adaptations put new twists on the classic Snow Whitestory — either grounding it in a darker reality or giving it a zany over-the-top tone — Disney’s live-action film will likely stick close to the tone and story of the animated classic. But as is the case with Beauty and the Beast, Disney’s Snow White will feature new music in order to entice moviegoers young and old — beyond the attraction of seeing one of the Mouse House’s most popular animated movies come to life.
Disney Plans Live-Action Snow White With New Songs by La La Land Duo
