Disney has unleashed a new trailer for its live-action adaptation of the studio’s animated classic Beauty And The Beast. Starring Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as Beast, the film is directed by Bill Condon and retains the animated pic’s Alan Menken/Howard Ashman/Tim Rice score, while adding several new songs. Amping up anticipation, the updated Beauty And The Beast dropped a first teaser last May, followed by a look at Stevens’ princely locks in August. A few days ago, Watson tweeted out the new poster. Check out the first full trailer above.
The tale as old as time gets a facelift in this latest version, with classic characters like Lumière the candelabra (Ewan McGregor), Cogsworth the mantel clock (Ian McKellen) and Mrs Potts the teapot (Emma Thompson) updated and CGI’d for a contemporary audience.
Watson plays Belle, a bright, beautiful and independent young woman taken prisoner by a beast whose castle, as her dad Maurice (Kevin Kline) warns in the trailer above, “is alive.” Despite her fears, Belle befriends the castle’s enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the Beast’s hideous exterior and realize the kind heart and soul of the true prince within.
Also starring are Luke Evans as Gaston; Josh Gad as Lefou; Stanley Tucci as Maestro Cadenza; Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette; and Audra McDonald as Madame Garderobe.
This is the latest in Disney’s recent string of updated and reinvented classics. In the past few years, the Mouse has had great success with titles like Maleficent ($758.5M WW box office), Cinderella ($543.5M) and The Jungle Book ($966.5M). Next up is a live-action Lion King, to be directed by Jungle Book‘s Jon Favreau and, like Beast, including songs from the original animated pic.
Beauty And The Beast is produced by Mandeville Films’ David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman. Menken, who won two Oscars for the 1991 animated film, is providing the score, which will include new recordings of the original songs written by Menken and Ashman, as well as several new songs written by Menken and Rice.
Disney begins international rollout in March, the same sweet spot in which Cinderella twirled onto screens.
