Walt Disney Pictures announced today the studio will release Beauty and the Beast in 3D on March 17, 2017. The beloved tale will be retold for the big screen with a modern live-action lens and the help of transformative CG magic.
Emma Watson and Dan Stevens will star as Belle and the Beast/Prince, respectively, and Luke Evans will play the role of Gaston. Emma Thompson has joined the cast as Mrs. Potts and Kevin Kline as Belle’s father, Maurice. Josh Gad was previously-reported as playing Lefou, though the Frozen actor was not included in today’s announcement.
Eight-time Oscar-winner Alan Menken, who won two Academy Awards for the 1991 animated classic, will score the film, which will feature new recordings of the original songs in addition to several new songs written by Menken and Sir Tim Rice. Bill Condon will direct from a script by Stephen Chbosky, and the film will be produced by Mandeville Films’ David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman.
Watson herself had been previously attached to another version of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s fairy tale at Warner Bros. That project stalled after director Guillermo del Toro dropped out last summer. Apparently Del Toro gave Watson his blessing to move on to Disney’s version, no doubt sweetened by the fact that the script was written by Chbosky, who directed Watson in The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Production begins in May at Shepperton Studios in London.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
