“Beauty and the Beast” is the only animated feature in cinematic history to be nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award as one of only five nominees. It also happens to be my favorite movie of all-time. I’ve seen it in 2D, 3D, on VHS, DVD, TV, and even at the Fathom Events Sing-a-Long event (Sadly, I was a little too young to experience it in IMAX back in 2002.) And the Tony Award-winning musical was the first Broadway show I ever attended.
This Disney animated classic was released in 1991, and therefore, is celebrating its 25th Anniversary this year. While it didn’t open in theaters until Nov. 15, The Academy is always rather busy around that time, so “Beauty”‘s Silver year was honored with a special screening earlier this month in LA. The stars, including Angela Lansbury and David Ogden Stiers, as well as several of the creators (including co-director Gary Trousdale and animator Glen Keane – both of whom I’ve had the chance to interview), attended and revealed stories and surprising secrets about bringing this iconic story to the screen.
And “Beauty”‘s buzz keeps growing, as Disney has unveiled the 90-second teaser for the live-action version, which will be released on March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day) 2017. And already the trailer has made history, beating the record previously held by “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” for the most views in a 24 hour period – 91.8 million. The content has been well received – giving all of us hope that the film will be elegant and the story handled with care.
The casting of “Beauty” was one of the biggest on-going stories of 2015, and any bit of production news or release of images lit-up social media. The world WANTS this “Beauty and the Beast” to be special. Like “Cinderella” and “The Jungle Book”, this “tale as old as time” is cherished and beloved, but there’s something even more important about “Beauty” that has taken fans’ interest to an even greater level.
The potential for incredible musical production numbers is real, with the classic songs combining with new ones from the great Alan Menken. The cast choices were inspired – headlined by Emma Watson, Emma Thompson, Josh Gad, Ian McKellen, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Kline and Stanley Tucci. And the script for this new version was written directly from Linda Woolverton’s ’91 script, in some cases (as we learn in the trailer) word for word.
With so much on the line, Disney and director Bill Condon simply CANNOT mess this up – can they?