For decades, Disney has enjoyed tremendous
success with their animated fairy tales - from
their first one to their latest one.
And impressively, as Hollywood can do more
and more with visual effects - and relies
more heavily on visual effects - Disney has
managed to transition their fairy tale brand
over into live action.
Alice in Wonderland was one of the first movies
to join the billion dollar club at the box
office, and this year Maleficent is one of
the most successful movies of the year.
Disney has a live action Cinderella and The
Jungle Book slated for 2015, with Beauty and
the Beast in development.
And of course there’s this year’s Into
the Woods, as Disney tries to corner the live
action fairy tale market from every angle.
But the other studios aren’t going concede
so easily, so today let’s take a look at
what live action fairy tales the competition
has planned.
This coming summer, Warner Bros has such high
hopes for its Peter Pan origin story that
it gave the flick its old Batman v Superman
release date in July.
And Disney must be somewhat concerned as well,
as they’re trying to shoot it out of the
sky by opening Ant-Man the same weekend.
Director Joe Wright has shown a knack for
clever and grand production design with both
Atonement and Anna Karenina, plus he can handle
action as evidenced by Hanna.
He’ll take the reins here as Peter Pan,
played by relative newcomer Levi Miller, joins
forces with Garrett Hedlund’s young Captain
Hook to defeat Hugh Jackman’s Blackbeard.
Warner Bros will be firing both barrells at
Disney here, not just challenging their domination
of live action fairy tales but also pirate
movies!
This version of Pan has come under fire for
casting Rooney Mara as Tiger Lilly, who many
feel is too lilly white for the role of a
Native American princess.
But will audiences change their mind when
they see the trailer?
And Smee is being played by Adeel Akhtar...from
England...
Then Warner Bros isn’t letting up as they’ll
release a competing live action version of
The Jungle Book almost exactly one year after
Disney’s, in October 2016.
And while the Disney version might have a
lot of star power in front of and behind the
camera, so does Warner Bros’ version.
Plus just like their comic book movies, they
seem to be going a bit darker as Andy Serkis
directs his first feature film.
Serkis, arguably the greatest motion capture
actor and advisor working today, also will
play Baloo while Benedict Cumberbatch, Christian
Bale, Cate Blanchett and Naomie Harris will
bring the other jungle animals to life.
As for the live action part of Jungle Book
Origins, Bad Words co-star Rohan Chand will
play young Mowgli.
Then over at Universal, Sofia Coppola is re-imagining
The Little Mermaid where - true to form - she’s
already cast transgender model Andrej Pejic
as one of the Little Mermaid’s sisters.
There’s no question that Sofia Coppola can
create a beautiful and thought-proving version
of Hans Christian Andersen's famous story,
but one that makes hundreds of millions at
the box office?
Now you’d think Steven Spielberg and Oprah
Winfrey would be guaranteed to make money
at the box office, but The One Hundred Foot
Journey proved that assumption to be wrong.
But the duo is undeterred from further collaboration,
having recently bought the film rights to
Neil Gaiman’s newly published adaptation
of Hansel and Gretel.
Not too shabby having a celebrated author
like Gaiman flesh out a fairy tale for you,
yet he hasn’t had much luck at the box office.
The english adaptation of Princess Mononoke
and Coraline are solid high points, but Beowulf
and Stardust are definite low points.
And it’s worth noting that Joseph Gordon
Levitt’s planned film of adaptation of Gaiman’s
Sandman was not mentioned in Kevin Tsujihara’s
recent big announcement regarding Warner Bros
upcoming slate of films.
Finally, there’s also some unconventional
live action fairy tales hoping to get into
the mix.
Spain’s JA Bayona seems to be taking a page
from his mentor Guillermo Del Toro’s book,
making his own version of Pan’s Labyrinth.
A Monster Calls is based on the well-received
recent novel of the same name about a boy
trying to come to terms with mother’s terminal
illness.
British author Siobhan Dowd began writing
the book when she was diagnosed with breast
cancer.
She never had any children of her own, but
now this novel - completed by Patrick Ness
upon her death - leaves behind the story of
young Conor.
Again, this is much darker than Disney’s
story, but surely Focus Features feels this
could be their Monsters Inc?
Liam Neeson, Sigourney Weaver, Toby Kebbell
and Felicity Jones star.
And by the way, newcomer Lewis MacDougall
who plays Conor?
He’ll also play Nibs over in that Warner
Bros’ Peter Pan movie.
So, do you think any of these non-Disney live
action fairy tales have a chance, or does
the Mouse House have this genre locked down?
Be sure to share your thoughts down below.
I’m Grace Randolph and this has been a Movie
Byte!
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