Disney hopes to continue their hot streak of rebooting the studio's classic animated features into live-action blockbusters with "Beauty and the Beast," set to premiere on March 17, 2017.
Disney announced the release date on Monday along with the cast additions of Kevin Kline as Belle's father Maurice and Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts. They join stars Emma Watson (Belle), Dan Stevens (Beast/Prince) and Luke Evans (Gaston) as well as Josh Gad, who recently signed on as Gaston's sidekick, Lefou.
Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken will score the "Beauty and the Beast" reboot, which will feature all-new recordings of the classic songs as well as several new tunes written by Menken and Tim Rice ("The Lion King"). Menken has won eight Oscars, including two for the 1991 animated version of "Beauty and the Beast."
He shared the Best Original Song award with his lyricist Howard Ashman for the song "Beauty and the Beast." Ashman received his award posthumously as he passed away before the movie premiered.
Bill Condon will direct the film, a re-telling of Disney's Oscar-nominated animated feature. The studio hired Stephen Chbosky, who directed Watson in "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," to write a new script. Evan Spiliotopoulos turned in the original draft.
The "Beauty and the Beast" story comes from a French fairy tale about a young woman who agrees to live with the Beast in his palace in exchange for her father's release. She eventually falls in love with him and breaks the curse put upon him by a wicked fairy.
Production on "Beauty and the Beast" will start later this year.
