Beauty and the Beast

One of the official movie posters for Beauty and the Beast (www.imbd.com/title/tt2771200/)

One of the official movie posters for Beauty and the Beast (www.imbd.com/title/tt2771200/)

Sarah Ruggles, Photojournalist

Since the announcement of the upcoming Beauty and the Beast movie in 2014, Disney fans everywhere are excited for the new live-action film. Set to be released early next year, it is expected to be one of the top grossing movies next year.

The future film is a live-action remake of Disney’s 1991 animated film of the same name, itself an adaptation of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s fairy tale. In the film, Belle, played by Emma Watson, is a young woman who is taken prisoner by a Beast, played by Dan Stevens, in his castle in exchange for the freedom of her father Maurice, played by Kevin Kline. Despite her fears, she befriends the castle’s enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the Beast’s exterior to recognize the true heart and soul of the human Prince within, meanwhile a hunter named Gaston, played by Luke Evans, is on the loose to take Belle for himself and hunt down the Beast at any and all cost.

Currently, the live-action film is set to be released March 17, 2017, in standard, Disney Digital 3-D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D formats. The anticipated film is directed by Bill Condon, who also directed the two final installments of the Twilight series, produced by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman, written by Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos, and the music is composed by Alan Menken. Casting for the new movie concluded around August 2015, and the casting list was eventually released, including stars such as Emma Watson as Belle, Dan Stevens as the Beast, Luke Evans as Gaston, Josh Gad as LeFou, Gastons sidekick, Ewan McGregor as Lumiere, Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts, and Nathan Mack as Chip.

Following an announcement about the Beauty and the Beast live-action movie on May 22, 2016, Disney premiered the first official teaser trailer on Good Morning America the next day. In its first 24 hours, the teaser trailer reached 91.8 million views, which topped the number of views seen in that amount of time in history, including for the teasers for other films distributed by Disney. On November 14, 2016, the first theatrical trailer was released once again on Good Morning America. The trailer reached 127.6 million views in its first 24 hours, setting a new record as the trailer with the most views in one day, beating out Fifty Shades Darker. Sal Martinez (10) said, “I’ve always loved Disney movies and I’m excited for all the new live-action films Disney is coming out with, because it’s interesting to see our old favorites in a new way.”