Disney Set to Do a Live-Action Re-Make of 'Winnie-The-Pooh'
Disney is in the process of developing another live-action retelling of its own animated classics, this time of the animated children's favorite, Winnie-the-Pooh, according to Deadline. The focus will be on an adult Christopher Robin, the owner of the anthropomorphic teddy bear. Brigham Taylor is producing and Alex Ross Perry has been hired to write the live-action adaptation for the big-screen.
The Winnie-the-Pooh teddy bear character was created by A.A. Milne for a collection of stories in the books "Winnie-the-Pooh" (1926) and "The House at Pooh Corner" (1928). Disney bought the rights to the character in 1961, leading to TV shows and four feature films: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Tigger Movie, Piglet's Big Movie, Pooh's Heffalump Movie and Winnie the Pooh.
Late last month, Disney also confirmed that it is making a live-action version of Mulan. In the original animation, Mulan follows the story of a young woman who disguises herself as a man so she can take her father's place in the army and go to war. She is also seen getting help from her trusty dragon sidekick Mushu in training to become a skilled warrior.
For the live-action adaptation, the studio has reportedly bought a script by the writing team of Elizabeth Martin and Lauren Hynek that centers on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, the female warrior who was the inspiration behind the main character in Disney's 1998 animated film directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook, which made $304.3 million worldwide, earned Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations and resulted in a 2005 direct-to-DVD sequel, Mulan II. Chris Bender and J.C. Spink are producing the new Mulan live-action remake project.
Winnie-the-Pooh and Mulan continue Disney's recent trend of adapting its own classic cartoons into live-action films. So far, the studio has released a live-action version of Alice in Wonderland which grossed $1.02 billion, Maleficent, a Cinderella prequel which earned $758.4 million worldwide, and recently Cinderella which has already earned $336.2 million worldwide since hitting theaters about three weeks ago.
A live-action version of Beauty and the Beast, directed by Bill Condon and starring Emma Watson, Luke Evans and Dan Stevens is scheduled to hit theaters in March 2017. But before that, the studio will release a new live-action version of The Jungle Book directed by Jon Favreau on April 15, 2016 and the James Bobbin-helmed Through the Looking Glass, the live-action sequel to Alice in Wonderland, on May 27, 2016. Disney has also signed on Tim Burton to direct a live-action version of Dumbo based on a script written by Ehren Kruger.