Bill Condon Set To Direct Beauty & The Beast Live Action Film

With the recent release of “Maleficent,” which grossed more than $170 million worldwide in its opening weekend, Disney is working fast on its next live-action fairy-tale adaptation.

Bill Condon is set to direct a live-action version of “Beauty and the Beast” for Disney.

Evan Spiliotopoulos is writing the script with Mandeville Films producing.

The studio’s 1991 animated feature version of “Beauty and the Beast” grossed more than $375 million worldwide, spawned a Broadway play and became one of the few animated pics to receive a best picture Oscar nomination.

Disney has been on a roll lately thanks to successful updates of literary classics like “Alice and Wonderland” and “The Wizard of Oz” and reinventions of its own stories into big box office hits. The Mouse House is also developing a live-action version of “The Jungle Book,” which has Jon Favreau directing, and its “Cinderella,” helmed by Kenneth Branagh, is set to bow next March.

Condon is best known for his hit feature adaptation of the musical “Dreamgirls,” and his experience in helming a film with strong musical elements will help this film, which could very easily go down that path. Condon also penned the script to the widely successful adaptation of musical “Chicago.”

He also delivered two of the best reviewed films in the “Twilight” series and most recently adapted the script to Fox’s “The Greatest Showman on Earth.”

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Source-Variety