Disney is developing a live-action Rapunzel movie. The studio famously adapted the fairy tale into an animated feature a decade ago with Tangled, featuring the voices of Mandy Moore as the lost princess Rapunzel and Zachary Levi as the charismatic thief Eugene Fitzherbert (or, as he prefers to go by, Flynn Rider). The movie was a big success for Disney Animation, grossing $592 million worldwide and more than doubling the box office for its previous fairy tale film, 2009’s 2D-animated The Princess and the Frog. In doing so, Tangled ushered in the current era of Disney computer animation and paved the way for big hits like the Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen franchises.
The Mouse House has continued to build the Tangled brand with shorts like Tangled Ever After and Tangled The Series, but have yet to produce a theatrical sequel to the original movie. Of course, some have half-joked about the inevitable(?) live-action Tangled remake (something Levi suspects he’s too old to star in by now), but there haven’t been any serious developments on that front. That may no longer be the case, judging by today’s news.
The DisneyInsider has learned Disney is developing a live-action Rapunzel movie that may or may not be based on Tangled, with Ashleigh Powell (The Nutcracker and the Four Realms) writing the script. Screen Rant has reached out separately to Disney, which has confirmed the news about Powell working on a live-action Rapunzel film is accurate.
As mentioned, it’s not clear yet if the live-action Rapunzel will be a re-imagining of Tangled or draw more from the original Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Disney has already released one live-action movie featuring Rapunzel (2014’s Into the Woods Broadway musical adaptation, which costarred Mackenzie Mauzy as the long-haired princess) since Tangled reached theaters, so it’s possible Rapunzel will be similarly unrelated to the animated film. The DisneyInsider is also reporting the live-action Rapunzel is being developed as a theatrical release, as opposed to an exclusive for the Disney+ streaming service (a la last fall’s Lady and the Tramp). That won’t be the case with all of their upcoming live-action fairy tale movies, but it makes sense here, given the popularity of the general Disney Princess brand.
It might even be to the live-action Rapunzel’s advantage to not be a direct remake of Tangled. In spite of their continued box office success, Disney’s more recent live-action remakes of its animated hits (Aladdin, The Lion King) has been criticized for doing little more than rehashing the original movies in live-action and/or CGI while tweaking their stories just enough to “fix” them or make them more “woke”. By comparison, there’s much more positive buzz surrounding next month’s live-action Mulan, which pays homage to Disney 1998 animated adaptation, but otherwise looks like a fresh interpretation of the Chinese legend. That could be the way to go for Disney’s live-action Rapunzel, assuming it moves forward from here.
Source: The DisneyInsider
