Beauty and the Beast is a timeless story, one that in all honesty, we have seen many iterations from. We totally get that it’s the 30th anniversary of the Disney classic this year and all, but a two-hour hybrid animated and live-action special? Ummm…
When you’re celebrating the first of something, why would you ruin it? Because lets face it – live action specials on television aren’t all that great. As a matter of fact they normally make you never want to hear anything about the movie ever again.
Sure they say everything will pay homage to the original, with new musical performances that have never been seen, and new sets and costume sequences inspired by the original story.
Inspired by is what scares us. That usually means that some kitchy person thinks that they know everything and have better ideas that the original. The only thing that is giving us any sort of faith could be good is that Jon M. Chu (In The Heights) is producing and we like stuff he’s done.
“Beauty and the Beast was always a game-changing cinematic experience for me,” Chu said in a statement. “When the animated movie came out, I watched it multiple times in the first weekend. It showed me the outer limits of what animated artists and storytellers could achieve, so the fact that I get to executive produce a tribute to all the creatives that made this masterpiece through our Electric Somewhere company is a dream I didn’t even think was possible. With world-class creatives and talent to reinterpret the classic musical numbers (with a few surprises), I can’t wait for the audiences, in person and at home, to experience what we have in store for them. It’s a true celebration of creativity.”
Of course Disney is excited to work with him, we would be too. But again, their statement didn’t make us feel better. It made us go DEAR GOD NO, NO MODERN TWISTS.
“‘Beauty and the Beast’ is a timeless story and we’re so fortunate to work with creative mastermind Jon M. Chu and veteran director Hamish Hamilton to bring a modern twist to this beloved classic for an unforgettable night of Disney magic,” the President of Hulu Originals and ABC Entertainment said. “Stacked with unforgettable performances, this will be a must-see special event for fans of the original and for the new generation being introduced to this cherished tale.”
Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration airs Thursday, December 15 at 8 PM EST on ABC. It’ll be available the next day on Disney+. So you know, we have a lot of time before we have to remember anything about this.
Until then we’ll deny in our souls that it’s even happening. Lord, this may be the shit nightmares are made from.
