Disney Developing ‘Tangled’ Live-Action Movie

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2010’s ‘Tangled’. Photo: Walt Disney Studios.

Preview:

Disney is adding ‘Tangled’ to its animated-to-live-action conversion catalogue.
‘The Greatest Showman’ director Michael Gracey is in talks to handle the movie.
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson is writing the script.

Having enjoyed a fair amount of success turning its animated back catalogue into live-action movies, Disney is looking to turn that cash geyser on once more.

At least, according to Deadline, which reports that the studio is now putting a live-action version of 2010’s ‘Tangled’ into development.

The original animated adventure, which adapts the classic Brothers Grimm tale about the young woman with the long flowing locks whose hair helps her escape imprisonment in a tower, is just the latest film making the move from animation to live-action (or at least live-action with some CG).

And director Michael Gracey is the man in talks to make it all happen.

What’s the story of ‘Tangled’?

2010’s ‘Tangled’. Photo: Walt Disney Studios.

Directed by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard, the original ‘Tangled’ starred Mandy Moore as Rapunzel, a spirited young princess with magical, golden hair who escapes from her isolated tower for the first time to experience the world, embarking on an adventure with a charming thief (Zachary Levi), only to discover her true identity and face the dangerous truth about the woman (Donna Murphy) who kept her captive.

The 50th film released by Disney’s feature animated arm, it had a script from Dan Fogelman, who would go on to create TV hit ‘This is Us.’

The movie was a huge success with both critics and audiences, grossed over $590 million worldwide, scored an Oscar nomination for original song “I See the Light,” and was among the films revitalizing Disney’s princess genre for a new generation.

Composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater were behind the film’s music.

Despite its big impact, the film has yet to spur a sequel. According to producer Ray Conli, it wasn’t for want of pressure from the studio.

Here’s what Conli told Den of Geek in 2015:

“There was a desire to somehow take it into a filmic sequel. But the directors weren’t really interested in doing that. Her hair was gone! There you go!”

Still, there was ‘Tangled Ever After,’ a short that played before a 3D theatrical re-release of ‘Beauty and the Beast ‘and on the Disney Channel, and the Disney Channel animated series ‘Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure.’

The new movie has seemingly been in development for a while, as Deadline’s report mentions that Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, who contributed to the script for ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ and wrote/directed Netflix’s ‘Do Revenge,’ wrote the most recent draft of the new ‘Tangled’s script.

Robinson is currently at work on Sony’s reboot of ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer.’

Who could star in the new ‘Tangled’?

2010’s ‘Tangled’. Photo: Walt Disney Studios.

Disney has naturally not commented on the new movie, so casting is likely a ways off. But with Gracey closing in on a deal, we’d expect announcements to come soon.

While neither Moore nor Levi (he especially given his political views) are likely to return for much more than cameos, some (including Levi) have suggested ‘Dune’ and ‘A Complete Unknown’s Timothée Chalamet as a potential Flynn.

That said, he seems unlikely to tackle the job.

Fans, meanwhile, have been talking up the combo of Disney channel veteran (and current pop star) Sabrina Carpenter as Rapunzel and ‘Red White and Royal Blue’s Taylor Zakhar Perez.

We’ll have to wait and see who ends up in the key roles.

Much more important in our opinion is finding the right horse (real or CG) to play Maximus, the stubborn, sarcastic horse who steals the movie from under the main characters.

What else has Michael Gracey worked on?

(L to R) Hugh Jackman and director Michael Gracey on the set of ‘The Greatest Showman’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.

Gracey right now is best known for his zeitgeisty directorial debut, ‘The Greatest Showman,’ one of the highest grossing live-action musicals of all time, starring Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum, which took in more than $435 million worldwide and earned a number of major accolades, including a Grammy and a Golden Globe.

The film’s soundtrack in particular became a big sensations, with the likes of “The Greatest Show” and “This Is Me” –– co-written by ‘La La Land’ Oscar winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul –– turning into crossover pop hits.

Gracey co-wrote, directed and produced ‘Better Man,’ a semi-autobiographical musical about British pop icon Robbie Williams, in which he’s portrayed as a chimpanzee through some impressive visual effects.

What other animated-to-live-action conversions does Disney have on the way?

Mufasa in Disney’s 'Mufasa: The Lion King'.

The more recent likes of ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ ‘Maleficent,’ ‘Cinderella’ ‘The Lion King’ and ‘Cruella’ are notable in the annals of Disney raiding its cartoon catalogue for re-imaginations, the idea stretches further back, including 1994 take on ‘The Jungle Book,’ the two movies based on ‘101 Dalmatians’ and ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.’

They haven’t all been hits –– Robert Zemeckis’ version of ‘Pinocchio’ was a noted flop that went straight to streaming on Disney+.

Yet the blips haven’t stopped the flow of these productions. Coming next is ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ (a prequel to Jon Favreau’s 2019 CG take on the tale), while in 2025 we can expect ‘Snow White’ and ‘Lilo & Stitch.’ 2026 promises ‘Moana,’ while the likes of ‘Bambi’ and ‘The Aristocats’ are in development.