Beauty and the Beast – a 2017 American 3D musical romantic fantasy film directed by Bill Condon from a screenplay written by Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos.
The film received till now generally positive reviews and has grossed over $886 million worldwide on a $160 million production budget, making it the highest-grossing film of 2017 and the 45th highest-grossing film of all time.
- A co-production between Walt Disney Pictures and Mandeville Films, the film is a remake of Disney’s 1991 animated film of the same name, itself an adaptation of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s eighteenth-century fairy tale.
- The film features an ensemble cast that includes Emma Watson and Dan Stevens as the titular characters with Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Audra McDonald, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ian McKellen and Emma Thompson in supporting roles.
- Set in Bourbon-era France, a young woman, Belle, is imprisoned in an enchanted castle by the fearsome Beast, a prince cursed by a sorceress as penance for his callousness. She is also pursued by Gaston, a hunter who wants her hand in marriage leading to a confrontation with the Beast.
- Principal photography began at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England on May 18, 2015, and ended on August 21. Beauty and the Beast premiered on February 23, 2017, at Spencer House in London and was released in North America on March 17, 2017, in the standard, Disney Digital 3-D, RealD 3D, IMAX and IMAX 3D formats along with Dolby Cinema.
Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Emma Watson who really, really, really loved Disney’s 1991 animated classic, Beauty and the Beast. “I can’t even think how many times I watched it as a child,” says the former Harry Potter star. “I knew all the words by heart. I knew all the songs by heart.”
Watson was hardly the only person to become obsessed with this song – filled tale of a self-possessed young woman named Belle and a prince – turned-beast who must find his true love before the final petal falls from an enchanted rose.
Beauty and the Beast was the third-highest-grossing film of 1991 and the first animated feature ever nominated for a best picture Oscar.
While the film lost out in that category to the slightly less romantic Silence of the Lambs, it did win Academy Awards for best score and best song. Beauty and the Beast also inspired a stage musical, which ran on Broadway for 13 years.
Belle (Emma Watson), a bright, beautiful and independent young woman, is taken prisoner by a beast (Dan Stevens) in its castle. Despite her fears, she befriends the castle’s enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the beast’s hideous exterior, allowing her to recognize the kind heart and soul of the true prince that hides on the inside.
Watch the official trailer here:
Release date: March 17, 2017 (USA)
Director: Bill Condon
Writers: Stephen Chbosky (screenplay), Evan Spiliotopoulos (screenplay)
Stars: Emma Watson, Luke Evans, Dan Stevens
Costume design: Jacqueline Durran
