Disney is moving full steam ahead with bringing its library of classic animated fairy & children’s tales to life. In the last few years the House of the Mouse has brought Alice in Wonderland (directed by Burton) and Maleficent (a spin on Sleeping Beauty) to the big screen in live-action format, Cinderella opens in the US on Friday, and both The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast are in various stages of production. Now Disney have announced (via THR) that the ever-quirky Tim Burton has been tapped to direct a live-action remake of the 1941 animated classic Dumbo.
In case you’ve forgotten what the original story is about (via IMDB):
The stork delivers a baby elephant to Mrs. Jumbo, veteran of the circus, but the newborn is ridiculed because of his truly enormous ears and dubbed “Dumbo”. After being separated from his mother, Dumbo is relegated to the circus’ clown acts; it is up to his only friend, a mouse, to assist Dumbo to achieve his full potential.
The remake will make use of both live-action and CGI to bring the story to life, and will also include an original family story that parallels that of Dumbo’s. Ehren Kruger (Transformers franchise) has written the script and will produce alongside Justin Springer (Oblivion).
These live-action movies have been very lucrative money makers for Disney as Alice in Wonderland grossed just over $1 billion and Maleficent $758 million. They certainly tap into older people’s nostalgia while allowing them to share stories or characters they loved as children, with their own. Dumbo was also notable for a number of its songs, of which “Baby Mine” received an Oscar nomination for Best Song.
Frequent Burton lead actor Johnny Depp is yet to be confirmed as being cast to play Dumbo.
Last Updated: March 11, 2015
Admiral Chief
March 11, 2015 at 16:06
HUH?
HvR
March 11, 2015 at 16:38
So Dumbo is going to be eye-liner wearing emo elephant who cuts himself due to the other hipster teenage animals making fun of his big ears?
Kromas Votes LAG WCMovie Event
March 11, 2015 at 17:05
Spot on.
Brady miaau
March 11, 2015 at 17:06
OH CRAP. So a massive emotional roller-coaster of a movie where he pushes our emotions to highs and lows. Great. Love this.
Vaguely.
Matthew Holliday
March 12, 2015 at 10:43
exciting, but he IS going to ruin our childhoods though
Gustav Willem Diedericks
March 11, 2015 at 18:00
I don’t see Tim Burton being a director that can successfully pull off what should really be a Babe-esque kind of movie. And his last Disney train-wreck, “Alice in Wonderland”, doesn’t make me expect him to deliver the goods as they should be.
Matthew Holliday
March 12, 2015 at 10:42
tl;dr
childhood will be ruined.