Beauty and the Beast (2017 movie) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Beauty and the Beast (2017 movie) |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Bill Condon |
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| Screenplay by |
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| Starring | |
| Music by | Alan Menken |
| Cinematography | Tobias A. Schliessler |
| Editing by | Virginia Katz |
| Studio |
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| Distributed by | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
| Release date(s) | February 23, 2017 (Spencer House) March 17, 2017 (United States) |
| Running time | 129 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $160–255 million |
| Money made | $1.266 billion |
Beauty and the Beast is a 2017 American musical romantic fantasy film directed by Bill Condon from a screenplay by Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Mandeville Films, it is a live-action/CGI remake of Disney's 1991 animated feature film of the same name, itself an adaptation of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's 1756 version of the fairy tale. Starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens as the title characters, the film features a supporting ensemble and choir cast including Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Audra McDonald, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ian McKellen, and Emma Thompson.
The live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast was first announced in April 2014, with Condon attached to direct. The cast members signed on between January and April 2015, and filming took place primarily at Shepperton Studios in England from May to August of that year. With an estimated production budget of around $255 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made.
Beauty and the Beast premiered at Spencer House in London on February 23, 2017, and was released theatrically in the United States in standard, Disney Digital 3-D, RealD 3D, IMAX, and IMAX 3D formats, as well as Dolby Cinema, on March 17. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its cast, songs, and visual detail. It grossed over $1.2 billion worldwide, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 2017 and the tenth-highest-grossing film of all time. Amongst Disney's live-action remakes, it is the second-highest-grossing readaptation to date. The film received several accolades, including nominations for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design at the 90th Academy Awards. A spin-off television series, titled Little Town, was in development for Disney+, but has been put on hold.
Contents
Plot
A selfish and unkind prince hosting a ball is visited in his castle by an enchantress disguised as a beggar woman, who offers him an enchanted rose in exchange for shelter from a storm. When he rebuffs her, she reveals her true form and transforms him into a beast and his servants into household objects before erasing them from the memories of their loved ones. Unless he learns to love someone and earn that person's love before the last petal of the rose falls, the prince will remain a beast forever and the servants will become inanimate objects.
Several years later in the nearby village of Villeneuve, Belle, the bookworm daughter of widowed artist Maurice, dreams of adventure while constantly rejecting advances from Gaston, an arrogant hunter and war veteran. One day, Maurice becomes lost in the forest and seeks refuge in the Beast's castle. The Beast imprisons him after he steals a rose from the garden for Belle. Belle offers to take her father's place as prisoner; the Beast agrees.
Belle befriends the castle's servants, including candelabra/footman Lumiere, mantel clock/majordomo Cogsworth, feather-duster/maid Plumette, teapot/housekeeper Mrs. Potts, and her son Chip, a teacup. When she finds the enchanted rose, the Beast angrily forces her to flee outside. Belle is ambushed by wolves and the Beast rescues her, injuring himself. As she nurses his wounds, they bond. He shows her a gift from the enchantress, a book that transports readers to their desired location. She visits her childhood home in Paris, where she discovers a plague doctor's mask and realizes that when she was an infant, she forcibly departed with her father after her mother's death from the bubonic plague, which Maurice was hesitant to reveal.
In Villeneuve, Maurice fails to convince the other villagers of the Beast. Gaston, believing that rescuing Belle could win her hand in marriage, agrees to help him. When Maurice discovers his ulterior motive, Gaston abandons him to be devoured by wolves. Maurice is rescued by the town hermit Agathe but Gaston convinces the village to send Maurice to an insane asylum.
Belle discovers Maurice's predicament via a magic mirror. The Beast releases her to save him. Arriving back in town, she reveals the Beast via the mirror, shocking the townsfolk and proving her father's sanity. Realizing Belle has fallen for the Beast, Gaston jealously has her thrown into the asylum carriage with Maurice, then rallies the villagers to slay the Beast. Belle tells Maurice about her mother's death, and the two escape.
Gaston attacks the depressed Beast, who regains his spirit upon seeing Belle return. He spares Gaston's life, but Gaston shoots the Beast from an unstable bridge; its collapse sends Gaston falling to his death. The Beast dies just as the last petal falls, and the servants become inanimate objects. As Belle tearfully professes her love to him, Agathe reveals herself as the enchantress and undoes the curse, restoring the Beast and his servants to their human forms along with the villagers' memories. The film ends with Belle and the prince hosting a ball for the kingdom.
Cast
- Emma Watson as Belle, a young benevolent bibliophile who seeks for life beyond the confines of her village. She develops feelings for the Beast and begins to see the humanity within him. Watson was announced to have been cast on January 26, 2015. She was the first and only choice of Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F. Horn, who had previously run Warner Bros. which released the eight Harry Potter films that starred Watson as Hermione Granger. Watson had previously been attached to star in Guillermo del Toro's film adaptation of the original fairy tale for Warner Bros., but the project never materialized. Susan Egan, who originated the role of Belle in the 1994 Broadway musical, commented on the casting of Watson as "perfect", while Paige O'Hara, who voiced Belle in the original 1991 animated film, said, "I think that if I were producing that movie, Emma Watson would've been my first choice for Belle. I was just really happy they went with Emma. She's got the intelligence, she's got the humor. I think she's going to be really, really special." Watson was paid $3 million upfront, with an agreement that her final take-home pay could rise as high as $15 million if the film generated gross box office income similar to the $758 million worldwide gross of Maleficent.
- Daisy Duczmal as infant Belle
- Dan Stevens as the Beast, a cold-hearted, selfish, unkind prince who has been transformed into a talking beast and forced to earn back his humanity by learning to truly love and be loved in return, as well as to give rather than take. Stevens portrays the character through motion-capture.
- Adam Mitchell as the younger version of the prince
- Luke Evans as Gaston, a narcissistic and arrogant hunter and veteran of the French Royal Army who seeks to have Belle as his trophy wife. Evans was announced to have been cast on March 4, 2015. Idris Elba also auditioned for the role.
- Kevin Kline as Maurice, Belle's protective widowed father who works as a music box maker and an artist.
- Jolyon Coy as young Maurice
- Josh Gad as LeFou, Gaston's flamboyant, illiterate, animal-loving and long-suffering sidekick who bolsters his friend's ego but often disagrees with his decisions.
- Ewan McGregor as Lumière, the Beast's charismatic maître d' who has been transformed into a candelabra.
- Stanley Tucci as Cadenza, a neurotic composer (who is described as "a neurotic maestro") and Madame de Garderobe's husband who has been transformed into a harpsichord.
- Audra McDonald as Madame de Garderobe, a world-renowned opera singer and Cadenza's wife who has been transformed into a wardrobe.
- Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette, a castle maid and Lumière's lover who has been transformed into a feather duster.
- Hattie Morahan as Agathe, an enchantress responsible for cursing the Prince, and who lives incognito in Belle's village as a "hag". Morahan also narrates the prologue.
- Rita Davies portrays the enchantress in her beggar woman form. The film was released posthumously after Davies' death.
- Nathan Mack as Chip, Mrs. Potts' plucky son who has been transformed into a teacup.
- Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, the Beast's strict but loyal butler and the head of the household staff who has been transformed into a mantel clock.
- Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts, the castle's motherly head housekeeper who has been transformed into a teapot.
The film also features Thomas Padden as Chapeau, the prince's valet who has been transformed into a coat rack, and Clive Rowe as Cuisinier, the castle's head chef who has been transformed into a stove. Additionally, Sophie Reid, Rafaëlle Cohen, and Carla Nella appear as the Village Lasses, a trio of women who fawn over Gaston and are jealous of Belle. Jimmy Johnston, Dean Street, and Alexis Loizon appear as Tom, Dick, and Stanley, a trio of men who are friends with Gaston and LeFou and serve as the former's henchmen. Adrian Schiller appears as Monsieur D'Arque, the sly warden of the local asylum who is bribed by Gaston to have Maurice institutionalized. Gerard Horan appears as Monsieur Jean Potts, Mrs. Potts' husband and Chip's father. Haydn Gwynne appears as Clothilde, a fishmonger and Cogsworth's wife. Michael Jibson appears as the Tavern Keeper, the owner and keeper of Villeneuve's local tavern. Ray Fearon appears as Père Robert, Villeneuve's local chaplain who encourages Belle to borrow the books in the chapel's meager library. Zoe Rainey appears as Belle's mother, Maurice's late wife who contracted the plague and died when Belle was an infant. Gizmo appears as Frou-Frou, Maestro Cadenza's and Madame de Garderobe's pet Yorkshire Terrier who has been transformed into a footstool. Tom Turner appears as the King, the prince's father who, following his wife's death, raised his son to be just as arrogant and selfish as he was. Harriet Jones appears as the Queen, the Prince's mother who died of an illness when he was a child. Dale Branston appears as Villeneuve's resident baker. Chris Andrew Mellon appears as Nasty Headmaster, the unnamed headmaster of an all-boys school in Villeneuve that disapproves of Belle teaching a young girl how to read. Vivian Parry appears as the Village Lasses' mother, an unnamed seamstress. Stephen Merchant was set to appear as Monsieur Toilette, a servant who was turned into a toilet, but his scenes were cut from the theatrical release of the film.
Production
Development
Previously, Disney had begun work on a film adaptation of the 1994 Broadway musical. However, in a 2011 interview, composer Alan Menken stated the planned film version of the Beauty and the Beast stage musical "was canned".
By April 2014, Walt Disney Pictures had already begun developing a new live-action version of Beauty and the Beast after making other live-action fantasy films such as Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, Cinderella, and The Jungle Book. Two months later, Bill Condon signed on to direct the film from a script by Evan Spiliotopoulos. Later in September of that same year, Stephen Chbosky (who directed Emma Watson in The Perks of Being a Wallflower) was hired to re-write the script.
Before Condon was hired to direct the film, Disney approached him with a proposal to remake the film in a more radical way as Universal Studios had remade Snow White and the Huntsman (2012). Condon later explained that "after Frozen opened, the studio saw that there was this big international audience for an old-school-musical approach. But initially, they said, 'We're interested in a musical to a degree, but only half full of songs.' My interest was taking that film and doing it in this new medium—live-action—as a full-on musical movie. So I backed out for a minute, and they came back and said, 'No, no, no, we get it, let's pursue it that way.'" Walt Disney Pictures President of Production Sean Bailey credited Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F. Horn with the decision to make the film as a musical: "We worked on this for five or six years, and for 18 months to two years, Beauty was a serious dramatic project, and the scripts were written to reflect that. It wasn't a musical at that time. But we just couldn't get it to click and it was Alan Horn who championed the idea of owning the Disney of it all. We realized there was a competitive advantage in the songs. What is wrong with making adults feel like kids again?" The film's ending originally featured Gaston being cursed by the Enchantress, though the idea was scrapped.
Casting
In January 2015, it was announced that Emma Watson had been cast as Belle, the female lead. Two months later, Luke Evans and Dan Stevens were reported to be in talks to play Gaston and the Beast respectively, and Watson confirmed their casting the next day on Twitter. The rest of the principal cast, including Josh Gad, Emma Thompson, Kevin Kline, Audra McDonald, Ian McKellen, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ewan McGregor, and Stanley Tucci were announced between March and April to play LeFou, Mrs. Potts, Maurice, Madame de Garderobe, Cogsworth, Plumette, Lumière, and Cadenza, respectively.
Filming
Principal photography began on May 18, 2015, taking place at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England, nearby in the village of Cranleigh, and in Lacock, Wiltshire. The massive movie set of the fictional provincial town of Villeneuve (named after the author of the original fairy tale, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve) was inspired by the town of Conques in southern France and measured 28,787 square feet (2,670 m2).
Filming with the principal actors concluded on August 21. Six days later, co-producer Jack Morrissey confirmed that production had officially wrapped. The castle in the film was inspired by the Château de Chambord in France.
The Beast was portrayed with a "more traditional motion capture puppeteering for the body and the physical orientation", where actor Dan Stevens was "in a forty-pound gray suit on stilts for much of the film". The facial capture for the Beast was done separately in order to "communicate the subtleties of the human face" and "[capture the] thought that occurs to him" which gets "through [to] the eyes, which are the last human element in the Beast." The castle servants who are transformed into household objects were created with CGI animation.
One concern was that one wrong step could lead to one of Stevens's steel stilts crushing one of Watson's feet, which could have severely disrupted production. To minimize that risk, the actors spent three months in pre-production and rigorously rehearsed their scenes. For the film's iconic dance scene, they initially practiced waltz steps on the ground, then Stevens learned how to walk on stilts, and then he learned how to waltz on stilts.
Prior to the film's release, Bill Condon refilmed one certain sequence in the "Days in the Sun" number, due to confusion among test audiences caused by actress Harriet Jones, who looked similar to Hattie Morahan, who portrayed Agathe. In the original version of the scene, it was Jones' character, the Prince's mother, who sings the first verse of the song, with Rudi Goodman playing the young Prince and Henry Garrett playing his father; but in the reshot version of the scene, the singing part is given to the Prince (now played by Adam Mitchell). The King was also recast to Tom Turner, although Harriet Jones was still the Queen, albeit with dark hair. Both Goodman and Garrett's names were mistakenly featured in the original theatrical release's credits, but was later corrected in home releases.
Music
When released in 1991, Beauty and the Beast marked a turning point for Walt Disney Pictures by appealing to millions of fans with its Academy Award-winning musical score by lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken. In Bill Condon's opinion, that original score was the key reason he agreed to direct a live-action version of the film. "That score had more to reveal", he says, "You look at the songs and there's not a clunker in the group. In fact, Frank Rich described it as the best Broadway musical of 1991. The animated version was already darker and more modern than the previous Disney fairy-tales. Take that vision, put it into a new medium, make it a radical reinvention, something not just for the stage because it's not just being literal, now other elements come into play. It's not just having real actors do it".
Condon initially prepared on only drawing inspiration from the original film, but he also planned to include most of the songs composed by Menken, Ashman and Tim Rice from the Broadway musical, with the intention of making the film as a "straight-forward, live-action, large-budget movie musical". Menken returned to score the film's music, which features songs from the original film by him and Ashman, plus new material written by him and Rice. Menken said the film would not include songs that were written for the Broadway musical and, instead, created four new songs. However, an instrumental version of the song "Home", which was written for the musical, is used during the scene where Belle first enters her room in the castle.
On January 19, 2017, both Disney and Celine Dion — singer of the original 1991 "Beauty and the Beast" duet song, with singer Peabo Bryson — confirmed that Dion would be performing one of the new original songs "How Does a Moment Last Forever" to play over the end titles. She originally had doubts about whether or not to record the song due to the recent death of her husband and manager René Angélil, who had previously helped her secure the 1991 pop duet. While ultimately accepting the opportunity, she said: "[The] first Beauty and the Beast decision was made with my husband. Now I'm making decisions on my own. It's a little bit harder. I couldn't say yes right away, because I felt like I was kind of cheating in a way". She eventually felt compelled to record the song because of the impact Beauty and the Beast has had on her career. According to Dion, "I was at the beginning of my career, it put me on the map, it put me where I am today". Also, Josh Groban was announced to be performing the new original song "Evermore" six days later.
The 2017 film features a remake of the 1991 original song recorded as a duet by Ariana Grande and John Legend. Grande and Legend's updated version of the title song is faithful to the original, Grammy-winning duet, performed by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson for the 1991 Disney film. Disney debuted the music video for Ariana Grande and John Legend's interpretation of the title song on Freeform television network on March 5, 2017, and it has since been viewed over 250 million times on the Vevo video-hosting service.
Emma Thompson also performed the title song, which was performed by Angela Lansbury in the original 1991 animated film.
Marketing
Disney spent around $140 million to market the film worldwide. Disney premiered the first official teaser trailer on Good Morning America in June 2016. In its first 24 hours, the teaser trailer reached 91.8 million views, which was the largest number ever seen for a trailer in that amount of time. This record has since been broken by Thor: Ragnarok, It, and Avengers: Infinity War. The first official teaser poster was released on July 7, 2016. On November 2, 2016, Entertainment Weekly debuted the first official image on the cover of their magazine, along with nine new photos. One week later, Emma Watson and Disney debuted a new poster. On November 14, 2016, the first theatrical trailer was released, again on Good Morning America. This reached 127.6 million views in its first 24 hours, setting a new record for the most views in one day, beating Fifty Shades Darker; this record has since been broken by The Fate of the Furious. A TV spot with Watson singing was shown during the 74th Golden Globe Awards. Disney released the final trailer on January 30, 2017.
Novelization
A tie-in novelization of the film was published by Disney Publishing Worldwide on January 31, 2017.
Release
Theatrical
The world premiere of Beauty and the Beast took place as a Spencer House Royal World Charity Event in London on February 23, 2017. The US premiere was held at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on March 2, 2017. The stream was broadcast on YouTube.
A sing along version of the film released in over 1,200 US theaters nationwide on April 7, 2017. The United Kingdom received the same version on April 21, 2017.
The film was re-released in New York City and Los Angeles for a one-week engagement starting December 1, 2017. The movie was an awards push as the 2017–18 awards season heated up.
On March 16, 2015, Disney announced the film would be released in 3D on March 17, 2017. The first official presentation of the film took place at Disney's three-day D23 Expo in August 2015.
On February 10, 2017, IMAX announced that the film would have an expanded aspect ratio of 1.90:1, revealing 26% more picture, only in IMAX theatres.
Home media
Beauty and the Beast was released on Blu-ray, DVD, Blu-ray 3D and Digital HD on June 6, 2017. The film debuted at No. 1 on the NPD VideoScan overall disc sales chart, with all other titles in the top 20, collectively, selling only 40% as many units as Beauty and the Beast. The film regained the top spot on the national home video sales charts during its third week of release. Overall, the film made a revenue of $85.1 million from home video sales with 4.3 million units sold, making it the second best-selling film of 2017 behind Moana. Beauty and the Beast was released on 4K Blu-ray on March 10, 2020, along with the original animated film.
Future
Shortly after the release of the film, Sean Bailey said that Walt Disney Pictures would "explore possible [live-action] spin-off and prequel scenarios" for animated and live-action Disney films, including Beauty and the Beast. Emma Watson and Dan Stevens have both expressed interest in reprising their roles in a potential sequel or prequel to the film.
On March 6, 2020, ABC Signature Studios announced that it was developing a limited series focused on Gaston and LeFou, for Disney+. Luke Evans and Josh Gad were set to reprise their roles from the film and executive produce the series alongside Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, with Gad, Kitsis and Horowitz serving as showrunners and writers for the series. Alan Menken was reported to be in talks to return as composer for the series, which he confirmed in April. The series was titled Little Town, which is a nod to the lyrics of the song "Belle" from the 1991 Beauty and the Beast film. In June 2021, Brianna Middleton joined the cast as the female lead named Tilly. In January 2022, Jelani Alladin and Fra Fee joined the cast to play Jean-Michel and Prince Benoit Berlioz, respectively. In February 2022, Rita Ora and Sharon D. Clarke joined the cast, with the latter set to play Claire Lafayette. Days later, it was announced the series was postponed indefinitely due to creative and scheduling issues.
