To continue in Disney’s recent trend of “brand deposits”, The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Disney is currently developing a live-action version of their 1941 classic Dumbo, the Oscar winning children’s film complete with circus animals, a flying elephant with big ears, a tearjerking musical gem and all the storybook colors of the rainbow.
The film will be produced by Justin Springer (Tron: Legacy) and written by Ehren Kruger (Transformers).
THR also reminds that this comes on the tails of 2010’s Alice In Wonderland, 2014’s Maleficent and the upcoming adaptations of Cinderella, The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast. It’s only a matter of time before they drag out The Sword and the Stone reboot too.
If you’re wondering how they’ll get an elephant to fly, you can rest assured that the studio intends to make it CGI anyway. So while I’m intrigued by the prospect of a dark and gritty Dumbo reboot clocking at 150 minutes compared to the original’s slim 64, I’m guessing the final product will look a lot more like this.