With Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book opening this week to rave reviews, Disney is moving forward with plans to make a live-action Peter Pan film. According to Deadline, the studio has tapped David Lowery (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints) to direct and co-write the script with Toby Halbrooks. Apparently Disney liked what it saw from the duo when they teamed to write Pete’s Dragon, a new version of the 1977 live-action/animated classic that Lowery also directed.
This isn’t the first time Peter Pan has received the live-action treatment, but Disney is hoping its latest reboot has more in common with 1991’s Hook than with Warner Bros.’ 2015 flop Pan — at least commercially speaking. In terms of the film’s look and feel, it will probably also look toward Disney’s 1953 animated classic for inspiration.
WIth traditional animation all but dead, Disney is pouring a considerable amount of resources into its live-action division. A sequel to The Jungle Bookis already in development and a Tim Burton-directed Dumbo is rumored to be in the works, but that’s just the tip of the magic castle, so to speak. Other films that have already wrapped or are well on their way include the James Bobin-directed Alice Through The Looking Glass, the Rob Marshall-directed Mary Poppins sequel starring Emily Blunt, and the Bill Condon-directed Beauty And The Beast starring Emma Watson.
Another live-action film related to Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, has Reese Witherspoon attached to play the titular fairy. As Deadline reports, that film is currently on track to happen before Peter Pan, and there’s a chance they might share some cast members in one of those expanded universe-type deals we’ve grown to love so much.
