The live action remake machine at Disney has been chugging along, and the remake for their animated Greek comedy-musical Hercules has been in the works for a few years now. If you were curious who would helm this new, almost certainly James Woods-less take, Disney’s finally found the director to bring this new version of the legendary zero to hero to life.
Guy Ritchie, recently known for last year’s Wrath of Man and the 2019 Aladdin remake that crossed the $US1 ($1.4) billion mark and has a sequel in development, is coming on as director. With him locked in, Disney’s now on the search to find writers for the project; previously, Shang-Chi writer Dave Callahan, had penned the film’s first draft. Serving as producers will be Avengers: Infinity War directors Joe and Anthony Russo through their production company AGBO, as previously reported back in 2020.
The original Hercules released back in 1997, and though well liked among critics, was a box office dud back in the day compared to some of its predecessors. Still, it’s lived on as a cult classic thanks to being a reliable VHS and Disney Channel watch back in the day. Like several other 1990s Disney films, it also received a direct-to-video sequel and spinoff TV series that lasted two seasons. More recently, though, the film and its characters have served as one of the more recurring worlds in the Kingdom Hearts series.
Right now, the Hercules remake has plenty of questions surrounding it, from casting the lead character to who’ll be serving the role as the Fates. (It should be black women, for pretty obvious reasons.) The remakes have been hit or miss, particularly recently, but hopefully this one manages to do this one justice…or at the very least, give Danny DeVito a chance to play Phil again, because he deserves.
[via The Hollywood Reporter]
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