Disney’s Live-Action Remake of ‘The Sword in the Stone’ Sounds Like It’s Dead
Earlier today, Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed that Disney has “quietly” shelved feature films that it did not believe were working.
The revelation naturally led to the question — what films had Disney canceled?
The Walt Disney Company
While we may not have a concrete answer, just hours after Iger made his statement, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo told Screen Rant that he was unsure if his live-action remake of The Sword in the Stone would ever happen.
The Film Was Announced in 2015
For those who don’t remember, a live-action remake of the Disney animated classic was announced in 2015, with Bryan Cogman writing the script and Bringham Taylor serving as producer.
In 2018, Fresnadillo signed on to direct, with the expectation that the film would be released on Disney+. Since that time, however, updates have been scarce.
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s Update
According to Fresnadillo, production on The Sword in the Stone is no longer underway, and it sounds like the film will not be made.
“That was a project that I was attached to years ago, but it was put on hold. From this day, to be honest with you, I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I think it’s a great project and a great story that needs to be told, but I don’t know what is gonna happen. Let’s see; fingers crossed.”
Despite the signs pointing to the project being dead, Fresnadillo is holding out hope.
“As you can imagine, with all these movies, you never know when it’s going to happen. I really hope that Disney greenlights the movie, but right now, I don’t know anything about it. Also, the experience that I have now after [Damsel] would be would be fantastic to apply to The Sword in the Stone, for sure.”
Has the Tide Turned Against Live-Action Remakes?
In addition to Iger’s revelation that the studio is being more selective in what films it releases, the death knell for the project likely sounded when Sean Bailey left Disney last week.
Photo: Yahoo
Bailey had been the architect of Disney’s live-action remake strategy, which had failed to produce the same level of results over the last couple of years. With David Greenbaum, who is known for his artistic approach to filmmaking succeeding Bailey, it seems likely that Disney’s live-action remakes will taper off.
Photo: Variety
Still, The Sword in the Stone remains an iconic Disney story, and with the studio looking for hits for Disney+, perhaps there is a chance that Fresnadillo gets to make his film after all.
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