Beauty and the Beast is an upcoming American live-action fantasy, musical film directed by Bill Condon, and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is a remake of the 1991 animated film of the same name and will be written by Evan Spiliotopoulos and produced by Mandeville Films.
The script will be rewritten by Stephen Chbosky and will star Emma Watson as Belle, and Dan Stevens as the Beast. It is scheduled for release on March 17, 2017.
Synopsis
In a vast castle of grandeur, a young Prince is having a party of lovely women as Madame de Garderobe sings. The party is interrupted when an old hag arrives at the palace and offers the prince a rose. However, the Prince declines the rose and the hag transforms herself into an Enchantress. The Prince begs for forgiveness, but the Enchantress does not forgive him and she transforms the Prince into a Beast and all his workers into Enchanted objects, and she removes the villagers' memories of the Prince and the castle. She turns the rose into an Enchanted rose, and says that if the Prince hasn't learned to love by the time the last petal falls off the rose, he would be a Beast forever, and the Enchanted objects would become antiques.
Years later, in the village of Villeneuve, a young bookworm inventor named Belle is bored of her village life and seeks excitement. Gaston the village hero and former soldier seeks to make Belle his trophy wife. Belle lives with her father Maurice, an inventor and tinkerer. On day, Maurice and his horse, Philippe, gets lost in the forest while traveling to a market. While lost in the forest, they enter a part of the forest that is covered in snow and are attacked by wolves, causing them to flee to the Beast's castle. Phillipe abandons Maurice when the Beast discovers him taking a rose from the castle's garden and detains him. Phillipe trots back to the village to find Belle. When Phillipe leads Belle to the castle, she offers to take her father's place; the Beast accepts and sets her father free. Belle is released by Lumiere, who was turned into a candelabra as a result of the enchantress's curse. Belle also meets the other castle residents that were transformed by the curse: the castle's majordomo, Cogsworth, a clock; Mrs. Potts, a teapot; her son Chip, a teacup; court composer, Maestro Cadenza, a harpsichord; Maestro Cadenza's wife and opera singer, Madame de Garderobe, a wardrobe; and the maid and Lumiere's girlfriend Plumette, a feather duster.
After the staffs offer Belle a meal, she wanders into the forbidden West Wing. The Beast frightens Belle and she flees into the woods and encounters a pack of wolves. The Beast rescues Belle but he gets injured in the process. He begins to develop feelings for her while she nurses his wounds and the servants reveal to her that they believe she may be the one who can love the Beast and break the curse. The Beast allows Belle access to his library and the two begin to develop feelings for each other. While the Beast has fallen in love with Belle, Belle is uncertain of her feelings due to her imprisonment.
Meanwhile, Maurice returns to Villeneuve but is unable to convince the others to rescue Belle. Gaston, a hunter and former soldier who is trying to woo Belle, agrees to help to earn Maurice's approval, but when Maurice refuses Gaston leaves him in the forest to die. Maurice is rescued by a villager named Agatha and he returns to the village accusing Gaston of attempting to kill him. Gaston convinces the villagers to send Maurice to the town's insane asylum. Using the magic mirror, Belle sees Maurice being captured and the Beast allows her to leave to save him, letting her keep the mirror to see him again. At Villeneuve, Belle rescues Maurice and proves his sanity by showing the Beast with the magic mirror. Realizing that Belle loves the Beast, Gaston convinces the villagers that the Beast is a man-eating monster and leads them to the castle to kill him. However, Maurice and Belle escapes from confinement.
While the villagers are fended off by the servants, Gaston fights the Beast. The Beast initially is too depressed to fight back, but perks up after seeing Belle return to the castle. He corners Gaston and spares his life; however, Gaston shoots the Beast in the back before the footbridge crumbles beneath his feet and he falls to his death. The Beast dies as the last petal falls from the rose and Belle professes her love to him. While watching the scene, Agatha reveals herself as the enchantress and undoes the curse, returning the Beast and his servants to their true forms alive and restoring the castle to its former glory. The village inhabitants return to the castle with their memories of it restored, and the Beast and Belle host a ball for the kingdom at which they dance.
==Differences from 1991 Film==
* The Enchantress plays a much larger, less defined, role in the 2017 film.
* Unlike the animated film, Maurice was an artist rather than an inventor. Instead, Belle is now an inventor.
* Belle's backstory was explained on the film. This reveals why she and her father moved to a small town.
* Aside from Belle, the Beast's backstory was also explained on how he became heartless towards the people.
* Cadenza was a new character added for the 2017 film. He is the husband of the wardrobe.
* Sultan is renamed as Fru Fru in the 2017 film.
* Chip was an only child of Mrs Potts. In the animated film, Chip had brothers and sisters who were minor characters.
* Unlike the animated film, the Enchantress gave the Beast not only the enchanted rose and the mirror but also a book that enables him to transport on a particular place.
* Whenever a petal falls, parts of the castle will collapse and the staff gradually lose their humanity and become more inanimate. This is not present in the animated film.
* Maurice was imprisoned in the castle only because of the rose he picked for Belle. This is a similar scene from the original fairy tale.
* Belle did not take off the glass cover of the bell-jar when the Beast caught her.
* LeFou was taller in this film. He was not bisexual in the original (however, he dances with a woman at the end, only to get accidentally paired up with a man when it comes time to change dance partners; the two look at each other in shock and are not seen again after this).
* Unlike the original film, LeFou reformed at the end when he felt betrayed after Gaston left him to be beaten by the enchanted objects while Gaston left to find and kill the Beast during the battle.
* Gaston was not muscular and had a mustache in this film. He was also known for being a soldier who fought during the war rather than just a hunter.
* The Beast did not take Belle to a bedroom but it was Lumiere instead.
* Fifi is renamed as Plumette in the 2017 film.
* In the 2017 film, Gaston shot the Beast using a pistol instead of an arrow. And before his death, Gaston shot the Beast in the back with his pistol instead of stabbing him with a dagger.
* The Enchantress appears to revive the Beast and reverse the curse she planted on him, watching as Belle tearfully confesses her true feelings. She does not, however, reveal herself to Belle nor speak to her. (She doesn't actually speak in the film at all, she remained a silent role, like in the animated film)
* Majority of the characters' physical appearance as the enchanted objects inside the castle were changed: Mrs Potts' face was now on the right side of the teapot instead of at the spout, Lumiere somewhat appears to be a golden sculptured human figure candlestick but when he transforms; his figure of a candlestick with three branches still remains, Madame de Garderobe's face was inside the wardrobe instead on the top and Plumette resembles a miniature swan rather than an ordinary feather duster.
* During "Something There," Belle and the Beast did sing unlike in the animated film where their singing voices are only non-dietetic during the scene.
* In the 2017 film, Gaston falls to his death when a footbridge in which he was standing breaks apart.
* In the 2017 film, Gaston was planning to murder Maurice when he reveals that Gaston will never marry Belle. As a result, he ties Maurice up to a tree hoping for the wolves to devour him.
* Maurice has a much bigger role than in the animated film.
* Belle did not save Maurice but it was the Enchantress, under the guise Agathe, instead.
* Chip didn't use a wood chopper to save Belle and Maurice, rather Maurice uses something long and pointy to unlock the lock on the wagon.
* When the servants are revived as humans, Cogsworth's human name, Henri, is revealed by a female villager who recognized her husband.