Disney's Beauty & The Beast Could Get Spinoff, Prequel

CBR

By Brett White

Published Mar 23, 2017

Instead of going the sequel route, Disney may instead try to expand Beauty and the Beast in a different way.

After shattering records with its $174 million opening weekend, "Beauty and the Beast" is poised to become one of Disney's most successful films. The film scored the biggest March opening weekend of all time, besting last year's "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," and it's showing no signs of slowing down at the box office both in the US and worldwide. To date, the film has earned $428.4M worldwide

Considering that massive success, it would seem likely that Disney would try to figure out a way to capitalize on "Beauty and the Beast's" success with more films exploring the classic fairy tale. That's just what they may do, according to a report from Deadline. In an interview with Walt Disney Head of Production Sean Bailey, it was revealed that while Disney won't pursue a direct sequel to "Beauty and the Beast," it's possible they will instead try to make a spinoff or prequel to the film.

The article specifically cites the failure of "Alice Through the Looking Glass," the 2016 sequel to 2010's live-action "Alice in Wonderland," as a reason why Disney would be wary of doing a direct sequel to "Beauty and the Beast." "Through the Looking Glass" underperformed at the box office, only pulling in $77M domestically compared to "Alice in Wonderland's" $334M. Disney hasn't officially announced potential scenarios or lead characters for the hypothetical "Beauty and the Beast" follow-ups.

Directed by Bill Condon, “Beauty and the Beast” stars Emma Watson as Belle, Dan Stevens as the Beast, Luke Evans as Gaston, Kevin Kline as Mauricer, Josh Gad as Lefou, Ewan McGregor as Lumiere, Stanley Tucci as Maestro Cadenza, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette, Audra McDonald as Madame Garderobe, Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, and Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts.

(via Screen Rant)