As seen over the past week, Disney is more than eager to ramp up production on a handful of its upcoming live-action remakes. While there will be more reports coming in on those films, our focus today is on one of the many more live-action remakes in various stages of development.
Broken exclusively by The Tracking Board recently, it was revealed that Disney has hired Tom McCarthy to rewrite the script for its live-action Winnie The Pooh movie, titled Christopher Robin. Alex Ross Perry (Listen Up Phillip, Queen of Earth) wrote the initial draft.
McCarthy has a spectacular track record as both a writer and director. Most recently, he is best known for the 2015 film Spotlight, which earned him (among many countless accolades and nominations) an Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. In the world of animation, he conceived the story for Pixar’s 2009 film Up with Pete Doctor and Bob Peterson. Similarly, his work on the film would earn him an Academy Award nomination (Best Original Screenplay) and an Annie Award nomination for Writing in a Feature Production.
The film, which recasts the characters of Disney’s beloved animated franchise (based on A.A.Milne’s series of books) in a Hook-inspired premise, sees Christopher Robin as an adult businessman and a workaholic who spends little time with his wife and child. When Pooh re-enters his life, he must embark on a personal journey to figure out how to help his childhood friend and repair his family life in the process.
Billed as a “emotional, heartwarming story with strong elements of magical realism.”, Christopher Robin is not yet in an advanced-enough stage to begin casting, but the studio is reportedly aiming high in terms of star talent. In a comparison given by Tracking Board’s report, the desired male lead would be someone on the level of Benedict Cumberbatch.
The film is directed by Marc Forster, with The Jungle Book’s Brigham Taylor producing. It has the distinction of being among the few live-action remakes that aren’t technically remakes but are instead adaptations that use the original animated film(s) as a springboard (think Maleficent).
What do you think? Does Tom McCarthy’s work make you more interested in Christopher Robin?
Edited by: Kelly Conley
