Disney Live Action Hunchback of Notre Dame
 

EXCLUSIVE: Tony-winning M. Butterfly playwright David Henry Hwang has been set by Disney to write Hunchback, a live-action musical adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel. Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz will write the music. Mandeville is producing along with Josh Gad. I had heard that Gad, a star of the Mandeville-produced blockbuster Beauty and the Beast, might play the lead character, but insiders at the studio said no casting is solid at this point.


Hwang’s other work includes the plays Chinglish, Yellow Face, Kung Fu, Golden Child and The Dance and the Railroad, and Broadway musicals including the Elton John & Tim Rice collaboration Aida, the revival of Flower Drum Song, and Disney’s animated Tarzan. M. Butterfly was revived on Broadway in 2017 in a Julie Taymor-directed production starring Clive Owen. Hwang’s collaboration with composer Jeanine Tesori, Soft Power, opened last May in Los Angeles. He is America’s most produced living opera librettist as well.



Three-time Oscar winner Schwartz’s credits include Wicked, Godspell and Pippin. Eight-time Oscar winner Menken’s credits include Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and the original score for the 1996 Disney animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Josh Gad
REX/Shutterstock

The new film will pull from that 1996 animated film and the Hugo novel but not the stage production that Schwartz and Menken collaborated on in Europe. David Hoberman, who runs Mandeville with Todd Lieberman, has been fixated on a live-action Hunchback for over 30 years going back to when he was Disney film president. An early attempt led to the animated film and another resulted in a limited TV series on ABC. Now it has come back around as a feature film, and while it is early and not on the Disney release calendar, Hunchback has some of the most storied players from the stage and musical realms.

Gad teamed with Menken & Schwartz on a huge Universal deal several years ago for an original musical with Jeremy Garelick.

Hwang is repped by Paradigm; Schwartz is attorney Nancy Rose; Menken is Kraft-Engel Management and Rick Kunis, and Gad is WME and Lighthouse Management & Media.

https://deadline.com/2019/01/hunchba...tz-1202536031/

I'd imagine that this movie will also have a happy ending unlike Victor Hugo's novel. It would be cool to see Kevin Kline appear as the Archdeacon or something like that after playing Captain Phoebus in the original.

I recall really losing interest in Disney around the time films like this came out the first time. Post-Renascence Disney movies are a bit of a risk, I'd have banked more on Hercules or something.

This and Pocahontas were bad, for different reasons, but this was a dark time for Disney animation. If you are going to do live action versions of your animated movies/TV shows, how about Atlantis, Treasure Planet, or better yet Gargoyles.

Both Hunchback and Hercules were part of the Disney Renaissance. It goes from Little Mermaid (1989) to Tarzan (1999).

You're getting the "dark time" mixed up :lol: the dark time was Atlantis and Treasure Planet, both huge flops. Hunchback is one of their best animated films, people who say it's bad are probably only upset that it's not a word for word adaptation from the original novel.

I think Hunchback just didn't have the Disney look or appeal as the others when I was a kid but I can see this movie being far more marketable than Hercules since we've gotten plenty interpretations in live action of him, and 2 of them only came out a few years ago and both bombed. Atlantis would be great but the animated movie didn't do well so they won't risk it, these are more for "sure hits" based on brand name alone.

Or...or...those people just don't like it regardless.

Atlantis was way better than Hunchback despite flopping.

Well, agree to disagree. Never liked Atlantis personally.

I dunno what is up with the post-Lion King bashing! i mean the post ones have their fans, i'm sick of the bashing, Hunchback i thought was excellent and mature and well made. I'm a Disney fan and i support some post LK Disney.

Some say the 70s and 80s was the so-called "Dark age of disney", it wasn't that dark and neither was post lion king, now 2003 to 2008 that was dark. There's a lot of animosity towards the Disney animated features that have been released since "The Lion King." Some have said that "The Lion King" was the last great film of the Disney Renaissance that supposedly started with "The Little Mermaid."

Not at all true. "Mulan" is a prime example. The story in that movie is powerful, emotional, and more real than anything Disney feature animation has tackled before, except maybe "Hunchback." That film envelopes you in ancient Chinese culture, the music score was fantastic and engaging story.

Explain what makes Disney essence? and i always enjoyed the original Hunchback since i was 14 when i saw it in theaters and thought it was different, unique and mature yet underrated. Hell, i had the hots for Esmeralda as a teenager as she was on par with Jessica Rabbit and so much more.

What about The Black Cauldron? Disney's one and only mature animated film at the 20th century.

People don't always share the same opinion. It's irritating but it's a fact of life.

As for me, I thought Hercules was alright but had no strong desire to watch it again, and didn't care for any of the other post-Lion King ones, either. I am generally on the polar opposite side of public opinion, but I agree with them in this case. Age could be a factor but nothing after The Lion King felt special, to me. That was the last one I truly liked a lot.

At the same time, I'm a big fan of Oliver & Company, which nobody generally likes, so whattyagonnado.

I like Oliver and Company as well. I really like the Black Cauldron.

I also can't stand The Lion King. Though I wouldn't call it my least favorite. That would more then likely be the one with the talking cows.

Love Oliver and Company since i was 6 when i saw it 3 times in theaters when it first came out 31 years ago and been one of my favorite disney animated movies. and What about Emperor's New Groove?

And what do you think of new ones like Princess and Frog, Zootopia, Tangled, Wreck it Ralph 1 and 2 etc.?

[QUOTE=drgon78;1790669]I like Oliver and Company as well. I really like the Black Cauldron.

I also can't stand The Lion King. Though I wouldn't call it my least favorite. That would more then likely be the one with the talking cows.[/QUOTE
Don't forget Great Mouse Detective and Fox and Hound.

I believe I mentioned that I didn't care for any of those.

Quick question: Are you JakeSully? You post just like him.

Who is this Jakesully? who is he?

And so you stopped with Disney after Lion King and moved on for Pixar? what about new Disney animated films like Zootopia, Wreck it Ralph and others?