THE LITTLE MERMAID May Be The Next Disney Film To Get The Live-Action Treatment

Hot on the heels of this Beauty And The Beast trailer racking up over 90 million views and The Jungle Book raking in over $860M at the worldwide box office (so far) comes the following not-at-all-surprising update from Deadline:

Execs at Disney are in the early stages of reviving Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid as a live action feature. Disney production chiefs recently heard a new take and are currently evaluating whether to proceed with the idea. Deadline understands that initial discussions have also taken place with some major producers, including some with a strong connection to the studio.

So far, I've not seen too many people getting up in arms about these live-action Disney remakes, but I'm sure such people exist. My advice to these people would be to get used to this practice, because so far it's meant nothing but homeruns for the studio, both critically and financially. 

Anyway, if they move ahead with The Little Mermaid, the project will join a number of other live-action joints Disney currently has in the works, some of which are sequels (Mary Poppins 2), some of which are based on rides (Jungle Cruise, still slated to star The Rock), some of which are Maleficent-style spinoffs of former animated Disney hits (Cruella), and some of which I'm having a hard time even imagining (Tim Burton's Dumbo).

Interesting side note: Universal's already got its own live-action Little Mermaid planned, with Chloe Grace Moretz starring and Rebecca Thomas directing. So, looks like we may have another "duelling Jungle Books" situation on our hands.

Wonder who'll get theirs completed first?