Producer and director Joe Russo revealed some details about Disney’s new live-action adaptation of their animated film, “Hercules.”
Russo and his brother Anthony teamed up with “Aladdin” director Guy Ritchie for the “Hercules” project, which is based on the 1997 Disney film of the same name.
“We have an amazing relationship with them that we’ve built over a decade,” Russo told Variety of working with Disney again. “I think we have a point of view on how they can stretch the limits of their IP moving forward, rather than playing IP management.”
The filmmaker elaborated on that idea, indicating it meant changing things up rather than creating shot-for-shot remakes like some other projects.
Russo said “Hercules” will be “a little bit more experimental in tone, a little bit more experimental in execution.”
“I think they’re excited to see what we can all bring to it in a way that isn’t just a reinterpretation of the animated film,” he continued. “Guy is perfect for it because he has penchant for experimentation.”
Like the original, Russo said the newest “Hercules” movie will be a musical. But this time, they’ll be taking inspiration from a very modern source.
“There are questions about how you translate it as a musical,” Russo explained. “Audiences today have been trained by TikTok, right? What is their expectation of what that musical looks like and feels like? That can be a lot of fun and help us push the boundaries a little bit on how you execute a modern musical.”
The original animated “Hercules” is a retelling of Greek mythology. Hercules is the son of Zeus but was taken as a baby by his uncle Hades and made to live among mortals as a demigod: half-man and half-god. As a teenager, Hercules goes on a quest to become a hero on Earth so he can prove himself worthy to live with the gods on Mount Olympus.
The movie received mostly positive reviews, with James Woods getting most of the praise for his portrayal of Hades, god of the underworld. It underperformed slightly at the box office compared to contemporary Disney films, earning $252.7 million in box office revenue worldwide.
Other related media include the direct-to-video prequel “Hercules: Zero to Hero” (1999) and “Hercules: The Animated Series.” Disney has been remaking most of their animated films into live-action adaptations. The newest version of “The Little Mermaid” will debut in May 2023.
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