Predicting The 20 Highest Grossing Movies Of 2017
7. Beauty And The Beast
Prediction: $950m
This is where the real Disney Live Action hype begins. The Jungle Book was great, Cinderella was good and Pete's Dragon was a delight, but Beauty And The Beast is on another plane entirely.
Why It's Golden
Though the animated version "only" made $425m in 1991, Beauty And The Beast is widely recognised as one of the most beloved of all of Disney's films. I myself rated it as the best ever Animated Classic, and I know what I'm talking about, I swear. That means a very strong foundation, and the key demographic of young girls (who made Frozen so lucrative) will come out again for this.
Plus The Jungle Book made a whopping $965m at the box office this year, and there's arguably an even bigger, more excited fanbase waiting for this one. Particularly as it has Emma Watson in, who is guaranteed money.
Will It Be Any Good?
Disney have already proven their ability to make exquisite live action versions of their own movies, and the brief glimpses we've seen of Beauty And The Beast appear to suggest they've recaptured that grand theatrical spirit of the cartoon and scaled it up. In other words, it looks lush.
Despite making the last two ~Twilight movies, Bill Condon has a great track record. Of Gods And Monsters was brilliant, as was Kinsey and Dreamgirls was delightful. Let's just hope he's done his homework and watched the original a lot.